While traveling through the state of Kentucky a few years ago. I had been driving westbound across the Cumberland Parkway. The Official name of the Parkway is, The Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway. It is a 92 miles long east west controlled access highway in Kentucky, extending from the town of Somerset in the east, to the town of Glasgow in the west. The parkway officially begins at an interchange with Interstate 65 (exit 43) between Smiths Grove and Park City. The Parkway was a toll road until 2003. Since then the toll facilities have been removed. The drive across the Cumberland Parkway takes you through some beautiful rolling farmland. I truly enjoyed the drive with its scenic views of the rural south central Kentucky landscape.
Traveling west and just past the town of Glasgow the Parkway terminates, and merges into Interstate 65 designated as mile marker 43. I took the southbound ramp and merged onto Interstate 65 south. From there, I drove on south for a few miles, and decided to stop get fuel, and take a break at a truck stop just off the exit at Smiths Grove. After topping up with fuel and checking fluid levels and tire pressure, I decided to get something to eat in the truck stop restaurant. The inside of the building and restaurant seemed to have a certain country charm that I had seen before in a lot of truck stops in the southern United States.
I set down at a table across from a couple of older gentlemen that were sitting at a table across from mine. For all I knew they could have been truck drivers that had stopped in to get fuel, or a couple of locals that had stopped in to just hang out and eat a bite. The Waitress came by and with her southern charm ask me if I wanted a menu or if I would be interested in the daily special. Before I could answer, one of the gentlemen at the table over from me spoke to me and told me I should try a chili patty melt. To that "I said thank you". I then asked the waitress what it was and she described it as a lot of food, as it was two hamburger patties in a butter toasted bun with a slice of american cheese in the middle covered with homemade chili and topped with crushed zesta crackers and then topped off with shredded american cheese, with a side of french fries all on a oval shaped platter.
"I said" gosh, that is a lot of food. The waitress went on to explain that the chili patty melt was an invention of the owner, and although it wasn't in huge demand, it was very reasonably priced. I said, "I'll take one with a large coke, and what I don't eat, I'll put what's left in a to-go tray". She then took my order and went on to check on the other customers.
One of the two gentlemen at the other table ask me where I was headed to. I told them I was coming from Somerset Kentucky across the Parkway and was going south toward Nashville Tennessee. The gentleman said "Oh, then your not familiar with this area are you"? I replied not "really, I'm just passing through". The fellow went on to exclaim that back a few miles north at the 42 mile marker on the southbound side sometime in the late 1980's there was a older local man that was driving a pick-up truck, around 2 am and the weather was light drizzle rain and foggy, and was traveling southbound on I-65. The truck had broke down, and as the man was getting out of the truck, presumably to see what was the matter, was struck by a vehicle and killed instantly.
The two fellows as I was starting to suspect by now were a pair of locals that frequented the truck stop to hang out in the restaurant. As the story about the tragic accident kept unfolding. I started to see it was turning into a local ghost story, by then I was captivated and had to hear more.
As the story goes, the man was driving south when his pick-up truck broke down at the 42 mile marker on I-65 just past where the Cumberland Parkway merges into I-65. (The weather that night was rainy drizzle and foggy) The man had got out of his truck as theory has it, was going to check on the problem. He was then struck by a passing vehicle and killed instantly.
By then the waitress had brought my order and was placing it and the drink on the table. I could see what she was talking about when she described it as being a lot of food. The waitress was not kidding, the patty melt and fries were on a large china platter. The fellows at the other table were chuckling about my order and were saying, "well, if you don't eat it all you can save some for later". After I got situated with my food and drink, I asked the fellows if there was any more to the story. They said "oh yeah", and went on to explain that on rainy foggy nights the local county 911 would get calls about a pick-up truck broke down on I-65 south bound around the 42 mile marker, but when a trooper would be sent to check it out, there wouldn't be a vehicle found in the area, and would be called in by the trooper as couldn't find anything.
One of the gentlemen went on to tell the story. He said that a few years before there was a waitress that had been working the front desk in the truck stop, on the late shift and that it was one of those foggy, rainy nights that was quiet with light traffic. The gentleman went on to say that the waitress said she saw a full sized black 4 door sedan, like a unmarked police car pull up and stop just a few feet from the front entrance. The car was there for a few minutes longer than usual it seemed, and struck her as kind of odd, the waitress exclaimed. Then the car pulled out and exited the parking lot, made a right turn and took the ramp onto southbound I-65. The waitress said she never saw the car again. After a few days the waitress started asking some of the local law enforcement, that came into the truck stop from time to time, about it. Everyone of the local cops from Sheriff's Deputy's, State Troopers and DOT Officers would all say none of their agency's had cars meeting that description.
About a week after that, what looked like the same black sedan that had pulled up, and parked for an unusual amount of time at the front door of the restaurant, as the night shift waitress had described. Came in and parked in a parking spot in front. When the driver came in. The waitress asked the guy if he was driving the black sedan about a week before, and if it was him that pulled up at the pumps and parked there for a few minutes. Come to find out, it was the same car, and the driver was a local constable that had just got a new cruiser. So that would explain why the other local cops didn't know anything about it.
Now this is where the story starts getting really interesting. The constable went on to tell the waitress that yes it was him, and that he had been in the city of Glasgow that night on a call assisting other law enforcement. But as he was traveling south on I-65 he saw a vehicle stopped on the emergency lane at the 42 mile marker. Upon stopping and asking if the driver of the vehicle needed a ride or anything, the constable said the driver of the broke down vehicle said "yes" and wanted to know if he'd give him a lift down to the truck stop at Smiths Grove. The constable said, "hop in and I'll take you there, because it's on my way south anyway".
The waitress then asked the constable, "Was it a pick-up truck the fellow was driving"? The constable, said, "yes it was". The waitress asked where the fellow was sitting in his car when he pulled up to let him out in front of the truck stop main entrance? The constable said he was sitting in the right rear passenger side of his cruiser, and that the reason he had pulled up close to the front entrance was because he wanted to let the older fellow out as close as he could because it was raining. The constable also added that the fellow was thanking him for giving him a ride and that was the reason he was parked there like that for a few minutes.
The waitress then seemed stunned after the constable said that, because the waitress then said, "I saw you pull up in front and wondered why you had parked there, and then just pulled out and left" "I didn't see you let anybody out". "I watched you from the time you pulled up and no doors on your car opened and I never saw anybody get out". The constable looked confused and said, "yes I gave a guy a ride, pulled in here and let him out. I know what I did" the constable said.
As you might think, the waitress and the constable, were in total disagreement with each other over what had happened and with each others stories. But after more discussion, the constable realized that he had met the infamous 42 mile marker ghost!
The waitress was so shaken by all of it that the next day she requested to be put on day shift. Later, when election time came about the constable decided not to seek another term.
That is only one of the many folk tales that are told around our country. It's another good reason anyone should get out and travel and check out places and strike up conversations with people.
Oh! and BTW, I couldn't eat all of what I ordered and asked for a to-go tray.
Just Go For It, A Life Of Travel Adventure Awaits!
~Chaz~
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