The Headless Runner of Route 16

One night while driving an ambulance down Route 16 with her partner asleep in the passenger seat, Raven saw something she still cannot fully explain. A figure suddenly dashed across the road, appearing to be a muscular man wearing jeans, boots, and a belt. The figure was shirtless, but Raven noticed with a shock that he was missing his head entirely. Even more impressive than the man’s speed was the fact that he cleared a five foot fence in a single bound. While some might suggest she was simply tired and hallucinating a “black dog,” Raven remains convinced of what she saw that night.

“I notice that it’s a guy and he has jeans on, boots on, a belt, he’s shirtless, but he has no head.”

The Gritty Reality of EMS

Before moving into the hospital setting, Raven spent nearly ten years working in EMS, a job she describes as both vital and exhausting. She frequently worked base schedules of seventy two hours a week, often picking up extra shifts that left her feeling mentally and physically numb. The job was frequently thankless and dangerous, involving everything from dealing with violent patients to the constant threat of traffic accidents. A tragic incident where a fellow crew fell asleep at the wheel and died on their way back from a call served as a final wake-up call for Raven. Realizing the toll the career was taking on her mental health, she decided to apply for nursing school to find a new path.

“24-hour shifts were not good on your mental health and after you do them for so long you just become numb.”

Inside the Operating Room

Now working as a surgical nurse in Charleston, Raven focuses on neurosurgery and trauma cases. She describes a world of precision where surgeons use million dollar robots and high-powered microscopes to perform delicate tasks like spinal fusions and brain tumor removals. One of the more fascinating aspects of her work involves “burr holes,” where a drill is used to create an opening in the skull to relieve pressure from collected blood. She also shares the surprising fact that if a portion of a patient’s skull is removed during surgery, it can be frozen and remains viable for up to five years. Despite the occasional “metally” smell of blood or the intense pressure of the OR, Raven says she has finally found her place in the medical world.

“Sometimes if you’re doing a burr hole and there’s like a lot of blood collecting it will shoot out of there.”

Want to hear more about Raven’s run-in with the Mothman lore or the mysterious “Floyd” in the freezer? You won’t believe the full stories until you hear them for yourself.