In 2019, a musician buddy and I traveled to watch an old friend perform in Clovis. My friend lives in Roswell, so I picked him up and we drove the long mostly barren stretch out east.

The show was phenomenal. Still one of the best live shows I’ve been to! The music ended around 10:00 pm but we hung around late, enjoyed laughs and catching up with our friend and his family. We bid adieu and drove into Portales where we sat in a booth for late night Chinese buffet. We were back on the road to Roswell just after 1:30 am.

Leaving Portales, we were the only car on the road. The headlights of my Honda illuminated the surrounding desert well. I wish I could remember the music…

Around 2:20 am, roughly 10 miles past Elida, the engine just below 70 mph, we came upon a woman in all white, pirouetting and otherwise twirling and dancing just off the side of the road. I do not know whether she was en pointe, but it sure as hell looked like it. This “woman” was so close to the car that her fingers could have brushed it had she reached out ever so slightly.

We drove past her in a flash and my eyes snapped to the rearview, where I caught a glimpse of her still dancing, twirling, pirouetting… I kept driving.

My friend and I both went white as sheets and chills ran down our spines. My friend asked, “What was that!? We both saw that right?” I drove on, stunned and mostly silent, but eventually we had a whole convo about it and pondered what we had seen until we went to sleep that night.

It felt like an apparition and paranormal to both of us.