This is a story that was told to me several years ago by a coworker. He was a very honest and straight-laced type of guy, so while I can't verify this story, I can vouch for the teller. He told me this story one evening wile we were working, and even though the encounter had been several years in the past, he still seemed shaken up by the experience. I've changed the names to respect his privacy, everything else is as I remember it.
My name is Bill and I live in Cherokee, North Carolina. I had a rare weekend night off (I'm in healthcare), so my wife, her sister and the sister's husband decided to head over to Asheville. It's a fairly long drive, so when we go, we usually make an occasion out of it. We spent the day shopping, had a decent meal and then caught a movie. We left the theater around 11 pm. It was a beautiful summer night, so we decided that we should take the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville back to Soco Gap and then on to Cherokee and home. This would almost double the trip time, but we were enjoying the day and didn't mind a late night. I want to point out that I do not drink or take any drugs. No one else in the car had been drinking that day either.
The parkway was almost deserted; we passed a few cars early in the trip, near the Asheville side of the Parkway. For most of the trip, we had the road to ourselves. The sky was clear and the moon illuminated the road and forest. We were enjoying the drive, talking and looking down into the valleys that fell away from the road. Just past the Black Balsam overlook area, I noticed a light on the road behind us. At first, I assumed that it was a motorcycle, but after a moment, I realized that it was glowing red. I still didn't think much of it; maybe it was the brake light of a car that had pulled away after we had passed. A couple of minutes later, I looked up again and realized that the red light had gotten much closer. I motioned with a nod and asked my companions to look back. They all saw the light, but none of us were alarmed by it. Within moments though, the light had gotten close, maybe 200 yards back. I could see it illuminating the trees that frame the road. Everyone again looked back, and we realized that the light was much higher off the ground than a car or motorcycle would allow. It seemed to be just below the tops of the trees. This spooked us. I sped up, trying to outrun this thing while also avoiding driving us all of the parkway. My wife and her sister were frantic, staring back at this ominous red light that seemed to be chasing us down the parkway. Ahead, I could make out the silhouette of Devil's Courthouse. I knew this meant that we were approaching a tunnel, and the thought of being trapped under the ground with that thing terrified me. I sped up again, but this damned light was still behind us, maintaining that same 200 yard buffer.
I hit the entrance to the Devil's Courthouse tunnel doing about 60 mph. Seconds later, the light slipped in to the tunnel as well, and the walls were suddenly bathed in red. The inside of the van seemed to glow with this unnatural light. As soon as we were out of the tunnel, I whipped the car into the Devil's Courthouse parking lot, ready for a fight. We all saw the light just behind us. It flew past us, still above the Parkway road, and then ascended to just over the trees before swooping down the northern face of the mountain, heading towards Sunburst. The tops of the trees were lit up for the few seconds that the light was there, and then all was dark again.
We sat there in the dark, silent, waiting for this thing to come back. After fifteen or twenty minutes with no sign of it, I backed the van out of the parking lot and sped down the parkway towards home. Nothing else strange happened that night. I looked around online after this happened, trying to understand the experience. I didn't really find anything, but I did read some about UFO encounters and abduction experiences. We didn't notice any missing time, and none of us had any sort of physical effects from the experience. It was simply and utterly terrifying. I'm still wary of the Parkway, especially at night. As a Native American, I know that certain places are charged with power, either good or evil. I'm not sure what we saw that night, but I know that I never want to see it again.
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