My exciting walk home.
So, in the Spring, I posted this picture of my walk home:
The overpass in Sudbrook Park.
Today, I left work a half hour earlier than usual today, because I got in a half hour earlier. Despite weird feelings I have about walking around here after dark, it was still a fairly light twilight, and so I decided to take the shortcut home from the metro-- the one that passes through Sudbrook Park. For those of you who are visually-oriented, this post contains a pictoral documentation of the shortcut home from the metro. I went over the bridge, past the white rocks, and around the bend towards the metro route overpass. Then I noticed something odd.
It wasn't that there were 4' high downed branches in the path. That happened sometime Sunday, but they're easy enough to walk around if you're on foot. You certainly wouldn't want to chance it with a vehicle unless you were certain you wanted a new paint job. But then again, why would you? There are no roads in the middle of the park, so it wasn't that big of an issue to clear, I guess.
It was that there was a parked car under the overpass, just past the downed branches. No lights, and it was too dark to see inside where I stood roughly 30' away. There was absolute silence-- no one around.
I stopped, looked around, and turned right the hell back around. You know when something just doesn't feel right? Well, it just didn't feel right.
I called the non-emergency police line to report it. The woman who answered said that it was probably the "accident" call that came in a few minutes ago. That just didn't seem right to me, either. As I hung up, I figured out why.
There is no vehicle access to that path. None. On the Metro end, the path is too narrow and blocked by rocks. Anyway, the car obviously hadn't gone through the branches, and there were no tire tracks in the soft mud. On the Sudbrook end, the small pedestrian gate-bridge has barriers up so no cars can pass, and no cars can pass on either side of it because the of the creek, which passes under the gate-bridge. Not only that, but even if you got your car through the gate-bridge, you'd have to drive though a playground and then something like 1/8 of a mile to get to the overpass-- through a wooded area that by no means has a car-accessible road. It's narrow and muddy and full of pond-puddles and deer. The sides are blocked off by trees and a metro barrier fence on one side, and a 20' wide creek on the other side.
How the hell did that car get there?
So anyway, I took the long way home. It's better lighted, and it passes right past homes. I noticed four police cruisers kind of looking for something and I flagged one down.
They asked if I was the person who called in the "accident." I said no, I'd called in a suspicious car. Well... they couldn't find it. Which makes a sort of sense, as that back area isn't particularly well traveled, as it's more or less woods and a creek in an otherwise suburban area, with no vehicular access. So I gave them directions and kept walking.
After I walked the long way, which took roughly fifteen minutes longer thanks to backtracking, I approached my house and saw police officers canvassing with flashlights. They had no clue how the car got back there, or who was in it. It was completely abandoned.
So. Who called in the 'accident'?
Right.
Creepy.
The overpass in Sudbrook Park.
Today, I left work a half hour earlier than usual today, because I got in a half hour earlier. Despite weird feelings I have about walking around here after dark, it was still a fairly light twilight, and so I decided to take the shortcut home from the metro-- the one that passes through Sudbrook Park. For those of you who are visually-oriented, this post contains a pictoral documentation of the shortcut home from the metro. I went over the bridge, past the white rocks, and around the bend towards the metro route overpass. Then I noticed something odd.
It wasn't that there were 4' high downed branches in the path. That happened sometime Sunday, but they're easy enough to walk around if you're on foot. You certainly wouldn't want to chance it with a vehicle unless you were certain you wanted a new paint job. But then again, why would you? There are no roads in the middle of the park, so it wasn't that big of an issue to clear, I guess.
It was that there was a parked car under the overpass, just past the downed branches. No lights, and it was too dark to see inside where I stood roughly 30' away. There was absolute silence-- no one around.
I stopped, looked around, and turned right the hell back around. You know when something just doesn't feel right? Well, it just didn't feel right.
I called the non-emergency police line to report it. The woman who answered said that it was probably the "accident" call that came in a few minutes ago. That just didn't seem right to me, either. As I hung up, I figured out why.
There is no vehicle access to that path. None. On the Metro end, the path is too narrow and blocked by rocks. Anyway, the car obviously hadn't gone through the branches, and there were no tire tracks in the soft mud. On the Sudbrook end, the small pedestrian gate-bridge has barriers up so no cars can pass, and no cars can pass on either side of it because the of the creek, which passes under the gate-bridge. Not only that, but even if you got your car through the gate-bridge, you'd have to drive though a playground and then something like 1/8 of a mile to get to the overpass-- through a wooded area that by no means has a car-accessible road. It's narrow and muddy and full of pond-puddles and deer. The sides are blocked off by trees and a metro barrier fence on one side, and a 20' wide creek on the other side.
How the hell did that car get there?
So anyway, I took the long way home. It's better lighted, and it passes right past homes. I noticed four police cruisers kind of looking for something and I flagged one down.
They asked if I was the person who called in the "accident." I said no, I'd called in a suspicious car. Well... they couldn't find it. Which makes a sort of sense, as that back area isn't particularly well traveled, as it's more or less woods and a creek in an otherwise suburban area, with no vehicular access. So I gave them directions and kept walking.
After I walked the long way, which took roughly fifteen minutes longer thanks to backtracking, I approached my house and saw police officers canvassing with flashlights. They had no clue how the car got back there, or who was in it. It was completely abandoned.
So. Who called in the 'accident'?
Right.
Creepy.