Have you ever become aware that you’re in the middle of a something? That’s what I suddenly realized this morning. There’s something going on, and I don’t understand it. When I remembered this site, I thought that maybe someone there could have some insight into what’s going on. I always thought that If I came across something strange, I would write about it here and get some help.

Since I’ve not ever gotten involved with any discussions before, I think it might be good to just restate who and where I am. I live in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. I’m single – no romantic entanglements for me, thank you very much. I drive a cab in town. Mostly, I drive in the afternoons and evenings, which gives me an opportunity to meet lots of different types of people.

I like people, and I think that the things that make us different makes us special, and while I don’t treat people differently, I don’t see any harm in acknowledging differences. I started getting a repeat fare every so often this month. Funny little guy -- He had real pale skin, and white hair. He didn’t talk much, and was always acted just a little bit disoriented.

Anyway, it was tonight when I picked him up that something clicked. It’s funny that I thought of it tonight, as this was the shortest ride he’s been on. I picked him up at lobby of Mercy Hospital tonight, and he wanted me to take him just a few blocks to the East Side. It wasn’t too bad outside tonight, and the fare certainly wasn’t very much. I think I’d have walked if I were him. Anyway, I dropped him off across the river from the down town district. That’s why we call it the East Side—on the west side of the Black River, it’s Downtown—business and commercial. On the East Side, it’s more industrial and low-end residential.

It dawned on me that I was always dropping him off in about the same area, but never exactly the same place. It was always within about a three or four block area on the East Side. However, it seemed like I was picking him up from all over town every few days. I mentioned that this was a much shorter trip for him than his last ride. He didn’t really respond one way or another. I then said, “Funny how I’m always dropping you off around here, but never picking you up from here.” Again, no real response. Well, he got out and paid. I drove away, and then it hit me. The last couple of days there had been reports of people missing from various parts of town. I may be wrong, but it seems like I’ve picked this guy up from the same parts of town as from where those people disappeared from several times.

I’m going to bed for now, but I’ll try and find out more tomorrow.

Well, I went back and double-checked the newspaper articles. There were three missing persons reported in the last few days. Today’s paper had their names and some details.

The first was Bill Brooks, a construction worker. He went missing back on the 4th and was last seen at Snyder’s IGA.

Grady Lincoln, an old farmer and retired MU Extension professor was last seen on Wednesday the 7th after attending a wildlife management planning meeting at the TCRC.

And then, Renee Van Male, a secretary, was just reported missing yesterday…She was last seen on the 10th…right before she went shopping at J.C. Penny’s.

And I’m not certain, since it’s been 2-3 weeks ago, but I really think that I was in each of these areas around these times. I routinely pass through the parking lots of most of the grocery stores and retail areas in town. It seems like there’s always someone who needs a cab ride home from the store.

The article went on, however and disclosed that two more reports had come in this morning. The identities haven’t been disclosed yet, but it’s really strange. This is a fairly small town of around 30,000 people. This is a lot of people missing, especially since nothing like this has ever happened before.

More information was released today. The identities of the two persons reported missing yesterday were confirmed today. One was a prominent public figure!

Mr. Lee Sides, Poplar Bluff City Planner hasn’t been seen since the end of a meeting at the 1st Baptist Church on October 13th.

Eric Guererre, a PBHS student was supposed to have spent the night with a friend after the football game on the 16th.

Also today, Col. Ezekiel Washington, (RET.) and Julie Wheeler, a Dexter, MO High School student were also reported missing to the media and confirmed.

Col Washington was last seen on the 19th and Ms. Wheeler was supposed to have been visiting relatives in town –down on Ditch Road, and never showed up. Her car was found abandoned in a parking lot not far from her Aunt’s house.

I definitely remember picking my strange customer up from the football game, because I almost had an accident in the parking lot on the way there. The stupid cheerleaders bolted out from behind a bus right in front of me. When they realized what they had done, most of them quickly ran out of the way, but one rude girl flipped me off as she ran off. You don’t quickly forget that. Such a sweet looking young thing, yet so ugly inside. The 16th was the most recent home game. Last Friday was an away game.

I’m pretty sure I remember picking this guy from the County Mart’s parking lot about a week ago. That’s not far from Ditch Road.

I had trouble sleeping last night. I’m almost too scared to go to work this evening.

After I wrote my entry this morning, I went back to bed and successfully fell asleep. Eventually, I woke up, groggy.

Even though I was reluctant to go to work, it seemed like it was going to be an uneventful night. Nothing but normal all night long. I was really feeling relieved and was about tot call it a night when I turned from 8th St. on to Pine and there he was! He was standing on the corner under the street light; waving me over. I almost kept driving, but curiosity got the better of me.

When he was in, and gave me the address – same general area—this time, it was the corner of Walnut St. and C Street. I asked him, “Is there anything special going on in that area, man?” He just met my gaze in my rear-view mirror. Silence can be uncomfortable. After a couple of minutes, I tried again. “I never pick you up from over in that part of town, even though I drive through it all day long. You find me all over town though, and I take you there all the time.” And then it slipped out – “All those people who keep being missing. Seems like more than a coincidence.”

Again, a very uncomfortable silence during which the back of my neck started to feel very hot as I feared his response. Eventually we reached his destination. As he got out, his eyes found mine again.

“I remember no such thing, my son.”

I pulled away, but stopped the car around the corner, out of sight. A desperate sense of purpose came over me. I got out and quickly walked back, staying to the shadows. I thought I had lost him, but right as I was about to give up, I caught sight of him entering an industrial building. One of those deals with only a few windows, and mostly a lot of corrugated metal over aluminum studs for walls. Well, there was a stack of pallets near a window that let me get up high enough to look in.

There was some kind of large vehicle – a ship of some kind, in the middle of the floor. I don’t know what it was made out of. It didn’t look like metal and it didn’t look like fiberglass or plastic either. It looked both, unbelievably solid and sort of not there at the same time. It was an elongated oval in shape, and it had really smooth lines. I didn’t see any noticeable seams, except for the real obvious ones where they had part of the ship removed for the work they were doing.

There were a lot of parts laid out on tables, on pallets and some on tarps on the floor. None of it looked like anything I’ve ever seen before. It did look like whatever it was, it was mostly done. Now you’d think that this would win the prize for the strangest thing I saw, but no. Turns out that I’ve been mistaken this whole time. There were a bunch of these guys. Damn if they didn’t all look just exactly alike! It made me think at once of an old Twilight Zone episode I saw where all these little blond kids all look the same. Except these weren’t kids. They were all pretty small, now that I think about it. All definitely on the petite side. But they all had the same pale, pale skin and white hair. With them all looking the same, and moving about while they worked on the ship, it was hard to count how many of them there were. I think that there was at least six or seven of them.

That’s still not the strangest thing I saw. I wasn’t the only thing skulking around outside their building. While I was crouched there outside a window, I heard a sound from down at the other side of the same wall, near the bay door that would open to a loading dock of sorts. I got off of the stack of pallets…more like fell off, because as I started to climb down, the world sort of rolled on me. What my eyes saw made so little sense that I think the rest of my senses took a little vacation. All I remember was that it was large and black and had more sharp things coming out of it than something alive should have. It was scratching at that big garage door like a dog trying to get in from the rain. It wasn’t barking—more like a roar combined with a scream. Three of these little white guys came around the corner, and I swear—pointed their hands at this dark toothy thing and started blasting it. No guns or anything…just their hands. It looked like white light shot from their hands and hit the thing. It only lasted a few seconds.

That black thing didn’t stand a chance. Two of them went back inside immediately after the shooting was over. One stayed and stood over the remains. A minute or so later, it seemed to begin to melt and in a very short while, there was nothing left except a bad smell in the air --kind of like rotten meat. Satisfied that his work was done, the last guy turned to go back inside also. It was then that I tried to get up. His head snapped towards me, and I didn’t wait to find out anything else. I took off at a dead run, my heart pounding and my breath ragged. I didn’t stop until I got to my cab, and took off like a drag racer. A few blocks later, I risked looking in my mirror, and I saw nothing. I was definitely done for the evening. I stopped by the IGA and got me something to drink away my fears. That’s what I’ll be doing next.

Good night!

The latest news is out. There have been two more people missing. Dr. Lydia Zhou disappeared on Sunday the 25 from Mercy Hospital. Mercy Hospital is located in Downtown. Look back up to my first post and tell me that’s not a coincidence! Then, also reported missing – this time on the 28th, Wednesday night—was Monsignor Michael Riggio. He disappeared after a meeting at Sacred Heart Catholic Church Wednesday night. Guess where Sacred Heart is: on 8th St., about a block from Pine St! I remember my mystery passenger on Wednesday night called me, “My son” as he got out.

Somehow, I think that my passenger used to be these missing people. Why they mostly get in my cab, I have no idea. I hope they don’t need a driver for their ship!

Did you ever have a time when you couldn’t tell if you were dreaming or not? I was still in bed. It was sometime this morning, I guess, as there was daylight coming in. I think it was daylight. I went from being asleep to being aware of a lot of light in the room. So much light…it was more than daylight. I couldn’t move. Eventually I got my eyes open just a little bit. It was so bright that I couldn’t see hardly anything. I was aware of several people or things in my room all of a sudden. I don’t know if I heard the voice out loud, or somehow, it felt like it was just in my head…I know that doesn’t make any sense. Either I heard it or I didn’t hear it, but I still understood it – inside my head. Maybe. Work with me on this.

I heard, “We nearly considered you for this mission, my son. But yours is another destiny. Search for friends and family in need. You must provide succor to them, for there is a darkness to be overcome. You can aid in this. Your heart and skills can lend to the upcoming battle.”

Then, the blinding white light grew even stronger. I passed out again. When I woke up again, I felt really rested. Then I checked the time on my phone and realized that I had slept for hours. I got up, and got into the car and I drove over to the East Side to that building I had been at on Wednesday night. Past little swarms of kids in costumes, with parents walking behind them drinking coffee against the cold and taking pictures. Maybe it was the rest, maybe it was seeing something completely normal like small-town Halloween stuff, or maybe it was something else, but the fear was gone.

The building was a mess. It looks like the roof had been destroyed and completely caved in. The walls looked fine, except for some wicked scratches in the loading dock door. If you look real close at the paint on the wall, you can also see a difference in places…like part of it had been faded by exposure to a sunlight over a period of years…except it’s localized to right around where those scratches are, and only part of it, as if something had been in the way of some of the light. Oh, and no ship inside. It was gone.

There was a cab parked about a block away. Almost in the exact same place I had parked the other night. The driver’s door was still open. The keys were still in the ignition, but the engine was dead and wouldn’t turn over.

“Friends and family in need,” they said? The only family I’ve got in the whole world is my little sister, Caprice. She’s going to college up in central Missouri. I haven’t heard from her in a while, though. Maybe it’s been a couple of years. I guess I can look her up.

Oh…the license posted in the cab was for a Beverly Clark. It’s probably too early, and no one will believe my story, but I’ll guess I’ll go and file a missing person’s report now.

Greetings Mister Woodruff,

I am new to this place as well. I found your story to be fascinating, completely unlike my own experiences nor any stories I had heard as a child.

I wonder, are there any homeless people in neighborhood? I you ask them what they have been seeing lately, perhaps one of them could confirm part of your story or fill in some details for you. It is not as if the police would take seriously any such report if they told the truth to the authorities.

Hello Mister Woodriff,

Are you still around? I was reviewing some of the older threads on this board from before I join when I think I noticed something. Your sister is named Caprice, is she not? I think she may have posted here on this site back in 2008. I noticed primarily because I am a college instructor myself, so her personal details stuck in memory. http://www.lazlosociety.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1009

Son ofa crap!

Thanks for the heads up, man.

Good luck Victor, and please keep us informed. That area is uncomfortably close to my territory of Saint Louis. I don't like uncompleted stories happening around me.