Watch Out For That Slick on Route 666

We've all heard the stories and ramblings attached to the number 666. It's said to be the number of the beast. The number of the devil himself! But I mean, come on, who really pays attention to that stuff? For years it was just something I brushed off, didn't really think twice about...until that one fateful night in October.

I, Mike, was a young man in my late teens and out with some friends for a good time around the "spirited" Halloween season. My friend John and I decided to go to a haunted hayride on brisk fall night. We decided to invite some first timers with us so we figured a hayride would be a good way to "break them in" to the terror that awaited. Ha! We couldn't wait to see some of their reactions. Haunters Haven was a new hayride we decided to check out that year. As most Halloween attractions go, we figured this was going to be out in the middle of nowhere, but no one in our group knew specifically where we were going. All we had to go by was an address from a flyer. Good thing we had our trusty phones with us so someone could put in the address to this place. We loaded everyone up into my Jeep. My best friend John was my copilot in the passenger seat and Dave, Tony and Joe sat in the back. Despite John having the GPS up on his phone we got a little lost. We went to where the location was supposed to be, but upon arriving we found only a silent, desolate field. We decided to drive around this area a bit, figuring there must be some sign we missed about an alternate route to this hayride, because clearly we were not in the right place.... or were we?

We drove around aimlessly and unfortunately no one really payed attention to the turns we were taking or the direction we were going in. We all just looked out the windows keeping our eyes peeled for some cars, or people, or anything to indicate we were on the right track, but man was it dark! There were no street lights, only pitch black in front and back of us. We couldn't even find a simple street sign anymore to tell us what direction we were traveling in. Talk about creepy! We all hoped the hayride was half as scary as this car ride was. As John continuously looked at his phone hoping for something to come up on the map to guide us in the right direction, a notification all of the sudden popped up on his screen that read, "You are traveling on route 666. You're almost there". We all just looked at each other a little dumbfounded upon hearing Johns announcement. Ok, now we were totally freaked out. We weren't sure if this was the coolest or the scariest thing ever. Did the event enable something on our phones to give us that message, or was this something more sinister? We realized that we really had no choice but to continue forward on this road in hopes that it took us to our destination. We could still hardly see a thing outside and oddly the lights on the Jeep seemed to become dimmer, as if something was draining their energy. We drove another mile or so feeling incased in the silence. No one spoke as the almost palpable anxiety rolled off everyone, and we all searched out our windows hoping for some signs of life. All of a sudden, as if a switch flipped, the car lights were getting brighter and the radio started to play all on its own; not a single button had been pushed.

At the same time, about a hundred yards away, our headlights bounced off something reflective covering the road. As we drove a bit closer it seemed like some type of liquid. It looked like a giant puddle covering the width of this two lane road. It seemed odd to us though that there would be a puddle as it had not rained at all that day or night. As we got closer to what I presumed to be a puddle of water, I started to slow down the car. John and I both looked at the "puddle" and then looked at each other. Did he see what I was seeing? It seemed to almost...dare I say...glow? I slowed the car to a halt and sat there for a second, my eyes not really believing what they were seeing. John and I, thinking the same thing, told everyone else to stay in the car for a second while we checked this thing out. We got out of the car and using the flashlights on our phones we cautiously approached the "puddle". Next to John was indeed a sign that said "Route 666". I realized that there was this acrid smell from the substance in the road, like oil that dripped onto hot car engine parts, permeating from it. I bent over to inspect it closer and with a gloved hand I touched the liquid. I noticed that it was slippery and felt like oil... a lot of oil. How the heck did this massive amount of oil get here? Did someones' vehicle break down? I stood and looked around, John checking the other side of the road as well. There was a large corn field to our right so not much to see in that direction. I didn't see any other cars and there were no skid marks on the road indicating an accident, but then again our phone flashlights only reached so far and it was still so eerily dark around us. I also noted how quiet it was. The usual sounds that dappled the night could not be heard. Not a single cricket chirped, there was no wind to whisper in your ear and rustle the corn stalks, and still not a single sign of this hayride we were going to. As I approached the oil again I couldn't help but stare at the subtle way it glowed. Mesmerizing iridescent colors shifted around in the oil, yet at the same time it seemed like an endless black pit. Like metallic colored pens on a black piece of paper. I said to John that we could probably just drive around this as the ground was level with the road on either side and he agreed. We started to make our way back to the Jeep, but each step we took became more labored as we could feel something pulling on us. It was as if someone tied a bungie cord around our waists and the more we resisted, the harder it tried to pull us backwards. We screamed to our friends for help but for some reason they couldn't hear us. Whatever stole the sounds of the night stole our voices and moments later we were pulled into the "oil slick".

It felt like we were in some type of bubble, floating weightlessly and being transported to god-knows-where. After what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a few seconds later, we landed on solid ground. Oddly, we didn't have any of that slippery substance on us. I thought that the road was dark...this place was absolutely pitch black. So dark that you couldn't see you hand in front of your face. I panicked that I was completely alone in this black universe. I called out to John and he answered, but I didn't know how I was going to be able to locate him. He sounded very distant. I walked around for what felt like an hour calling out his name and I never really felt like I was getting any closer to him. Suddenly for the first time in however long it had been since arriving in this place, I heard footsteps off in the distance. I couldn't tell what was going to happen next. My friend then called out, "Mike, over here".

I could see just a small pinhole of light where it seemed like Johns' voice was coming from. I ran to that light as fast as I could and finally approached John. He said, "I found a way out, follow me".

I could barely see the outline of his face, but thought I noticed a red tinge to his eye color. He assured me everything was going to be okay and that was good enough for me. He specifically told me to grab his hand and look into the light, so I did. We seemed to be getting closer to the light without actually taking any steps. Moving faster and faster each moment. As I looked towards that light, there seemed to be some type of outline forming. Like a man, but not a man? The body proportions were all off. It was odd, but I didn't care enough to worry about the poor soul that must've also been stuck here like us. All I cared about was that my buddy next to me and I figured we were on our way out of this place together.

As we hurdled towards this light, I felt myself being immersed in that slippery oily fluid again. After what seemed like another hour, I finally emerged. I found myself lying on the side of the road completely dry, the lights of my Jeep illuminating me. I looked all around and then panicked. Where was John? I noticed my other friends still sitting in the back of my Jeep so I called out to them screaming, "Where is John?!" as I quickly approached the vehicle. I stumbled into the Jeep completely bewildered at what just happened and how John was not with me. The guys looked at me with puzzled expressions.

Joe said "What are you talking about?" and then Tony asked me if we were still going to the haunted hayride.

I stared at them dumbfounded and said, "Huh, after that experience?". The guys looked so perplexed. I asked if they had seen what happened and if they realized how long we were gone.

Tony said, "Gone? You were outside for only about a minute...and why do you keep saying 'we?'". Now I was getting frustrated. I practically yelled "WAIT, you didn't see John and I disappear into that pool of oil right there?!". They shared concerned looks between the three of them.

Joe stared me straight in the eyes and stated "John? Who the heck is John?".

It was as if he didn't exist in their minds. As if being in that oil slick had erased everyones' memory of John except mine.

Completely shaken up, I certainly did not want to do the hayride now, but the others still wanted to go. I turned the Jeep around leaving the oil slick behind us. About a mile down the road in the direction we had originally came from we actually found the hayride. I was on one hand incredibly relieved and terrified on the other. There were other cars and the line for the hayride seemed pretty long. As we approached the large gathering of people I half heartedly took in the costumes and the scenery around me. It was exactly as you'd expect. Masks, fake blood, corn field, and nervous people.

The driver greeted us as we boarded the wagon. His costume distorting his body shape to throw off his proportions caught my eye for some reason. He was not any scarier than anyone else there but something about the energy coming off him made me uneasy. His wide smile and deep eyes seemed to peer into your soul. I took my seat with my friends and stared off into the distance, there physically but not mentally. My friends were enjoying the scares around every turn. Commenting on different costumes, screaming like little girls, and I thought I heard someone mention a deserted road we went by. My thoughts however, were distracted with the events from earlier in the evening. I still couldn't wrap my brain around what I had experienced. As we approached the end of the ride, my friends all commented on how great it was.

"Just creepy enough but not too creepy." said Tony

"I expected scarier masks." Dave sighed

Joe stated "Soooo realistic!"

Thinking back through the haze of my preoccupied thoughts I could agree with Joe that the costumes were very realistic. The sets really transported you and the actors were very convincing. It was almost like the actors had been doing this forever. We gathered our belongings and stood with everyone else to leave the hay wagon. I happened to see the driver lean over to one of the actors as I was getting off and heard him say in a low chilling tone "We've got our one for the night....."

What the heck did that mean? He smiled and his co-worker laughed and sarcastically said the wagon needed some more oil... WAIT WHAT?!!??! Images flashed in my brain like rapid fire.

I immediately thought of that dark place with John.

The wagon ride through the corn field and the road sign for "Route 666".

The figure I briefly glanced at in the corn field whose eyes I could only really see because they had red in them.

The uneasiness the driver gave off and his costume shape....his "costume"???

My brain was spinning as I asked question after to question to myself as I tried to connect the dots. John and I both got pulled into that oil pit. But how did I make it out while he hadn't?

To this day I have no idea what really happened to John. I went to his parents house and they had no recollection of anyone named John. Our school had no record of him. None of our friends knew who I was talking about. I felt like I was going crazy. Eventually I convinced myself that maybe I was a little bit after all.

Years later when I had children, as October came, they wanted to go out to haunted houses and things alike. I told them they could go anywhere except for Haunters Haven. This had been my speech every year to them and they always obeyed my request. Well I should have known that when you tell someone they can't do something, they inevitably will. The kids arrived back home one night after going out with friends and I asked how the evening was and where they went. They said it was great and admittedly had decided to go to Haunter's Haven after all. The hair on my arms stood up! I asked if anything strange happened on the way, did they get lost, how many friends went with them, etc. They said no, nothing strange. They found the hayride just fine, their usual group of 4 people went. I then tried to relax a little, seeing as nothing was amiss. I asked what the creepiest part of the hayride was and they all agreed it was a "demon" with red eyes standing next to a road sign for "Route 666".....