Dead Man Travels Unnoticed on Train

[snopes]

A dead passenger traveled unnoticed for at least half a day on an executive passenger train.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070427/D8OOTL1O0.html

[Victoria J]

That's a wonderful headline.

A dead man travelling on a train is downright terrifying and I'm suprised it wasn't bigger news.

If it had just been a story about someone dying on a train and their body continuing to be carried back and forth all day without the passengers noticing then that would be a little less interesting.

Victoria - so often disappointed when I read the story beneath the headline - J

I know a guy who slept on an airplane such that he missed getting off at his correct stop (on SWA). He ended up in Houston instead of OKC.

Or you could do what this guy did.

[Andrew of Ware]

The story in the OP said that the man boarded the train with a group of friends. Did they not notice that he was missing when they got off? (OK, they may have got off at different stops, but when a mate goes to the loo and doesn't reappear for a long time then you would have thought they would have investigated.)

[Victoria J]

I was travelling by train this morning and in the seats across the aisle where a young man and woman who were asleep. Very asleep, completely unaware of anyone. They didn't notice people climbing over them to get to an empty seat.

When the train reached Gatwick the woman woke up. We were guessing she might just be under the influence of drugs due to the way she was moving. She got up, peered out, and tried to wake the man she was travelling with. He didn't move even when she hit him quite hard. Then she got off the train, peered in, and 30 seconds later got back on the train. This time she held his head between her hands and shook - hard. He didn't seem to notice. So she got off and left him.

The trains were all stopping at Three Bridges and he didn't get off there either. For all we know he is still travelling back and forth between Bedford and Three Bridges. He did appear to be breathing...

(And then I got the tube home and a very drunk man got on, sat opposite and said "I'm not one of those wierd people who...[minute long pause as he thought]...talks" You don't often meet a walking paradox).

Victoria - enjoying the wonders of public transport - J

One cold night last year, when I was the sole passenger in a carriage of the midnight train from Sydney, a guy came in and told me there was a dead woman in the carriage he had just left.

I asked him how he knew she was dead.

"She smells dead," he said. "And there are these pustules on her legs. It's disgusting."

He then went on about how, earlier, he had fought hand-to-hand with a demon who had impaled his forehead with a shard of glass but you couldn't see the scar because he had this brown jar of ointment that made things invisible.

He also went on about how he could see into people and tell who were real people and who were demons masquerading as people, and when he found a demon, he fought them.

And he glared at me.

Now, I'm pretty much used to people coming up to me on trains and at train stations and striking up weird conversations, because it just keeps on happening to me. I've come to expect it. But this was the only time I've been frightened that someone was going to get violent with me.

I had put the emergency number on the speed dial of my mobile phone before I left home that evening. I knew I'd be catching the midnight train. As soon as the guy began glaring at me, my hand went into my coat pocket and found my mobile, and didn't let go.

The guy was standing in the aisle, blocking my way out of my seat, glaring down at me. I figured the way to get out of the situation peacefully would be to stay calm and respectful.

So doing my best imitation of calm and respectful, I asked him how long he had been able to see demons.

The guy's eyes went wide. He let out a huge breath as if he'd been punched in the stomach. He sank down onto the armrest of the seat opposite and began telling me how he had started seeing demons just after his wife left him and took their kids.

I got his life story until the train reached his station. He even called me a nice guy as he left the carriage.

I took my hand out of my coat pocket and shook the cramp out of it.

My own station was a further half-hour up the line. I got off the train without looking into the other carriage.


A "travel by rail and arrive drenched in your own sweat" Jay