Headlights at Night - Part 1

A noticeable thing that I've noticed on many of my favorite blogs (Kevin Smith's for one good example) is that they often share many of the greater and more lengthy stories of things that have happened to them or their friends. Many of them are mostly exaggerated to some extent, but the obviousness of that fact usually lends to their credibility. You know you are reading a true story, but the "made up truths" just make it a more entertaining read.

These kind of stories aren't exactly out of line with Southern stories, best illustrated in popular culture by the underrated Tim Burton / Ewan McGregor movie "Big Fish". That movie illustrates how the heritage of story exists in the South really well. In fact, its a pretty accurate depiction of the feel and atmosphere of where I live. Again, obviously many things are exaggerated, but that's just how stuff goes down around here. Everything is just slightly surreal in nature.

So anyways. Point of this is that I'd like to start sharing some of these surreal experiences. In fact, at least once a month from now on, I am forcing myself to "debut" one on here. The first I'll share isn't my own, however. It is, byfar, the funniest story I've ever heard in my life. Like, ever. I won't do it justice telling it to you here. The only person who can do that is the guy who participated in said story, my friend Jonathan.

Part of the story of his retelling of this story even adds to the humor of it. It was in December of 2003 and we were trying to see "Return of the King" on opening night, but we had missed the first showing because it had quickly sold out. However, Brian and his girlfriend had made it in due to an Act of God, where a couple had decided they didn't want to see it and sold their tickets to him. So this left us, ungrudgingly, out in the literal cold where we had to wait until the next day to see the movie. The next day on the way back to the theater after having bought some biscuits at Burger King, Jonathan decides to tell us this account of what had happened to him and Brian the past Summer, since our jealousy of Brian having seen the movie the night before was a topic of conversation.

Firstly, I just cannot stress this enough. The way Jonathan told this story at this specific time is a milestone in the history of my friends and I. It's so funny how such a seemingly insignificant point in time can be so memorable and poignant, but it is. He tells us about how that past Summer, neither of them had much to do, and Brian was prone to stay at Jonathan's house overnight quite a few times. We'd often do this, watching movies and playing video games all night after going out and about and committing various acts of tomfoolery. One night, very late around 2:30 am, while the two of them were doing just this, they had noticed a pair of car headlights shining brightly in their window. It stayed for a few seconds, and the car that the lights belonged to turned around and went back where it went from.

Now, for some background information. Jonathan's house is one of two at the end of an old country road that is more or less a dead end. It is so country in fact, that his older sister lives at the entrance of this road with her husband. Futhermore, only around six or seven houses are on this road. Which made the event of this car even more curious.

This didn't just happen on one occasion either. The next night, Jonathan noticed that the lights again shined through his window around 2:30 in the morning. Again, and again it happened. He realized that it had happened five nights in a row, and that something was most definitely up.

.....to be continued....