The Box in the Attic
Found this stuff when we were cleaning out grandpa's house after the funeral. Mom said he was obsessed with that CB radio setup in his basement, talking to truckers all hours of the night. I figured it was just loneliness after grandma died.
The equipment was ancient - a Cobra 29 LTD Classic from the 80s, antenna cables snaking everywhere, and this metal filing cabinet full of handwritten logs. Hundreds of pages, all in his careful handwriting. Date, time, channel, call sign, conversation notes.
Photo: Cobra 29 LTD Classic, via www.manua.ls
Most of it was boring stuff. Weather reports, truck stops, which weigh stations to avoid. But there's this section from late 1987 that's... different.
October 15, 1987 - Channel 19
2:47 AM - Eastbound trucker "Moondog" reports something following his rig on I-40, mile marker 117 (NM). Says it's been pacing him for twenty miles, staying just outside his headlight range. Dispatch thinks he's falling asleep.
3:12 AM - "Moondog" again. Whatever it is moved closer. Describes it as "wrong-shaped" and moving on too many legs. Requests other drivers check their mirrors in that area.
3:45 AM - Lost contact with "Moondog." Last transmission: "Oh Christ, it's looking at me through the passenger window."
October 22, 1987 - Channel 19
1:23 AM - Driver "Roadkill" reports abandoned truck at mile 119, I-40 eastbound. Trailer still attached, engine running, driver door open. No sign of driver.
1:35 AM - State patrol en route to investigate. "Roadkill" says he's not stopping to help. Something about the way the truck's headlights are pointing - "like it was trying to get away from the desert."
2:15 AM - Three more drivers report feeling "watched" between miles 115-125. One claims his CB picked up breathing on an empty channel.
November 3, 1987 - Channel 19
12:56 AM - New driver "Whistler" asks if anyone else has seen the "stick figure" near mile 120. Says it's been following the shoulder for the past hour, always at the edge of his peripheral vision.
1:22 AM - "Whistler" updates: The thing isn't on the shoulder anymore. It's keeping pace with his truck, running alongside at 65 mph. Describes movement as "all wrong, like a broken marionette."
1:33 AM - "Whistler's" transmission cuts to static mid-sentence. Last words: "It's climbing up the side of my—"
1:45 AM - Found "Whistler's" rig jackknifed at mile 121. Driver missing. Cargo undisturbed.
Grandpa's notes get stranger after that. References to "the walking hunger" and "desert mimics." He started monitoring emergency frequencies, tracking missing persons reports along that stretch of highway. By December 1987, he'd documented seventeen disappearances between miles 115-125 of I-40 in New Mexico.
Photo: New Mexico, via www.maps-of-the-usa.com
The Pattern
What freaks me out is the consistency. Always the same stretch of highway. Always late at night. Always truckers driving alone. The thing - whatever it is - seems to hunt in a specific territory, like a predator with a defined range.
Grandpa's last entry is from December 23, 1987:
"Tried raising anyone on Channel 19 tonight. Dead quiet except for something that sounds like breathing on the emergency frequency. Think it knows I've been listening. Think it knows where I live."
He stopped logging after that, but kept the radio equipment running until he died. Mom said she'd sometimes hear him talking to it late at night, like he was trying to warn people.
Still Active
Here's the thing that made me post this. I hooked up grandpa's old CB last week, just to see if it still worked. Tuned to Channel 19 around 2 AM.
First transmission I picked up was a trucker heading east on I-40, somewhere around Albuquerque. Said something was pacing his truck near mile 118. Described it as "tall and wrong, moving like it's got too many joints."
I tried to warn him, told him to get off that stretch of highway immediately. He laughed it off, said I'd been watching too many horror movies.
His CB went silent at 2:47 AM.
I've been monitoring the emergency frequencies since then. Nothing official, but there's been chatter about another missing trucker. Last seen at a truck stop in Grants, New Mexico. Found his rig abandoned at mile 120, engine still running.
If you're a trucker reading this, avoid I-40 between miles 115-125 in New Mexico. Especially at night. Especially if you're driving alone.
And if something starts pacing your truck in that area, don't look directly at it. Don't try to outrun it. Just get on the CB and call for help while you still can.
Channel 19 is always listening.
