Many ghost hunters and paranormal investigators find pleasure in riding to haunted locations in old hearses. An article in a June 1932 Flagstaff newspaper tells the fate of an undertaker who escaped uninjured when a train demolished his hearse. 
Undertaker Will Compton narrowly escaped death or serious injury on Jun 17, 1932 when the Flagstaff Undertaking company’s hearse was struck by railroad box cars at the rear of the funeral parlor on East Aspen Avenue. The front portion of the hearse was totally destroyed as a string of box cars being switched on the Babbit siding slammed into the funeral car. Mr. Compton escaped just as one of the box cars hit the hearse. Fortunately, he was not hurt.
The rear wheels of the first box car and the front wheels of the second car were derailed by the impact. It required nearly 30 minutes for the switchmen to get the box cars back on the rails.
Except for slamming into an electric light pole, the hearse would probably have been only slightly damaged. The front part of the hearse was crushed between the moving cars and the pole before the train could be stopped.
Undertaker Compton said he was driving away from the rear of the building and did not see the oncoming freight train in time to stop. He leaped from the hearse just in time and avoided being crushed in the driver’s seat. Damage to the hearse was estimated at $300 by garage mechanics.
This story popped up a memory of the time Telemundo was filming the MVD Ghostchasers at the haunted Casey Moore’s Oyster House in Tempe, AZ. The producer asked the team to drive their 1972 Cadillac hearse round the block and pull up in front of the restaurant for the cameras. As they began the drive they had to cross a near by set of railroad tracks. For some reason, the railroad signal did not activate and as they glanced to the left, a slow oncoming train was merely 20 yards away. They stomped on the gas pedal as screams of terror—and laughter—filled the hearse. They breathed a sigh of relief knowing they had escaped from become ghosts themselves!
For more info: www.mvdghostchasers.com
Debe Branning nazanaza@aol.com
Comments
Love these articles. You have a great way of sharing some of the most unique tidbits of history.
History is an important key to our past AND future!
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