~by Marie Robinson
Imagine you are driving alone late at night on a one-lane, backwoods
road. Your headlights graze the trees that hug close to the road, the
hum of your tires drones softly under music or talk radio. The monotony
of the seemingly endless unraveling road sets your mind to daydream—but
your thoughts are interrupted by the twin points of headlights in your
rear-view mirror. The car must have just crested some hill, or rounded
some turn, because this is the first time you’ve seen anyone else on the
road tonight. The car is traveling at an alarming speed, and as they
slow down to pull up beside you see it is a strange black car. The
window begins to roll down…
If you are unfamiliar with any
legends concerning sinister automobiles, then I am here to inform you.
They come in several different forms, each one as unsettling as the
last.
The Death Coach
The Death Coach has its strongest
roots in Ireland, where it is called the Cóiste Bodhar (koe-shta bower),
which translates to “deaf coach” or “silent coach”. The Cóiste Bodhar
is a death omen and to see it or hear it means that someone is going to
die. The Irish version of the Death Coach is quite sinister looking and
is often decorated with candles and human remains.
Even more frightening
than the wagon itself is its driver, a fairy called a dullahan. His
head, which is carried under one arm, has small, flicking black eyes and
a wide, ear-to-ear grin. He carries a whip made from a human spine. If
you hear the dullahan call out a name, it is sure that the owner is the
next to die. While the Cóiste Bodhar can go through any locked gate, the
dullahan is terrified of gold, and having any near will send them away.
The Cóiste Bodhar makes an appearance in the 1959 Disney film (a
childhood favorite of mine)
Darby O’Gill and the Little People.
The
revolutionary Swedish special effects film,
The Phantom Carriage
(1921), concerns a similar legend. In the film, the last person to die
before the clock strikes twelve on New Years Eve must take the seat at
the front of the Death Coach and collect souls of the dead for the next
year.
In Robert W. Chamber’s iconic short story, “
The Yellow
Sign”, the Death Coach comes through an ominous dream, whose driver is a
man with pale, puffy flesh, who reminds the narrator of a, “plump,
white grave-worm.”
I, too, have taken inspiration from the legend
of the Death Coach, and have written of it in my story, “
Crossroad”,
published in the
4th issue of Sanitarium Magazine.
The Hearse
“Don’t you ever laugh as the hearse goes by,
for you may be the next to die,” sings “
The Hearse Song” as documented in
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. If hearses weren’t ominous enough for
you, there are several superstitions attached to the corpse-carrying
cars. For example, it is bad luck if a hearse stops in front of
someone’s house, as it is a sign that an occupant will soon die;
even the sight of a hearse is a possible omen, especially if it is
empty, for it means that it is looking to be filled.
The song I
aforementioned dates back to World War I, sung by American and British
soldiers and popularized as a children’s rhyme. Also frequently called,
“
The Worms Crawl In, The Worms Crawl Out”, several different versions
have been documented—below I’ve written the lyrics to just one.
“Don’t you ever laugh as the hearse goes by,
For you may be the next one to die.
They wrap you in a big white sheet
From your head down to your feet.
They put you in a big black box
And cover you up with dirt and rocks.
All goes well for about a week,
Until your coffin begins to leak.
The worms crawl in, the worms crawl out,
The worms play pinochle on your scalp,
They eat your eyes, they eat your nose,
They eat the jelly between your toes.
A big green worm with rolling eyes
Crawls in your stomach and out your sides.
Your stomach turns a slimy green,
And pus pours out like whipping cream.
You’ll spread it on a slice of bread,
And this is what you eat when you are dead.”
The Black Volga
One
of my favorite urban legends is that of the Black Volga. This tale
became popular in the 60’s in Eastern European; the car, a black Volga,
is said to kidnap children and use them for gruesome black market
trades. The car of legend has had a myriad of drivers such as nuns,
vampires, or the very Devil. Sometimes the car will be driven by no one
at all, startling those in the car alongside it so badly that they will
swerve off the road.
Author Joe R. Lansdale penned a story
called, “
The Folding Man” for the urban legend-inspired anthology,
Haunted Legends (you can read my review of the book,
here.)
His tale, inspired by the legend of the Black Volga, involves a group
of teens being tormented on Halloween by a car full of nuns.
The
doomful black car also plays a key role in the 2003 film,
Dead End, in
which a family takes a back road in an attempt of avoiding traffic and
find themselves in an evil, haunted place where the only other car is
the Black Volga, coming to claim its victims.
So the next time you are on that lonely stretch of road and see another pair of headlights, beware the Black Volga.
When John and Laura meet for dinner at a restaurant, Laura meets a pair of sisters, Heather (Hilary Mason) and Wendy (Clelia Matania) in the rest room. Heather is blind, yet claims to have second sight, and tells Laura that her daughter is essentially watching over her and John. Laura is perplexed at first, even a bit dazed- and in fact is so overcome with emotion that when she returns to the table she passes out (in what is perhaps the best fainting over a table full of food and drink that I have ever witnessed!) She is rushed to the hospital, where she is soon feeling quite well. When John is set to take her home, Laura attempts to convince him that their daughter is "among them". She explains that Heather knew details about Christine, and was able to describe her so vividly that there's no way she couldn't be close by. 
