Viclore

This post is a continuation of my discussion with a friend about the unexplained experiences they had whilst working in the US. The previous post can be found here: Getting Watched by the Shadow People: A Night in the Presidio

Vic:
So the third one was on the trains?

Ren:
Yes, the Night Riders. Night Riders are more like a ghost, at least, that’s the assumption. Night Riders- the basic logic is you are on the last or second to last train out of San Francisco. Or into San Francisco, depending on which way you’re going. You get on the train, it’s like, what, almost midnight. There’s basically no one out on those trains at that point. So what few people are in the cab with you are probably either homeless or very drunk or some combination of that or they’re like you just trying to fucking get home. So, you don’t bother anyone. And standard train rules that happens here on the on the tube and the trains here, you don’t talk to other people. You don’t acknowledge their presence other than to like, you know, move past them and say sorry, or excuse me.

So you’re sitting on the train, and because it’s the second to last or last train, the Bay Area Rapid Transit BART police will come through and check and make sure that there’s no homeless people staying on the train. And usually what happens is the door at one end of the carriage opens. Officer comes through, checks people, and at that point you realize it’s just you and the officer in the cab. Huh. That’s weird, because you got on the cab and there were other people, but did they get off at different stations? You weren’t really paying attention. Officer leaves the cab, and then you notice that all of the other people that were in the cab with you are now back in the cab with you after the officer has been through, and it was just you two.

Generally speaking, the acknowledgement is that when you are paying attention and observing your surroundings, you will not notice them. If you are minding your own fucking business and just getting on the train and getting off and not making a point to like observe people, you tend to notice them. It’s assumed that some are probably rail workers who died during the construction of the tunnel underneath the bay, things like that, because that flooded quite a few times during construction. There’s plenty of people that have probably died on BART just generally speaking, it’s a train system. And you know, it’s just “Congrats! Ghosts.” They’re polite ghosts. Don’t bother them, they won’t bother you.

Vic:
So what did you do when you realized that they were like ghosts around you?

Ren:
Same thing I did with everything else. They’re just on their trip. I’m on my trip. Don’t bother them. They won’t bother me.

Vic:
Think that would work with a not deer?

Ren:
No, I don’t trust not deer.

Vic:
Understandable. So again, is it a fairly common-ish phenomena on the train?

Ren:
Not a lot of people take Bart that late, but you ask enough people, and you get people be like, yeah, I saw ghosts on BART.

Vic:
Okay, so it’s something that gets discussed?

Ren:
And obviously they don’t show up on CCTV or whatever, because observation. So that’s always the frustrating one is explaining to someone that you only notice them when you’re not looking for them. It’s like, well, how do I go on the BART to look for them without looking for them?

Vic:
So what would happen if you just by chance weren’t paying attention, you’re just coming home late from work, and then you realize what’s happening, and you started looking at them. What do you think would happen?

Ren:
I’m fairly certain what would happen is I would look around the cab, probably notice that there are people with me, and as the more I looked around, the less of them, I would start to observe. That is my guess. I’ve never done that because, again, the rule of thumb is, as with all BART things, as with all train travel, leave the other passengers alone.

Vic:
Yeah, that’s understandable. So will they only appear when you’re the last person on the train, generally?

Ren:
It looks like, generally speaking, either it’s you or one other person with you, generally speaking. I’ve only ever experienced them when it’s just me on the train. Now there are other people in other carriages. I know. I’ve seen people getting on and off the train that late. It’s usually only like two or three people, but usually it’s a you get on the train and there’s a few other people in the cab with you, and then you find out, no, actually, it’s just you in the cab.

Vic:
So has this happened multiple times to you?

Ren:
Yeah.

Vic:
And roughly what year was this?

Ren:
That would have been between 2017 and 2020

Vic:
Okay, cool. Um, any other strange encounters?

Ren:
Not really. I mean being of juridical belief, there are a bunch of stuff that I believe that is not specific to, like folkloric stuff in that sense, you know, like the belief in spirits and this. Like, I’m sure I could tell you the stories of electronics doing shit that they shouldn’t be doing. And it’s like, why? You know, everyone knows the bullshit when it comes to electronics. Of um, the program won’t compile and it won’t tell me why it won’t compile. And then you’re like “Fuck it”, and go to bed, and you wake up the next morning, you hit compile, and now it just works. Like, why?

Vic:
Ghosts? Elves came in in the night and fixed your code?

Ren:
Yeah <laughs>. As a druid, a lot of it is belief in like, everything has an energy and a spirit in the sense, there is a an essence for every thing in the world, which means computers have a kind of spirit in their own sense. And if that’s the case, you know, if you get a- you know there are people out there that’re like this computer or this printer hates me specifically, works fine for everyone else, but for me, breaks every time. And like, there’s not really much explanation for that other than like, bad vibes, the spirit of that machine does not like you.

Vic:
Think there’s anything that you can do if a printer takes a disliking to you?

Ren:
Attempt to appease it or find a new printer.

Vic:
Cool. So did you feel like any of the things you encountered actually wanted anything from you? Or are they just they’re doing their own thing, you’re existing in the same space.

Ren:
Apart from the Not Deer the others, they’re just doing their own thing. I mean, ghosts tend to just do whatever it is ghosts are doing. I assume they have some kind of logic behind their behavior, usually related to the environment in which they passed away, I assume. The Shadow People they just watch people. They be watching. That’s just what they do. And then Not Deer. Who the fuck knows what they want, but I do as fuck know that if some sort of predator species of deer is approaching me, I am not sticking around to find out what it wants.

Vic:
That’s understandable.

Ren:
It’s much larger than me. It can kill me quite easily. And, you know, people will assume that if you have sharp teeth marks in you, it was a coyote that killed you.

Vic:
Have they got antlers?

Ren:
Yeah. Well, obviously depending on time of year, but I only ever saw them in the fall, so.

Vic:
Cool so that’s all the questions I have. Thank you for your time!

Ren:
You are welcome.