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And you thought you were too old for ghost stories! - 22 February 2003 . 10:13 I was sleeping yesterday in an attempt to prepare for another glorious night at the hog plant when the phone rang. It was my wonderful, albiet long-winded, aunt calling to shoot the breeze. 2 hours and 10 minutes of breeze, during which she told me a "ghost story." Apparently back in the early 1940s, when the only paved road in town was the main street, a "rural legend" began. Back when my grandfather was a child there was an actual horse farm on Ballance Farm Road named, fittingly enough, Ballance Farm. (Sidenote: Ballance Farm Road still boasts a modest version of the horse farm. It sits on the corner of Shaw Mill and Ballance Farm roads.) The legend goes that Old Man Nance, then owner of the Ballance Farm, was walking up the then-dirt road from his house to the horse farm and was struck by an automobile. Since the accident happened just past the Nance house, the motorist ran to fetch Mrs. Old Man Nance to call for the doctor. By the time the motorist and Mrs. Nance got back to the accident scene, Old Man Nance was dead. For a good 20 years after Old Man Nance was killed people reported all kinds of strange happenings when someone had a car accident on Ballance Farm Road. One lady saw a man drive his car into a telephone pole just across the road from her house. She called the police department and while looking out the window to provide the officers with details, she saw the driver lifted from his car and laid on the grassy roadside. She saw the driver, limp from shock, literally floating from his car to the ground as if he was being carried by the invisible man. Seemed Old Man Nance decided to stay on as a resident of the Ballance Farm Road and spend the hereafter rescuin' victims of automobile accidents. Old Man Nance has a pretty good record too. Each victim he reportedly assisted survived. Fast forward 30-some years. My aunt and her fiance, Ronnie, live on a private road just off Ballance Farm Road. (Just in case you're interested my grandparents and another aunt live on this same private road. Funny callin' it a private road now that interlopers have moved their trailers onto the front section of this road and changed my family from sole residents to mere residents. But that's another story.) Anyhow, Ronnie is a truck-driver. One day when pulling out onto Ballance Farm Road, Ronnie's rig collided with a vehicle. For some reason the engine of the vehicle caught fire and Ronnie rushed to get the driver out. As he was recounting this tale to my aunt he told her it was lucky there was another fella to help tote the injured party out of harm's way. Funny thing about that other fella. Ronnie went to thank him for the help and the man was gone. Not only that but Ronnie couldn't remember anything about the man's looks...only thing he could recall is that it was an older man who never spoke. My aunt and my grandparents are convinced this is the handiwork of Old Man Nance. Okay, I'm pretty convinced (and just a teensy bit spooked) that Old Man Nance is back to work keeping travelers safe on his road. But why now after 30 some odd years of keeping a low profile, so to speak?
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