Hard to believe a Fire Truck that has been out of Commission and been stripped of all usable parts still sitting and rusting away next to the Panther Fire Dept in McDowell County .has been spotted by people on the road and then disappearing and shortly after a structure fire has occurred .
its appearance being like that of an Omen
The 1959 era Truck which became known as Big Red started its career in 1961 when Westerville WV was desperate for a truck and bought the big red chassis and members then put sweat equity into fitting it out with a water tank and equipment and put in into service .for almost 18 years
The dept eventually grew into a Paid Service as the town grew and all the volunteers for the dept where allowed to try and pass test to join paid dept. one member could not and cursed the dept saying after he died he would come back and haunt Big Red
Which you can see in the google photo is still there sitting disabled.
Well eventually the truck was sold despite the efforts of the old chief to try and save it off it went to a truck dealer.
He sold the truck to Panther fire dept in 79 and they kept it running for 2 years till it became too dangerous to do so. especially with it being a standard shift and many not able to drive a standard shift and just trying to keep maintenance up on truck they parked it beside dept and stripped it of parts .
Now this is where things get weird. Shortly after the Westerville chief passed away Old Red was seen running on and then disappearing on the back road around panther and every time some one has seen it there has been a horrific fire often times fatal.
One time the Panther fire chief and wife out on a drive saw it running on a back road and the chief and he drove back quickly to fire House and truck had not moved.
Now there are plenty of story's of haunted fire houses and stations but this is first time I heard of haunted fire Truck.
