Ford Pickups

As far back as I can recall knowing my former husband and his family, I remember all of them being seemingly obsessed with transmission problems in Ford pickup trucks. Practically every time I went with any of them out to their family ranch, I also recall at least one of them mentioning something or other about Ford pickups accidentally slipping into reverse when left idling in park. (This was nearly always mentioned when someone stopped to get out and open a gate, for example.)

Gradually, I began to realize that often when one of them talked about this, they also mentioned local people who had died as a result of their Ford trucks slipping into gear like this. Unfortunately, at the time I had no reason to think anything of these stories, other than that they sounded tragic. Later in thinking back, however, I realized that these discussions had been fairly excessive and rather creepy.

I can't remember very many details of what I was told about these deaths. I do remember being told about a man from Mason dying this way while he was working cattle, but this was a long time ago and I was never told the man's name. I believe I was also told about another person being run over by their truck in Gillespie County somewhere, but I don't remember for sure. The incident I recall being told about most often concerned a man whom I was told got out of his Ford truck to open the main gate to his ranch. Supposedly when he got out, he saw his truck start to move backwards, and when he tried to reach inside to stop it, his clothing was somehow entangled in the door or wheels, causing him to suffocate. I was told that this last death occurred right next to the highway at the entrance to the man's ranch. The reason I remember more about this particular death is that I was told it happened at the entrance located directly across the highway from my ex-husband's family's ranch. (I believe this property was bought up by someone else after the owner died. It certainly sported a larger and much fancier entrance gate afterward.)

Important note: I was told about these deaths so many years ago that it's possible I may have confused the details, but I'm sure about the locations. Also, I don't ever remember seeing anything about any of these deaths in the newspapers or on the television news, but again, they happened a long time ago. If, however, what I was told was true, in retrospect there were too many of these deaths for such a small area and someone should look into this.