Mysteries of the M62
By Tom Slemen ©
T
he M62 motorway, opened in stages Mr Jacobs passed under the Whitefi eld Lane he did experience a small amount of sleep, he
between 1971 and 1976, is 107 miles long, fl yover, he saw a carriageway, strangely devoid suffered a recurring nightmare which always
and connects the cities of Liverpool and Hull via of any traffi c, to his left. He had never seen awakened him in a cold sweat. The fi rst of these
Manchester and Leeds, joining the traditionally this carriageway before, and assumed it had dreams occurred on Wednesday 9 December
opposed counties of the red rose and the white recently been carved out because Mr Jacobs 1981. Donald could see a motorway at night, but
rose. Accents change along this phenomenal hadnʼt used the motorway for a few years. couldnʼt recognise it. He looked to his right and
trans-Pennine highway, which, at one point, He drove down the M62 and glanced over at saw a Ford Cortina parked on the hard shoulder
reaches an altitude of 1,221 feet on Windy Hill - the new carriageway, and saw there were no
and a policeman was leaning into the car,
making the great East-West motorway the cars on it and stranger still, the road ended in
apparently talking to the driver and passengers.
highest in the UK at that location. The M62 a large cloud of dark vapour, as if there had
They looked female but Donald couldnʼt be
has also been the scene of some paranormal been a fi re over there. Jacobs mentioned this
certain. In front of the Cortina there was a police
occurrences over the years. Here are just a new carriageway to a cousin in Childwall, and
Range Rover. There was a low, deep rumbling
few of these supernatural mysteries of the tar was told there was no such new road after
sound, and it made the dreamer feel very
macadam to tantalise us. the Whitefi eld Lane fl yover. Jacobs said there
nervous, because he knew that an articulated
was and that heʼd seen it with his own eyes. A
lorry was hurtling towards the Cortina. Donald
In the early autumn of 1980, Lorry drivers in fortnight later, Jacobs left his Salford home and
tried to shout to the policeman, but he couldnʼt
the Manchester area threatened to boycott visited his cousin in Childwall again. This time
make a sound. Donald then watched in mute
a motorway service station on the M62 near it was broad daylight, and as Jacobs passed
horror, gasping for air, trying to wake up as he
Warrington, because they were being charged under the Whitefi eld Lane fl yover, he expected
realised it was all a dream - a lucid nightmare,
ten pence for a pint of boiling water, which the to see the carriageway that branched off to the
but he couldnʼt open his eyes. The instant he
drivers used to brew their own tea. A district left, but instead he saw only farmland stretching
did manage to wake, Donald sat up in one swift
offi cial of the Transport and general Workersʼ towards Childwall Golf Course. Mr Jacobs was
movement with the crash and explosion still
Union, who represented the thousands of naturally dumbfounded to notice that the stretch
echoing in his head. This nightmare replayed
protesting lorry drivers, demanded free water on of carriageway heʼd seen two weeks before,
in Donaldʼs mind in the early hours of each
tap from the service station, so the drivers could which he estimated to be over a quarter of a
morning, and just days before Christmas the
use teabags to make their own refreshments, mile in length, had vanished without a trace. In
Liverpool manʼs dreams returned to some
instead of paying 21p for a mug of tea. John 2003, Jacobs was invited to a christening by a
normality. Donald later read a newspaper and
Shuttlewood, a HGV driver in his forties, was friend in Leeds named Les Groom, and after
saw to his utter horror that his dream had come
travelling along the M62 in his vehicle one dark the christening, there was a party at Groomʼs
true. On 22 December of that year, at around
morning in October of that year, talking about house. One of the topics of conversation that
12.40am, a police sergeant stopped a Cortina
the boiling water ʻscandalʼ to his 19-year-old son arose amongst the men of the party was cars;
on the M62. He left his police Range Rover
Eddy (who often accompanied him on long runs who had the fastest model, the most economical
with a fellow offi cer inside the vehicle and went
from and to Manchester) when something quite vehicle and so on. Then the subject turned to
bizarre took place. The lorry passed through humorous incidents and experiences on the
to question the occupants of the Cortina. The
Junction 6 of the M62, and the motorway from road, and Les Groom suddenly mentioned
driver of the Cortina was a 36-year-old woman
that point on, when bound for Liverpool, curves something that stunned Mr Jacobs. Les said he
from Atherton, Lancashire, and her passenger
to the right, but on this dark misty morning at had been driving along the M62 one morning
friend, an 18-year-old girl, was also from that
6.30am, the motorway veered to the left - at 4am, on his way to work. This was in the
town. As the sergeant leaned forward and
towards Netherley, and Childwall Golf Course - late 1990s when he lived in Manchester and
spoke to the female driver through the vehicleʼs
which was impossible. The sun had not yet worked at a factory in Liverpool. Just after heʼd
nearside window, the young police constable
risen, and with only the artifi cial light of the passed under a bridge, Les had seen a new
sitting in the Range Rover saw a terrifying sight;
highwayʼs sodium lamps to show the way, Mr stretch of motorway that branched from the
a huge articulated lorry loaded with potatoes
Shuttlewood did not doubt the ʻphantom roadʼ M62 and headed towards the sewage works
was drifting towards the hard shoulder as it
that stretched ahead, but his son Eddy quickly on Coney Lane. This lane is practically in the
approached. Seconds later the lorry slammed
woke his father from the ʻopen eyeʼ dream. The same area as the phantom road seen by John
into the Cortina, which exploded into a fi reball.
teenager seized the wheel and tried to turn it Shuttlewood and Mr Jacobs. When Les Groom
The lorry and fl aming car then rammed into the
right, but his father wrestled it back to the left. felt impelled to drive down the ʻnewʼ road, even
Range Rover. The sergeant and two women
The lorry was seconds away from disaster, though it would have taken him miles away
were killed instantly, but the constable in the
when suddenly, Mr Shuttlewood realised his from his destination, but he snapped out of
Range Rover escaped injury, as did the driver of
panicking son was right, and he swung the the trance-like state and ignored the strange
the articulated lorry. The tragic accident, which
vehicle into a curve to the right. The ghostly temptation. Of course, if Les had obeyed lure of
happened near Prestwich, Greater Manchester,
road that led to disaster faded away before the the spectral motorway, God knows what would
resulted in the closure of the M62 for six hours.
eyes of the father and the son, and the real road have happened.
Donald later drove to the scene of the triple
appeared. The lorry almost jack-knifed as it
death and saw that the surroundings looked
swerved dramatically under John Shuttlewoodʼs The M62 has also been the setting for some
exactly as they had done in his dream. Just
guidance, and luckily he quickly regained spine-chilling premonitions, and here are a few
why Donald had witnessed the terrible accident
control of the vehicle, even though he gave the of these glimpses of the future. In December
in the form of recurring nightmares, before the
drivers of other vehicles a nasty scare. Fearing 1981, a 33-year-old Liverpool man named
event had even taken place, remains a mystery.
ridicule, and thinking itʼd affect his employment Donald began to have a series of terrifying
Donald felt that the room at the old cottage he
prospects, John never mentioned the motorway nightmares while staying at the cottage of a
had slept in had something to do with the bad
mirage to anyone for years, until he wrote to relative in the Clock Face area of St Helens. dreams and he never visited his brotherʼs home
me about this phantom road in 2006 and asked Donald was usually one of those lucky people again.
if I had heard about any similar experiences. I who fall fast asleep as soon as their heads hit
had. I told him how a Mr Jacobs saw something the pillow, but during the fortnight he stayed with For further information on Tomʼs books visit
similar- a phantom carriageway - as he was his brother Chris over the Christmas period, www.slemen.com
travelling towards Liverpool down the M62 one Donald found it almost impossible to doze off in
evening in the summer of 2002. As 42-year-old the old four poster bed at the cottage, and when Copyright Tom Slemen 2009
22
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