Portals and Corners and Car crashes... oh my!

I grew up in a big house on a street with a curve that has rendered many careless drivers at the whim of gravity. I've seen motorcycles hit the wall; their riders bleeding in the road. I've witnessed people jumping the wall to avoid being crushed between rock and steel. For as long as my family has been here (almost 50 years), there's been a car crash to highlight each year.

You are probably wondering what is so unusual about cars hitting a wall on a road with a pronounced curve to it. There wouldn't be much of a story to it at all if not for the same account from each and every person that's ever hit that wall: " It's like I got to the front of the wall and I lost control. I don't know what happened."

I used to think it was one of those bullshit excuses people have because they don't want to admit they were doing something other than watching the road, but that wall has always had a very sinister past. For starters, half of it belongs to  a church and as you walked passed it you can't help but notice the white Mary (mother of god/virgin saint) Statue. What you may also notice is that some say it's Mary while others say it's Saint Matthew. How and why Matthew looks like a chick is beyond me. But I digress.

This is the very same wall I would have nightmares about, growing up in that house. The nightmare was always the same... playing itself over and over with no resolution. My father would meet up with an old friend at the corner of that wall. Maybe he was taking me to the corner store. I don't know. Dreams are funny like that. But the same thing always happened: A middle-aged woman would appear from nowhere, wearing a muumuu and seeming to have a pleasant conversation with my father. As they talked I noticed the tail curving up and out from behind this womans dress.

Same thing every time. The wall. The woman. And her tail. Her tail with the diamond on the end, like the devils.

My aunt has an old photograph of her teenage self standing by that wall. I recently posted it on facebook for feedback. A few people noticed sinister energy in the wall. Anything from faces peering back odd light formations. Personally,  I don't see much in that photograph. I guess it depends on the eyes.

A few weeks back another car (almost) hit the wall. Two young women were heading home. It had been raining earlier that day but the roads were dry. The sky was clear. My family was sitting on the porch when we heard that familiar screeching and the inevitable halt that followed. The story was the same. Once she got to that wall she felt as if the steering wheel had a mind of its own.

Is it the way the street is laid out that forces some vehicles to go out of control? Is it the curve of the wall and errant stupidity/drunkiness that is to blame? Or is it the fact that my house and the church next door are built on old land? The same old land that prompted my grandfather to dig his way to an ancient well that gave him such a bad vibe he covered it up and told my uncles to never dig in that particular spot again.

All I know is it's been years since I've dreamed about the lady and her tail and if I ever happen to stumble upon an old woman in a muumuu standing at that particular corner in the near/distant future... I'm climbing the churchyard fence and heading the other way. It's always been a quicker route anyway...