True Ghost Stories

The woman from the 1940s

December 24, 2015 |  27 comments
Image Credit: sxc.hu Upon leaving a bus at a bus station in California in the late 1960s, I stumble across a family who were waiting to be picked up by a relative. I myself was waiting for my mother to pick me up after taking a trip to Salinas to visit my cousin. As I waited, I began a conversation with the mother of a family sitting on one of the two benches outside the bus station. Her name was Anna and she introduced me to her family. She was a pretty woman with olive skin and hazel eyes.

She was dressed in a 40s style suit, with a green hat to match her outfit. She looked very elegant. We first spoke of the weather then the school her children attended. She began speaking of the war, saying her brother had joined the army to fight the Japanese. I didn’t want to be disrespectful and correct her; she clearly had her wars confused. Surely she meant the Vietnam War which was currently being fought.

Anna went on to tell me she worked in the factory in the nearby town and she and her family did what they could for the war effort. She then told me she knew a fellow who died during the bombing on Pearl Harbor. Although, she said she didn’t know him very well, she clearly was very distraught that he was killed. As Anna continued to speak, I noticed her conversation was based on events from the past. I then asked her when her friend had enlisted in the Army, when she said 1939, I almost fell off my seat. I started to tell her it was 1969, but just then my mother drove up in the old broken down Valiant, she was so proud to have. I said my good byes to Anna and her family and walked to the car, as I turned around to wave good bye, they were gone.

As I got in the car, I started to tell my mother about my conversation with the lady who was sitting on the bench with her family. My mom looked at me with a puzzled look on her face, she told me when she drove up, I appeared to be talking to myself and I was the only person sitting on the bench; there was no one else around me. I told my mom I had this long conversation with Anna and met her husband and two children. My mom stopped the car to feel my forehead to see if I had a fever.

I tend to keep this story to myself since the only other people who could verify it were really never there.

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