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The Body on the Car

Better think twice before drinking and driving this Halloween, your life and lives of others could change forever from that one mistake.

Three years ago on Halloween, a man in east El Paso left his office close to 2:00 a.m., drunk as a skunk from the office Halloween party. Although thoroughly intoxicated, he managed to drive his car all the way home and get it parked in the driveway before he passed out.

The next morning he was awakened by his wife’s screams. She had gone outside to pick up the newspaper and happened to glance over at his car. There, embedded on the front grill of his car, was the twisted body of an eight-year old girl all dressed in white as a beautiful little bride.

This tale is particularly heartwrenching because of the irony that this little girl, dressed as a beautiful bride, did not live to see her wedding day.  After reading this story, maybe others who drink and drive will opt to call a cab or sleep it off, rather than take the risk.

The horror of this story is all too real, but it is a legend.  No particular incident on record exactly matches this tale, and as with other legends, the details of the story change over time.

According to Jan Harold Brunvand, this legend has been around for at least 45 years in various forms, but it was not until 1986 that it was given nationwide attention.  During the early part of 1986, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) and Students Against Drunk Drivers (SADD) were reportedly telling this cautionary story at their seminars and lectures.  And in September of 1986, Ann Landers published the story as quoted from a letter she received from a reader in Portland, who perhaps heard of this depressing tale at a MADD meeting.

Given the fact that this is a legend, does not necessarily make it any less poignant.  As we often see in urban legends, this tale focuses on a danger that plagues our society, in this case, the danger of drinking and driving.

Don't let it happen to you.

_{-The Folklorist}

Links & References:

Bar and Grill

Urban Legend Reference Pages information on the legend

Curses! Broiled Again (Brunvand, 1989), pgs. 92-95.

The Baby Train (Brunvand, 1993), pgs. 22-23.

The Big Book of Urban Legends (Brunvand, 1994), pgs. 42-43.

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