I was walking with friends at night along the tracks that lead west out of Oak Hill toward Dothan. This gap is where the railroad crosses between the valleys of Loup and Paint Creek. On the Oak Hill side of the gap, a lot of people live, but on the far side, there’s no one for miles. We didn’t mean to be out that long, but there we were. There was enough light to be able to see the rocks along the tracks, so it was scary, but we could still make our way back to our houses near Collins school.
When we got to where the Silver Gap is, we saw a gray form about the height of a person in the woods overlooking the track. It was really hard to make out, but it was there. It could have been a wisp of smoke or fog, but it stayed in the same place for a few minutes while we stood there and freaked out.
Finally, we got our courage up and began to move past it. Once we got past, it suddenly began to move and came down the bank to the tracks. We ran on ahead a little way and looked back. It was still there, standing on the track. It felt like it was watching us. Then it slowly started moving away from us along the track until it disappeared into the dark. A second later, we heard what sounded like a man cry in horror. At that point, we ran all the way back to where we could see the lights over near Round Hill Road.
I’ll never forget how it looked or how scared we were. I’ve never heard of anything about Silver Gap or why it’s named that or if someone was killed near there. But I know what we saw and heard.
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