Show notes
On the last Friday of each month, we pause our reading of Meadow Lane and the Skylark Bell, and instead cover a real-life supernatural, or at the very least, unusual, and unexplained, experience. In today’s episode we will recount the story of The Bridge, where an eerie premonition about a tragic event played a part in saving our lives.Music: Nightbridge and Nightbridge (Acoustic) by Cannelle (www.cannellemusic.com)Find The Skylark Bell online: www.theyskylarkbell.comInstagram: @theskylarkbellTwitter: @melissaoliveriPatreon: www.patreon.com/melissaoliveriTRANSCRIPT:Things with Wings Productions, with the support of Whimsical Productions and Collected Sounds presents: The Skylark Bell, Fantome Friday. I am your host, Melissa Oliveri. On the last Friday of each month, we pause our reading of Meadow Lane and the Skylark Bell, and instead cover a real-life supernatural, or at the very least, unusual, and unexplained, experience. In today’s episode we will recount the story of The Bridge, where an eerie premonition about a tragic event played a part in saving our lives.Now, it’s time to get settled in. Grab a blanket, a warm drink, we’re getting started…In July of 2007 I was at my house in Montreal packing my things and getting it ready to sell so I could move to Minneapolis. My husband had flown back to Minneapolis a few days prior, and I was going to meet him the following week. One day we were talking on the phone while I was taking a break from packing, and he was driving to an appointment on the other side of the city. We chatted about everything and nothing, what he had for breakfast, whether I should pack all the spatulas and wooden spoons, what we would do for my belated birthday when I flew home to Minneapolis… We were on a tight timeline to pack up and list the house, so I started winding up the conversation with my husband.Out of the blue, as I was about to hang up, my husband said, “will you stay on the phone with me, I’m crossing this bridge, and something feels a bit weird”. Of course, I said yes, and we kept chatting until he was all the way across the bridge that spans the Mississippi river. Once my husband made it to the other side, we wrapped up our conversation and we each went about our day.About a week after that phone call, I was back in Minneapolis. My husband threw me a surprise birthday party at our new house, and a few days later we got a puppy. Everything in our lives was great, it was an exciting time filled with new beginnings and experiences. A few weeks after my return, my husband got word that some friends of his who play in a band were on tour and stopping in Duluth, MN, which is about two and half hours away from our house. We were excited to see them and watch the show. We planned to leave around dinner time so we’d arrive in Duluth shortly before the show would begin. On a whim, my husband suggested we leave early, and spend a little time walking around town before the show. As we backed out of our driveway he said, “I think I’m going to take a different route today.” I was still relatively new to the city so I didn’t question his choice, but if seemed to me the route he was now taking was a bit of a detour that would take longer. But since we were leaving a bit early, I figured it didn’t matter much.We drove to Duluth and met up with his friends, had some dinner, watched the show, then started driving home late at night. As we were driving home my phone rang – I was surprised to see my aunt in Montreal’s number on the caller ID because it was the middle of the night. I answered and she was in a panic asking if I was okay. I told her we were fine and that we were driving home from a show. She proceeded to tell me that the I35W bridge had collapsed, and several people had died. The next morning when we got home, we got more information on the news. The bridge collapsed at rush hour, right around the time we would have been crossing it had my husband not decided to take a different route based on a gut feeling. 13 people died in the crash, and nearly 150 more were injured. A school bus full of children was on the bridge when it fell, luckily, they were rescued and survived.My husband and I both counted our lucky stars that he listened to that little voice in his head that told him to leave early and take a different route. It was until several weeks later that we recalled our phone conversation nearly a month before the bridge collapse, that day we were on the phone while I was still in Montreal and he was driving over that very bridge, when he said something felt “weird” and he didn’t want us to hang up until he’d made it to the other side. Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined in that moment what the future would hold for that bridge and the unfortunate souls who happened to be on it the day it fell into the Mississippi.Ever since that day, any time one of us has a strange feeling about something, we always listen to our gut… to that little voice that sent us on a lifesaving detour all those years ago.Thank you so much for listening. Join me next week as we pursue our adventure and read Chapter 25 of Meadow Lane and the Skylark Bell – My Dearest Magpie – Where Magpie and Lucas get some shocking news about Farfalla.Before I go, I’d like to thank Phaeton Starling Publishing this fantastically eerie story, and Cannelle for composing equally fantastic and eerie music for this podcast. If you enjoy these Fantome Friday episodes, please consider leaving a rating or a review, they are greatly appreciated. Thank you.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/theskylarkbell/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy