The Bicyclist

From: Noel (lanoss@gmail.com)
Story type: Ghost
Location: Texas
Source: Form Submission

About 2 years ago, around 2004, my wife and I were driving along the frontage road of Beltway 8 South loop. It was around 1 am in the morning, and we were on our way home from a family get-together at my sister's house.

I was on the far right lane on this road. At one stretch of the road, I noticed a reflector, like from a bicycle. It was on my side of the road heading our way. I signaled to switch lanes to the middle lane so that I would not make the bicyclist nervous. I remember thinking who would be riding their bike at 1 am. My wife noticed it also, as she occasionally turned her head to look at the bicyclist down the other lane. Just as we were about to pass each other, the bicyclist just disappeared, bike and all. My wife turned to me just as I looked in the rear-view mirror. I could not see the bicyclist. The road had decent lighting since it was next to the tollway. She asked if I saw that bicyclist. I said "of course I did, why do you think I siwtched lanes!!"

There was nowhere for the bicyclist to go. There is a noise barrier along that road to protect the neighborhood. It is an unbroken stretch of about 50 yards, and we were pretty much in the middle of that stretch. To this day, we mention that bicyclist every time we are on that stretch of frontage road. Was it a ghost? We will always wonder for sure.