The blood moon was extremely cool and we got a clear view of it from here!
Last night was crazy. There’s a thin (20 to 40 foot wide) band of extremely tall (70 foot tall?) original growth trees behind my house, then a warehouse about 100 feet from my deck. That I’ll never have “back door neighbors” is one of the reasons I bought the place.
Anyhoo, the street that runs in front of that warehouse is “known” by “local” (defined as DE, NJ, PA, and MD) kids as a great place to have drag races. I’ve heard them briefly (5 to 15 minutes) racing many times, and never thought of calling the cops because it’s just kids having fun. Lots of squealing tires, engine revving, that sort of thing.
Last night, the races seemed to go on for a long time. 30 minutes, maybe an hour. I thought about going over and telling them to knock it off, someone was going to call the cops, but I was more interested in the blood moon so didn’t.
A little after 10PM I heard a sound that’s hard to describe; cars heading rapidly from right to left, behind the trees and building, then … here’s where I can’t describe it … boom, crunch, crash, slam. It sort of sounded like a car hitting a large garbage container, repeatedly. Then nothing. Then people talking/yelling/crying.
The racing stopped. other than the talking/yelling/crying, there was no sound. No engines revving, no tires squealing, just people talking/yelling/crying.
I could see a flashing red light through the trees, although not well or clearly, so my wife and I walked through the trees to get a better look.
There were dozens of emergency vehicles surrounding an upturned vehicle, smashed to shit, in a much lower “slot” in the land, leading to a drainage pond. A sign had been taken out, which led to the vehicle rolling several (4?) times before coming to rest.
An ambulanceman rolled by, but didn’t stop.
A helicopter hovered overhead, but didn’t land.
Whoever was in that car was dead.
We went back home. I took one more look at the blood moon, then I went to bed.
Today, I walked back to the accident site. Someone had placed a “memorial” of sorts, expressing love for the deceased. Part of the memorial was a balloon that said “happy birthday!”. I don’t know. Maybe it was the dude’s birthday, maybe it was a few days ago or a few days in the future. Maybe it was the only balloon they could find. Maybe he got the car for his Birthday, and killed himself in it, that night.
At any rate, friends and family are crying.
Next time I hear racing, I’m not going to think “it’s just kids having fun”, I’m gong to think “someone died doing this”.
I’m going to call the cops.
Then I’ll walk over and let them know I made the call. If I have the chance to save someone’s life. That’s a chance I can’t pass up, anymore..