In the summer of 1999 Dean was sat in the infamous Ingleby crawl, the terrible early evening traffic jam which occurred - before the new road opened - when many many cars were trying to get into the main entrance to Ingleby via Thornaby. The final stretch of Thornaby Road runs from the roundabout opposite the Harold Wilson Recreation Centre to the Ingleby entrance. Some folk call it The Thornaby Oblong. This is a tongue in cheek comparison with the infamous Bermuda Triangle where many ships and planes have gone missing or crashed. At any given time there is at least one broken down, abandoned car on that final stretch of Thornaby Road as though the stretch is cursed for cars.
Dean was stuck in the crawl with his (then) four year old daughter Emily who was sat in the back happily singing to herself. To his right, on the kerb, Dean became aware of a stationary, misty patch of air. Putting it down to a hazy summer reflection of some sort, or a trick of tired vision and exhaust smoke, he rubbed his eyes for a second and looked again. It was still there, in the same shape, like a rectangular shape of human adult size connected to a smaller, more child-like shape next to it. 'Imagine a grey pencil drawing of a parent and child about to cross a road, but the image has been photocopied a thousand times so that all detail is gone and only the vaguest shape retained,' says Dean.
Then it moved!
The mist shifted from its kerb position and swept across the right hand lane at human walking speed. It progressed and passed through the bonnet of his car so he could still see the top half of it, then onto the kerb and grass verge on the other side of the road. There it vanished.
Dean sat for a moment, not scared, just perplexed. Rubbing his eyes again he told himself he must need an eye test. Emily, whom he now realised was no longer singing to herself asked, 'Dad, what was that?' At this point he swung round, blood icy cold and saw Emily was looking at the exact point the shape had vanished on the left had side of the road. By that time the cars in front had moved on so he followed suit as fast as he could. Driving home he quizzed his daughter as calmly as he could and she described it as 'Some smoke people.'
