If you asked me to name the Stephen King story that’s least likely to be based on true events, the first one to come to mind would probably be Christine, the novel-turned-horror film about an evil red car with a mind of its own. And indeed it wasn’t based on true events, but rather inspired by a totally unrelated experience in King’s life.
The story goes that King was pulling into his driveway one night when he saw the odometer on his car switch over from 9,999.9 miles to 10,000, which made him ponder a tale about a car whose odometer ran backwards, essentially getting younger instead of older. It was the germ of an idea that led to him writing Christine, putting a paranormal spin on that concept of a living car.
But if houses, people, and even mirrors can be possessed by demonic entities, then is it so hard to believe that a car could be too? Well, if you choose to believe the stories, there was in fact a real-life version of Christine, which is said to be responsible for the brutal deaths of well over a dozen people…
Roadtrippers
As we spotted over on Roadtrippers, the 1964 Dodge 330 Limited Edition you see above, dubbed the ‘Golden Eagle,’ is the most evil car in the history of the world, beginning its life as a police vehicle in Old Orchard Beach, Maine. Legend has it that all three of the officers who drove the car went on to murder their families before taking their own lives, which led many to believe that the seemingly harmless automobile was inhabited by a demon.
The stories continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s, when several people who attempted to vandalize the car met similarly gruesome fates, either being struck by lightning or being hit – and allegedly decapitated – by 18-wheelers. The evil car’s current owner, Wendy Allen, claims that nearly everyone who’s come into contact with the vehicle has suffered its wrath and died under strange circumstances, and she believes that the death toll is as high as 32.
Several other stories and legends about the car include the tragic deaths of children, many of whom were apparently hit by other cars, and ended up landing on, under or near the Golden Eagle. One story from 2007 even suggests that a kid murdered his whole family and burnt their house to the ground after merely being dared to touch the car.
In more recent years, the haunted automobile has been chopped up into pieces and hidden away from the world, so that it can no longer continue its reign of terror. Many in her town have suggested that Allen has been using the vehicle to cast death spells throughout the years since she has never been directly harmed by it, though she of course denies these allegations.
What do you think? Is the Golden Eagle truly possessed by a demonic entity, or are these stories merely coincidences or perhaps even the work of fiction?
