Tour Bus Drama

Full transcript of the My True Ghost Stories episode “Tour Bus Drama.” Listen to this episode.

Hello and welcome to episode 82 of My True Go Stories. This story is about a tour that I was on and a premonition that I had. In my career I was originally a modern dancer but then I switched over to musical theater because it was more fun, it was to be honest, it was easier and there was more work to be had as a dancer in a musical theater show. And in musical theater, in your career people tend to have a show that they do a lot and the show that I did a lot was Cabaret. And I was a Kit-Kat girl in the show Cabaret and I did it in Summer Stock and Dinner Theater and another Dinner Theater.

And then the last production of Cabaret that I did was on a national tour. And doing this national tour, the cast of this musical was great. And the shows were really great and everybody was a good singer and everybody was a good dancer. And for the most part everybody really got along and we loved the singing and the dancing and the acting and the costumes, the costumes for that show were incredible especially for us Kit-Kat girls. So you would do the show, have a great time, take a curtain call, have that high after a show but then you would have to get on the bus and drive all night to the next town.

And during this drive we would try to sleep on the bus or mostly we would stop at these rest stops and get lots of junk food or we would stop at the rest stop and buy things. The dancers didn't eat as much junk food as everybody else but we did eat the junk food. And a lot of times this drive would be an hour or two drive after the show to some motel. So after the drive, after doing the show we would go to the motel, we would find our rooms, we would find the bar. A lot of times we would drink and then we would find our room again being slightly drunk and then we would sleep or pass out.

And then we would have to wake up, usually way too early to get back on the bus, eat more junk food and start the whole thing over again and get to the next town. Now we were all in our 20s so we were kind of able to survive this lifestyle and we stayed in shape. One girl had brought a cassette tape, a recording of a Jane Fonda workout from a video cassette that she had and she had recorded the sound. And so we would do that workout every day, kind of stay in shape. And on this tour it was all one night gigs for the most part.

Occasionally we would have two nights in one place and in that situation we would go in the pool, we would go in a hot tub, maybe do some little tourist activity in that town before the show. And although we were all doing what we loved, we all wanted to be in a show. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people had auditioned for this cast of 25 and it was really hard to get a job. We all went to auditions and took classes and despite how hard it was to get a job in musical theater and we were all grateful for the job. Life on the road is pretty miserable.

We were exhausted, we were eating all this strange food all the time, we got bad sleep, we did lots of drinking because we were in our 20s and there was of course personalities and when you spend that much time at a bus together personalities are going to affect you. Now this story takes place before I had any idea that I was a medium. I knew that weird stuff happened and sometimes I knew something was going to happen before it happened or sometimes I would see these ghosts in the corner of my eyes but I really at this age early 20s I had no idea about this medium thing. So when these weird things did happen like I would predict something coming or I would know that somebody died, my family was very accepting of this, this was just sort of a lifestyle for us. So they were very accepting of it so I didn't feel different and I accepted it as a normal thing of life but I did not know that I was a medium.

And I also didn't recognize a psychic experience when it was happening back in my 20s. I would have these thoughts, I would have a dream, then the thing would happen and in hindsight I would say, oh wait I dreamed that, I knew that. Now I will have this feeling, I will have a strange dream now, I recognize a psychic experience when it's happening or a medium experience when it's happening. But back then I had no idea. So I, like on this tour, I was walking around, I was seeing ghosts in all these different motel rooms, I was thinking about things before they would happen and I really didn't recognize it when it was going on.

So what happened here on this tour that everyone was actually becoming very miserable and a huge amount of complaining was going on about the tour, we don't like the rooms, we're exhausted, why do we have to sleep on the bus, you know, lots of complaining. So what happened was about midway in this six month tour, we had a one week break and the show that was scheduled right before this one week break was pretty close to New York City, like Philadelphia or something. And after that show, the bus was going to take us back to Manhattan where we all had some place to stay, we still had our apartments there or we had a friend to stay with or like me, I could stay with my dad. So we were going to have a whole week back at home where we could sleep and eat and go to dance class and do all the things that would make life normal for one week and we were overjoyed. The celebration that went on when we found out that we had a week off in the middle of the tour was incredible.

And it was a good thing overall for us to be having this break because the non-stop complaining, the exhaustion, lots of strong musical theater personalities and there were some romances on that bus that were going bad, it was a mess. And we all wanted that job, we were grateful to have that job, but as I said, life on the road is pretty miserable. Now it was a few days before our week break at home in New York City. And we were headed towards that show in Philadelphia, I don't remember the tour schedule this many years later, but it was a few days before we were going to hit New York City and get our week off. And I was sitting there, maybe in the hotel room or maybe actually on the bus, but I was sitting there and I got this vision.

I got this vision of driving along, I believe it's Route 3 in New Jersey and there's this moment where you sort of come up a hill on this route in New Jersey and the Manhattan skyline sort of slowly appears on the horizon. So I was sitting there and I was having a vision of the Manhattan skyline appearing over the horizon and it was a beautiful sight. I was like, oh, I can't wait to get home. And this was one of those psychic experiences that I wasn't recognizing at the time because this vision was sort of being shown to me. It wasn't me imagining it was being shown to me.

So I'm watching the skyline come up over the horizon in this vision and then in this vision, there's like a metallic noise and some smoke and then in this vision, the bus pulls over to the side of the road and the driver says the bus has broken down. This is the vision I got and it halted just as the Manhattan skylines had appeared, the bus broke down and pulled over to the side of the road. This is the vision that I got and that was the end of the whole thing. So I was with friends when I had this vision and they were excitedly talking about, oh, I can't wait to get home and I don't know if they were actually mentioning watching the skyline appear over the horizon. But it was like that.

It was like, oh, I can't wait to get off this bus and go into the subway and stuff like that. And I said, watch. I just sort of said, watch, watch like the bus is going to break down right as we see the Manhattan skyline. And they said, no, don't even say that. Oh, my God, that would be so awful.

It would be so close, but yet so far and you know, they they dismissed this and said, don't even say that. So I stopped saying it, but I wasn't able to shake that vision that I had had. And you probably know where this story is going. So it was three days later. We finished that gig.

It was during the day. So maybe it was a matinee or we had a nighttime gig and we stayed in the hotel and then the drive began to New York City. And it happened. We're all on the bus. The energy was high.

Everybody was getting along. We were all so excited that we were going to get to get away from each other for a whole week and be in our own homes. And here we are. We're driving up Route 3 in New Jersey. And here it comes.

And you can hear the excitement rising in the bus as everybody saw the Manhattan skyline, the Empire State Building. Sort of pockets head up over the horizon. And then we went up the little hill and we saw Manhattan in its glory. It was during the day in its glory. And then clank, clank, clank.

We hear a metallic sound. We smell a little bit of smoke. Pull over to the side of the road. And the bus driver says, the bus is broken down. And this is what really happened.

And it was exactly like the vision that I had had three days before. Everyone started to say, oh no, oh no. Everyone was freaking out on that this was actually happening. And at that point nobody seemed to remember that I had said that this was going to happen. And the bus was in a position that we were actually able to, we just got off the bus and we were leaning against the guard rail.

And musical theater people are very funny. And they were sort of reaching longingly towards the skyline and singing love songs and singing heartbreak songs. It's always entertaining when you're with theater people. But it wasn't that entertaining because it was extremely frustrating. And I believe it was hot.

I don't remember if it was hot. But it was a really unpleasant situation to have the city be so close and yet so far. And eventually this one cast member named Craig, he looked at me. And then he looked at the skyline. And then he looked back at me.

Now around him were musical theater people being funny and singing to the skyline. And Craig was looking at me, looking back at the skyline, looking at me. And then he started pointing. And he said, how did you know? How did you know?

And I was sort of standing off by myself at that point, being a little freaked out that I had had a vision of this very experience. And feeling self conscious about it. And here Craig was realizing that I had predicted this. And then I saw him talking to the people around him. And they all started looking at me.

And I started to get the idea that they were blaming me. They were so frustrated. There was so much animosity at that point amongst the cast that it seemed like some people were blaming me because I started to get dirty looks. And no one really talked to me about it. The only communication I had was Craig looking at me, looking at the skyline, looking back at me, pointing his finger at me and saying, accusingly, how did you know?

Well, I just didn't respond. I stayed over there by myself. And I started to wonder, did I cause this breakdown? Because everyone seems to be blaming me. They just want to blame somebody.

But there seems to be a little bit of blame going on here. And I thought, did I cause it? You know, maybe I did. In Manhattan, there was a very, very recent breakup of mine that had happened the day before I left on this tour. And that breakup and that person was waiting for me there.

In Manhattan, well, not waiting for me. That situation was waiting for me because he was still in the apartment that we shared. It was a mess. And then I thought, maybe my psychic angst is so powerful that I made this bus breakdown. Maybe I made the bus breakdown or did I just foresee the future in some sort of time slip that told me that this was going to happen and to be prepared for this level of frustration.

And you know what? I will never know. I don't know if my psychic angst is that strong to make something like that happen. But it's possible. There's a lot of hurricanes and stuff in my past that I will tell stories about someday.

But sometimes my psychic angst is accompanied by all sorts of outdoor drama. So who knows. But what I do know is that that bus that we were all standing outside of eventually got towed after we all got our luggage off of it. And a new bus came and it got us back to Manhattan. And I'm sure that I went and saw that ex boyfriend.

I don't remember, but I'm sure I did. But the happy ending of the story is that we all lived to tell the tale of the broken down bus on the side of Route 3 in New Jersey. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you enjoy my storytelling style, you can subscribe to the Patreon and the link to the Patreon is in the show notes. In my Patreon, I tell interesting stories of my life in New York City and beyond.

And if you have enjoyed this episode of my true ghost stories, please take a second to review, subscribe and share it with a friend to help this show grow. And that's all for today. Thank you for listening to today's episode. And if you think your house is haunted, want energy cleared from your space or need a custom spiritual ritual, I'm here to help. Visit jpclearing.com or email me at jpclearing60 at gmail.com.

Don't forget to join me here every Tuesday for a new episode. Until next time.