Hitchhiker

By Davis

I have lived in cache valley my entire life. It was the mid 80's, and I was a young father and husband in my 20's. At the time I worked outside of Brigham city on a swings shift and Graveyard rotation.

It was a late Thursday night, around 1:00am, when I left work. I was usually off at 10 pm. However, we had problems, and as lead, I had a lot to fix and paperwork to do.

I got in my old 75 Chevelle And headed home. It was a warm Aug night, and I had my windows down and music up to keep me awake.

I got to sardine canyon and headed east. I drove through Mantua and headed up the canyon. I hit my brakes as a deer ran across the road in front of me as I neared the state sheds at the top of the hill. As I started to get back up to speed, cursing the deer, my lights hit a man on the side of the road. He was tall and skinny with bright blond hair. He wore a red flannel shirt and black jeans. I didn't make it a habit of picking up hitchhikers, but as he stuck out his thumb, I felt compelled to stop. It was almost uncontrollable as I pulled over in front of him. He walked to the passenger door and looked in through the open window. He had the deepest blue eyes I have ever seen. He asked me in a smooth voice and a slight smile, "May I get a ride into Logan?"

I had only seen one car since heading up the canyon, and I didn't want to leave him in the canyon. I looked at him and said, "you bet, get in." his voice also put me in a numb warm bliss that I can't explain.

I unlocked the door, and he slid into the passenger seat. I started down the road and asked him, "why are you hitching so late at night?"

He looked at me. "I have urgent business in the valley."

I simply said, "ok, I hope everything is ok?"

The young man simply said, "no, it's not."

After a few minutes, he looked at me and said, "Davis, do you have your 3 months of food storage?"

I looked at him, then stammered, "no, it's kinda hard right now. I'm kinda working on it." I looked back at the road, and then it hit me. I hadn't told him my name. I turned to ask him how he knew my name to see the seat empty! I slammed on my brakes and pulled to the side of the road. The door was locked, and there was no way he could jump out. I hadn't looked away that long, and I would have heard it if he had opened the door! I sat shaking. I looked around, trying to clear my mind. Finally, I drove on. I didn't know how this had all happened. How did he know my name? Where had he gone? Who was he?! I drove home and told my wife. She believed it was a sign that he was an Angel. I didn't know, but we did get our food supplies up.

Author Note: in the '80s and '90s, these stories of the phantom hitchhiker in Sardine canyon were floating around. Cache Valley at the time had a significant LDS population (still does), and the LDS church teaches that you should have a 3-month food supply in case of emergency or losing your job. The hitchhiker telling people to ensure they have their food storage was a story I tried very hard to hunt down. I finally found a second-hand story about a man who had this experience. It was relayed to me by his brother. I changed the name, but the facts were related to me, as you see. The hitchhiker's story and others like it permeate through folklore and urban legend. It varies from area to area and chances with the region and religion. An extraordinary story! It's a very fascinating and must be taken as what it is.