The Death on Scull Road

Name:            Debbie Roppolo
Email:           droppol@acad.stedwards.edu
Location:        Scull Road  San Marcos, Texas
Type:            Ghost
Date:            Friday, June 23, 2000
Time:            09:33 PM

I had been a skeptic of the paranormal since I was a child. Even though I had a very rich Native American history, I chose to ignore my grandmother's teaching of spirits of the dead, foretelling of death, and spirit guides. I was a skeptic, that is, until 1993. When I was 23, I served as a police officer in a small town near San Marcos, Texas. My shift was the 5 PM-2 AM shift. After the end of my shift every night, I would travel homeward on a small country road by the name of Scull (pronounced Skull) Road. The very name of the road would insinuate evil if a person did not know that the road was named after a family living in the area. Even though I knew this information, I always felt a little uneasy driving down the road. My misgivings about the road were rewarded on Halloween night, in 1993.

As usual, I worked my evening shift in my town. Earlier that evening I met my husband in town, he--being a peace officer also--was allowed to ride in my patrol car. My hubby left for home about 10 PM. At the end of my shift, I drove my car down the dark, forbidding Scull Road towards home. I had just crossed the river bridge, and was rounding a corner when, through the fog, I saw a young boy in a white shirt and blue jeans walking in the middle of the road. I spotted the boy too late to avoid hitting him. I put on the brakes, and steeled myself for the inevitable thud of a body striking the hood of my car. My heart leapt into my throat as, unbelievingly, my car passed through the young man. After my car came to stop, I jumped out of the car to see if I could see the youth; there was nothing around except the twittering of a night bird. Shaken, I drove home. As I drove, I reasoned that it was fatigue that caused me to see the vision, or perhaps it was mist from the river. I re-examined my theory a few days later. A couple of days later, I mentioned my experience to a friend that grew up in the San Marcos area. "Was the boy wearing a white shirt and blue jeans?" my friend asked hoarsely. "Yes. Is there something to what I saw? Can you tell me about it? I asked. My friend turned pale when she heard my answer, and said that she really didn't want to talk about it.

My husband does not believe in the paranormal period. But a week after I had my encounter, he told me something that chilled me to my very core. He told me that Halloween night--the night he rode with me--he decided that he would take Scull Road home. Around 10 PM, around the same place that I had my encounter, he saw the bottom half of a person walking in the fog. Like me, he thought that he was going to hit the person, but instead drove right through them. I went back to my friend and demanded to know what happen. She hesitantly told me the story behind the sightings. In the late 1980's there was a high school couple who were deeply in love with each. They were involved in school activities together, and were seldom apart. One night, in the middle of winter, the couple took a drive over to the radio tower on Scull Road to make out. They apparently shut off the engine, but there was a defect in the car that allowed carbon monoxide to enter the car through the vents, thus killing the two lovers. My friend told me that several residents traveling Scull Road had seen the ghost of the boy walking up and down Scull Road looking for help.

Just this past year, I was discussing the story with my best friend and her husband. A few days later, I saw my friend's husband. He told me that one foggy morning, around 5 AM, he was driving down Scull Road and saw the silhouette of a person walking. My friend's husband, after passing the figure, looked in his rear view mirror and saw that the figure was wearing a white shirt. May friend's husband stopped, thinking the person had car trouble, and was going to allow the walking figure to catch up. After a couple of minutes, he looked in his mirror again and saw that the person had disappeared.

Since my encounter, we have moved closer to Scull Road. Unfortunately, I have to drive down the doomed road often. I look neither to the left, nor to the right, but straight ahead. Needless to say, I am no longer a skeptic of the paranormal