WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.459 In the dead hush of a cold winter night, way 00:00:03.459 --> 00:00:07.059 back in the deep folds of eastern Kentucky, a 00:00:07.059 --> 00:00:10.759 coal train rolled steady through the hills. Just 00:00:10.759 --> 00:00:14.359 another run through the shadowed veins of Appalachia. 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:18.660 Nothing seemed out of place, just steel on steel, 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:21.679 echoing through the hollers like it always had. 00:00:22.460 --> 00:00:25.899 But somewhere along them, quiet tracks, that 00:00:25.899 --> 00:00:29.019 ordinary journey took a hard turn into the unknown. 00:00:29.370 --> 00:00:33.210 What happened next weren't just strange, it was 00:00:33.210 --> 00:00:35.909 the kind of thing that makes a man question what's 00:00:35.909 --> 00:00:38.750 real and what's been hiding out there in the 00:00:38.750 --> 00:00:43.649 dark all along. Welcome to Kentucky Melody's 00:00:43.649 --> 00:00:47.369 Scary Stories from Kentucky, where we spin yarns 00:00:47.369 --> 00:00:51.049 about ghostly haints, creepy hollers, and spine 00:00:51.049 --> 00:00:53.850 -chilling legends from deep in the hills. So 00:00:53.850 --> 00:00:56.590 grab a chair, dim them lights, and let's dig 00:00:56.590 --> 00:01:02.170 into something spooky. Now y 'all listen close. 00:01:03.189 --> 00:01:08.209 It was in the witchin' hours of January 14, 2002, 00:01:08.989 --> 00:01:11.989 when a big ol' CSX coal train rumbled out of 00:01:11.989 --> 00:01:15.890 Russell, Kentucky. That iron beast was haulin' 00:01:15.950 --> 00:01:20.109 near 16 ,000 tons of freight. Black gold packed 00:01:20.109 --> 00:01:24.069 tight in its belly, headed down toward Shelbyanna, 00:01:24.769 --> 00:01:27.049 windin' through the hills like a steel serpent 00:01:27.049 --> 00:01:31.170 in the dark. The crew aboard that train, they 00:01:31.170 --> 00:01:34.930 weren't greenhorns. Nah, these boys were seasoned 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:39.390 as cast iron. Railroad men who knew every creak, 00:01:39.469 --> 00:01:42.150 curve and whisper the track could make in the 00:01:42.150 --> 00:01:46.409 dead of night. To them, this was just another 00:01:46.409 --> 00:01:50.170 graveyard shift, rocking steady through the shadowed 00:01:50.170 --> 00:01:53.269 hollers and fog -heavy cuts that snake through 00:01:53.269 --> 00:01:57.150 eastern Kentucky. But when they neared milepost 00:01:57.150 --> 00:02:01.219 42, A stretch the locals, only half -joking, 00:02:01.459 --> 00:02:04.739 call the Wild Kingdom. On account of all the 00:02:04.739 --> 00:02:07.739 critters that dart out of them woods, they saw 00:02:07.739 --> 00:02:10.159 something that made the hair on their necks stand 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:14.000 up stiff as broom straw. Pearson, through the 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:17.800 pitch black ahead, was a pair of lights. Bright, 00:02:18.300 --> 00:02:21.400 dead on, staring them down like the eyes of something 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:24.919 that didn't belong in this world. At first, the 00:02:24.919 --> 00:02:27.039 engineer figured it was another train coming 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:29.949 head on, so He dipped the headlights to keep 00:02:29.949 --> 00:02:33.870 from blinding the other crew. Safety, you know. 00:02:34.590 --> 00:02:38.270 But as they rolled closer, metal screeching soft 00:02:38.270 --> 00:02:41.590 on steel, cold air rushing past the windows, 00:02:42.250 --> 00:02:46.110 it got clear real quick. Those weren't no train 00:02:46.110 --> 00:02:49.789 lights. They didn't move right. They didn't flicker 00:02:49.789 --> 00:02:52.689 or sway like a rail engine bouncing down a line. 00:02:53.629 --> 00:02:59.210 They just hovered, hung there, waiting. And what 00:02:59.210 --> 00:03:03.490 came next? Well, let's just say some things ain't 00:03:03.490 --> 00:03:06.509 meant to be explained by switch logs and signal 00:03:06.509 --> 00:03:10.469 books. Then, all at once, like something out 00:03:10.469 --> 00:03:13.969 of the devil's own playbook, that train's systems 00:03:13.969 --> 00:03:18.449 went plum haywire. The onboard computers started 00:03:18.449 --> 00:03:21.770 flickering like a lantern fighting wind, screen 00:03:21.770 --> 00:03:24.810 lights jumping and dancing with no sense to them. 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:28.120 Speed recorders spiked and dropped like they'd 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:32.199 gone mad and then, just like that, both locomotives 00:03:32.199 --> 00:03:36.539 lost power. Silence hit them like a slap. No 00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:40.180 engine hum, no electric whine. Just the long 00:03:40.180 --> 00:03:43.219 drawn out sound of a thousand tons of steel coasting 00:03:43.219 --> 00:03:47.620 dead through the dark. Panic? Oh, it settled 00:03:47.620 --> 00:03:51.960 over that crew like a cold sweat. Men who'd seen 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:54.599 blizzards and brake failures were sitting stiff. 00:03:54.969 --> 00:03:57.770 staring at the black ahead with white knuckles. 00:03:58.370 --> 00:04:02.189 And that's when they saw them, three of them, 00:04:02.590 --> 00:04:05.430 floating just above the tracks like spirits that 00:04:05.430 --> 00:04:09.050 forgot how to rest. Metallic looking things, 00:04:09.650 --> 00:04:13.270 smooth, silver colored like polished steel, but 00:04:13.270 --> 00:04:17.069 nothing you'd call natural. No windows, no seams, 00:04:17.389 --> 00:04:22.199 no rivets, just slick, quiet, and wrong. Each 00:04:22.199 --> 00:04:25.000 one was glowing with these strange little lights, 00:04:25.420 --> 00:04:29.139 red, green, blue, maybe even colors that ain't 00:04:29.139 --> 00:04:33.079 got names. They didn't blink right, didn't flicker 00:04:33.079 --> 00:04:36.579 like man -made bulbs, more like something breathing. 00:04:37.379 --> 00:04:41.459 The lead one, it was hovering low, maybe 10 or 00:04:41.459 --> 00:04:44.839 12 feet above them rails, dead center in the 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:48.379 path of that powerless train, just hanging there 00:04:48.379 --> 00:04:51.680 like it was waiting on purpose. Now, with no 00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.000 brakes and no juice, all that coal and steel 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:58.100 kept right on rolling, pushing forward under 00:04:58.100 --> 00:05:01.980 its own cursed momentum. The crew couldn't stop 00:05:01.980 --> 00:05:06.480 it. All they could do was brace and pray. At 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.800 about 30 miles an hour, the front of that train 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:12.779 slammed dead into the floating thing with a thunder 00:05:12.779 --> 00:05:16.139 crack so loud it seemed to shake the hills themselves. 00:05:16.920 --> 00:05:21.899 But it wasn't a normal crash. It was muffled, 00:05:22.120 --> 00:05:24.620 like the sound got swallowed up by the woods. 00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:29.079 That object, it clipped the top of the lead engine, 00:05:29.420 --> 00:05:32.959 bent steel like it was taffy, then glanced off 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:35.779 and tore into the second locomotive, leaving 00:05:35.779 --> 00:05:38.579 deep scars across the metal like claw marks. 00:05:39.180 --> 00:05:42.100 It even hit the first two coal cars, shaking 00:05:42.100 --> 00:05:45.620 them like a hand from the grave. And then it 00:05:45.620 --> 00:05:49.800 was gone, vanished. The other two lights? They 00:05:49.800 --> 00:05:52.259 blinked out so fast it was like they were never 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:57.620 there, just poof. The night was still again, 00:05:57.959 --> 00:06:02.180 eerily still, not a bird, not a breeze, just 00:06:02.180 --> 00:06:05.360 the sound of metal ticking as it cooled and the 00:06:05.360 --> 00:06:07.800 breath of four men who suddenly realized they 00:06:07.800 --> 00:06:10.120 might have crossed paths with something not meant 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:14.660 for this world. And the worst part, that silence 00:06:14.660 --> 00:06:18.720 that followed, it weren't peaceful, it was waiting. 00:06:19.669 --> 00:06:23.829 Then, just like that, the power came back on. 00:06:24.709 --> 00:06:29.350 No button pushed, no breaker flipped, just click, 00:06:29.990 --> 00:06:31.870 like somebody flipped a switch somewhere out 00:06:31.870 --> 00:06:36.670 in the stars. Lights hummed to life, dials blinked, 00:06:36.750 --> 00:06:39.550 and that low diesel growl come back like the 00:06:39.550 --> 00:06:43.269 train had just woke up from a bad dream. The 00:06:43.269 --> 00:06:47.180 engineer didn't waste no time. Got on the horn 00:06:47.180 --> 00:06:50.060 to the dispatcher down in Jacksonville, Florida. 00:06:50.839 --> 00:06:55.120 He told it straight. The lights, the crash, the 00:06:55.120 --> 00:06:59.519 shutdown, the whole strange tale. There was a 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:01.920 pause on the other end, long enough to raise 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:06.519 goosebumps. Then a voice, calm but colder in 00:07:06.519 --> 00:07:10.980 Riverstone, said, Proceed to Paintsville Yard. 00:07:11.699 --> 00:07:15.050 Immediately. When they pulled into Paintsville 00:07:15.050 --> 00:07:18.810 around 5 .15 that morning, things didn't feel 00:07:18.810 --> 00:07:22.129 right. Instead of seeing the usual yard hands 00:07:22.129 --> 00:07:25.189 and railroad suits, they was met by a whole crew 00:07:25.189 --> 00:07:27.790 of folks dressed in what looked like military 00:07:27.790 --> 00:07:31.089 gear, but not any branch the boys could name. 00:07:31.990 --> 00:07:36.110 No patches, no names, just dark uniforms and 00:07:36.110 --> 00:07:40.970 serious faces. One fella stepped forward. Said 00:07:40.970 --> 00:07:45.449 his name was Ferguson and not a word more He 00:07:45.449 --> 00:07:49.009 didn't offer a handshake or a smile Just took 00:07:49.009 --> 00:07:51.910 charge led the crew to some back office like 00:07:51.910 --> 00:07:55.410 he'd done it a hundred times before That's where 00:07:55.410 --> 00:07:59.170 it got real strange They weren't just questioned. 00:07:59.689 --> 00:08:03.529 They was grilled for hours Every little detail 00:08:03.529 --> 00:08:06.389 rung out of them like water from a dishrag what 00:08:06.389 --> 00:08:10.829 they saw how it moved how it sounded Then came 00:08:10.829 --> 00:08:15.389 medical exams. Eyes, blood, pressure, the whole 00:08:15.389 --> 00:08:18.709 shebang. When one of the boys asked to call his 00:08:18.709 --> 00:08:21.649 boss, Ferguson just looked at him flat and said, 00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:27.149 not an option. Then they took their phones, just 00:08:27.149 --> 00:08:29.629 scooped them up like they belonged to them now. 00:08:30.529 --> 00:08:33.070 Outside, the crew caught glimpses through the 00:08:33.070 --> 00:08:36.309 blinds. The damaged locomotives and the coal 00:08:36.309 --> 00:08:39.460 cars that had been struck. They was getting split 00:08:39.460 --> 00:08:42.279 off from the rest of the train, rolled under 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:45.179 this huge white tent that hadn't been there an 00:08:45.179 --> 00:08:48.120 hour before, looked like it popped up out of 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:51.120 the dirt itself, stretching high and wide like 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:55.419 a carnival tent from hell. Men in the same dark 00:08:55.419 --> 00:08:58.120 gear swarmed over every inch of those engines, 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:02.860 moving with purpose, fast, practiced. Whatever 00:09:02.860 --> 00:09:07.360 they was doing, they'd done it before. When the 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:10.019 questioning was over, the crew was loaded into 00:09:10.019 --> 00:09:13.820 a black van, no markings, and hauled off like 00:09:13.820 --> 00:09:17.639 ghosts in the wind. They was dropped off in Martin, 00:09:17.639 --> 00:09:21.139 Kentucky, where they were given more tests, more 00:09:21.139 --> 00:09:24.740 questions, and finally told they'd be reassigned. 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:29.039 But the final word stuck like a thorn in the 00:09:29.039 --> 00:09:33.100 brain. For reasons of national security, you 00:09:33.100 --> 00:09:37.039 are not to speak of this incident, ever. And 00:09:37.039 --> 00:09:40.659 they meant it. In the days that followed, the 00:09:40.659 --> 00:09:43.980 men tried to find out what had happened, asked 00:09:43.980 --> 00:09:47.840 around, pulled some strings. But it was like 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:51.019 the earth itself swallowed the whole event. No 00:09:51.019 --> 00:09:55.179 wreckage, no tent, no strangers in black. When 00:09:55.179 --> 00:09:57.960 they passed through Paintsville again, it looked 00:09:57.960 --> 00:10:02.679 just the same as always. Quiet, dusty, forgetful, 00:10:03.059 --> 00:10:06.289 like nothing had ever happened at all. But them 00:10:06.289 --> 00:10:09.870 boys knew better. They remembered. And what they 00:10:09.870 --> 00:10:12.850 saw out there in the dark, it didn't come from 00:10:12.850 --> 00:10:17.210 this world. Now, ever since that cold January 00:10:17.210 --> 00:10:20.549 night, what folks call the Paintsville incident, 00:10:21.070 --> 00:10:23.649 has turned into one of them stories that won't 00:10:23.649 --> 00:10:27.009 stay buried. Like a root under the frost line, 00:10:27.169 --> 00:10:30.289 it just keeps growing, twisting, reaching for 00:10:30.289 --> 00:10:34.080 the light. Some say them railroad boys got caught 00:10:34.080 --> 00:10:37.259 up in something way bigger and coal and steel. 00:10:37.480 --> 00:10:40.679 Theories run wild, whispering that what they 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:43.559 hid out there weren't no flying saucer, but something 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:47.659 ours. Maybe one of them secret military craft, 00:10:48.019 --> 00:10:52.299 experimental and deadly quiet. That whole shutdown, 00:10:52.960 --> 00:10:56.460 the quick clean up, the strange folks in uniforms 00:10:56.460 --> 00:11:00.080 with no name tags. It all smells like a government 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:04.299 op. wrapped up in shadows. But there's others, 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.840 folks who look at the whole tale and see stars. 00:11:08.820 --> 00:11:12.100 They believe what them boys ran into wasn't made 00:11:12.100 --> 00:11:16.259 in any hangar on earth. They say it was something 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:19.919 not from here, drifting just a bit too low over 00:11:19.919 --> 00:11:23.960 eastern Kentucky. And the way them lights moved, 00:11:24.620 --> 00:11:27.480 the way power just blinked out like a candle 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:31.960 in a storm. Well, It don't sound like any jet 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:36.340 or drone we ever built. Now sure, there's always 00:11:36.340 --> 00:11:39.419 the doubters. The con that'll say if there ain't 00:11:39.419 --> 00:11:43.059 pictures, it didn't happen. They point out how 00:11:43.059 --> 00:11:46.159 the crew stayed anonymous, how the company never 00:11:46.159 --> 00:11:49.059 said a word, how there ain't no official record 00:11:49.059 --> 00:11:52.759 to speak of. But that's exactly what makes the 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:56.299 story chill your bones, ain't it? See what rattles 00:11:56.299 --> 00:12:00.279 folks most ain't the lights or the crash, or 00:12:00.279 --> 00:12:03.960 even the vanishing machines. It's the reaction, 00:12:04.759 --> 00:12:08.120 the fast silence sweeping away of it all, like 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:11.080 someone was waiting for it to happen, and knew 00:12:11.080 --> 00:12:14.500 exactly what to do when it did. Ain't no one 00:12:14.500 --> 00:12:16.779 can say for sure what happened out there past 00:12:16.779 --> 00:12:21.820 milepost 42, deep in the wild kingdom. But if 00:12:21.820 --> 00:12:24.320 you sit long enough with the old timers or listen 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:27.039 real careful at the truck stops after midnight, 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:30.269 you'll hear it come up. and the chill in their 00:12:30.269 --> 00:12:32.610 voice says they ain't talking about a story, 00:12:33.230 --> 00:12:37.009 they're talking about a warning. The Paintsville 00:12:37.009 --> 00:12:41.309 train collision, or whatever it truly was, still 00:12:41.309 --> 00:12:43.649 hangs in the mountain air like a whisper that 00:12:43.649 --> 00:12:47.909 don't quite fade. Folks around here talk about 00:12:47.909 --> 00:12:50.929 it the way they talk about haints or strange 00:12:50.929 --> 00:12:55.090 lights up on the ridgeline, quiet like with a 00:12:55.090 --> 00:12:58.620 glance over the shoulder. To some, it was nothing 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:02.600 more than a case of mistaken identity. Maybe 00:13:02.600 --> 00:13:05.299 new -fangled military tech wandering too close 00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:09.139 to regular folks. Others swear up and down it 00:13:09.139 --> 00:13:12.120 was a full -blown cover -up, carried out quick 00:13:12.120 --> 00:13:15.080 and clean by men who knew just how to bury a 00:13:15.080 --> 00:13:20.259 secret deep in Appalachian soil. And then there's 00:13:20.259 --> 00:13:22.679 the ones who ain't trying to explain it away 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:26.600 at all. They say what happened that night was 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:30.879 a true brush with the unknown Not man -made not 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:35.679 earthly and sure is sin not accidental Whatever 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:39.019 truth hides behind them silent hills and vanished 00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:43.419 tracks one things for sure Something did happen 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:47.639 out there you can feel it Like a chill that settles 00:13:47.639 --> 00:13:51.320 in your bones when you pass milepost 42 even 00:13:51.320 --> 00:13:55.779 on a warm day And just like all the best mountain 00:13:55.779 --> 00:13:59.539 mysteries, this one don't offer up no neat answers. 00:14:00.320 --> 00:14:04.139 It leaves behind questions, long, lingering ones 00:14:04.139 --> 00:14:06.919 that gnaw at the edges of your mind come midnight. 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:11.279 What was it them men saw floating over the tracks? 00:14:11.940 --> 00:14:15.740 Who cleaned it up so fast? And why, after all 00:14:15.740 --> 00:14:17.940 this time, does it feel like something still 00:14:17.940 --> 00:14:21.529 ain't right out there? In the end, Maybe that's 00:14:21.529 --> 00:14:24.490 the way of things here in the heart of Appalachia. 00:14:25.009 --> 00:14:28.809 Our mountains hold their secrets tight, and sometimes 00:14:28.809 --> 00:14:31.669 they only let you glimpse the edge of them, just 00:14:31.669 --> 00:14:35.809 enough to keep you wondering. So now y 'all have 00:14:35.809 --> 00:14:39.230 heard it. The tale of the Paintsville train, 00:14:40.009 --> 00:14:42.850 them strange lights in the sky, and a cover -up 00:14:42.850 --> 00:14:45.649 that vanished quicker in a fox in a henhouse. 00:14:46.169 --> 00:14:48.970 But the big question still hangs in the air, 00:14:49.070 --> 00:14:52.360 don't it? Was this a real brush with something 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:55.799 not of this world? Or just a case of man -made 00:14:55.799 --> 00:14:59.159 tech slipping where it shouldn't have been? Government 00:14:59.159 --> 00:15:01.639 ghosts cleaning up their mess before the sun 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:06.100 came up? Truth is, only a handful know for sure, 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:09.539 and they ain't talking. But what do you think 00:15:09.539 --> 00:15:12.639 happened out there on them tracks? Do you believe 00:15:12.639 --> 00:15:15.980 it was a true encounter with the unknown? Or 00:15:15.980 --> 00:15:19.100 is there a more earthly explanation hiding behind 00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:23.480 all that hush hush and confusion? And here's 00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:26.820 something else to chew on. Have you or someone 00:15:26.820 --> 00:15:29.879 you trust ever seen lights in the sky that didn't 00:15:29.879 --> 00:15:33.879 act right? Heard stories from kinfolk or had 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:36.179 your own spine prickling moment you ain't never 00:15:36.179 --> 00:15:40.120 quite been able to explain? Drop your stories, 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:42.940 your theories and your wildest Appalachian guesses 00:15:42.940 --> 00:15:46.679 down in the comments. We'd sure love to hear 00:15:46.679 --> 00:15:50.399 what y 'all think, cuz around these parts, the 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:53.240 line between truth and legend is thinner than 00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:58.379 you might reckon. Well, now, we sure do thank 00:15:58.379 --> 00:16:00.860 you for tagging along with us on this strange 00:16:00.860 --> 00:16:03.840 and shadowy ride through one of Kentucky's most 00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:07.539 puzzling tales. If this story stirred something 00:16:07.539 --> 00:16:10.179 in your bones or got your mind wandering off 00:16:10.179 --> 00:16:14.120 into the dark corners of the unknown, Go on and 00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:18.039 give us a like, mash that subscribe button, and 00:16:18.039 --> 00:16:20.919 don't forget to ring that little bell. It'll 00:16:20.919 --> 00:16:23.279 make sure you don't miss the next time we go 00:16:23.279 --> 00:16:26.899 poking around the unexplained. And I ain't one 00:16:26.899 --> 00:16:31.039 to nag, but I will remind ya. Sometimes, the 00:16:31.039 --> 00:16:33.580 line between what's real and what ain't is thinner 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:36.639 than a spider's web stretched across an old mine 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:41.429 shaft. So, take care now. Keep your eyes on the 00:16:41.429 --> 00:16:45.309 sky and your boots on solid ground. And we'll 00:16:45.309 --> 00:16:48.110 see you next time, if you can make it back.