Children of the Tracks
Contributions by Audra Sweet and John R. Cobarruvias


Audra-
I have had the pleasure of visiting the train tracks in San Antonio.  My
husband was driving our car with me riding shotgun and his sister in the
back seat. We covered the car with baby powder and parked on the tracks.  We
shut the car off and put on the emergency brake and my husband pushed as
hard as he could on the brakes.  After a few seconds the car started rocking
as if someone was pushing us from behind. My sister-in-law burst into tears
and said, "Look!" I turned to look back at her and saw big and little
handprints in the baby powder on the window next to her.  The rocking
continued, all the while my husband had his feet on the brakes.  Then the
car rolled up-hill as if we were driving, and then down away from the tracks
to safety.  It was an experience I will never forget.



John-
Somewhere outside of San Antonio is a dark lone railroad crossing.

Many years ago, a Nun was driving across the crossing with a school bus of
children. It was late, dark. They were coming home from a day's outing in
the country. Many of the children were asleep, tired from playing in the
outdoors.
As the bus began crossing, the motor died. The nun tried a number of times
to restart the bus, but it wouldn't start. Suddenly, she realized a train
was on the track, moving much too fast, and without any lights on. The
conductor had fallen asleep. Frantically she tried to start the bus,
knowing it was now too late to wake and move the children off the bus.
The bus never started. The train hit with so much force it ripped the
drivers compartment off the bus, threw it away from the tracks and dragged
the bus hundreds of yards down the road. The train continued down the
track, the conductor never knowing what he did. The nun survived. The
children did not.
Many months later, the nun was still filled with guilt and decided to take
her life as the children did. She drove to the same spot where the accident
happened, stopped her car on the tracks, and waited.
It became very dark as time passed. And eventually a train could be heard
coming down the track. The nun sat, cried, and waited, but then heard what
she thought was footsteps.........and then voices........of children,
playing, running, and laughing. The train kept coming at her, sounding it's
loud horn and flashing its lights, unable to stop in time, trying to warn her.
The nun put her face in her hands and waited for her death. As she sat
praying, she heard the chidrens voices become louder and then she felt the
car lurch forward as if being pushed from the rear. The car rolled over the
tracks, down the hill, the train rolled on by. Her life was saved.
After the train passed, the nun got out of the car and
looked for the children, but saw no one. As
she walked back to her car, she looked at the back of her car and saw many
tiny handprints as if children had pushed her car off the tracks.
The nun went on to start an orphanage and took care of lost children. When
she died, those at the funeral said they heard voices of children playing,
and the voice of one lone adult laughing.
To this day, it is said if you park your car in neutral on the track in the
middle of the night, and stay very quiet, you will hear voices and your car
will be pushed off the track.

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Thanks, Audra and John, for telling us about your experiences!  I know many people who have tried this, and most come away with a fascinating story like these.----tbs

This page was last updated on February 26, 2002.
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