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somehow lost control of her car and plunged into the Kings River sometime in the not-too-distant past. The woman was drowned, and her two daughters, riding in the back seat, were swept away in the car by the raging currents and also perished further downstream. She is said to wander the road at night, moaning and calling for her lost children. La Llorona, the old Hispanic tale of the “Crying Woman” who haunts the banks of creeks and rivers, is given a new twist. Channel Road is not easy to find, even with directions. This country lane begins innocently enough at the intersection with Annadale Avenue amongst swaying eucalyptus trees and neatly planted orange groves, but soon devolves into a nightmare of hairpin turns that would tax even the most sober of drivers. The most confusing aspect about the drowned woman story is that the Kings River is not exactly next to Channel Road. There are vast sewage treatment ponds and marshes along its lower reaches, and the “channel” that gives the blacktop its name appears to have been long ago submerged behind long, chain-link fences. About two miles further east from the Channel intersection, Annadale Ave. does indeed cross the river, and perhaps the ghostly wanderer is looking in an area where her daughters may have been washed ashore downstream. |
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