Embedded Files
Official designation: BTA-SH-26-003
Department in charge: Department of Cross-Modal Reverence (DCMR)
Research classification: Unexplained, unverified.
The BTA Cryptid Truck Trials™ is an expedition-based competition that challenges teams to investigate alleged supernatural phenomena associated with the trucking industry. According to the Department of Cross-Modal Reverence, highways have always been home to strange sightings, mysterious radio transmissions, inexplicable cargo discrepancies, and truck-shaped shadows that disappear whenever someone checks the rearview mirror.
For decades, these reports have been dismissed as ordinary driver fatigue, faulty electrical systems, or the consequences of spending fourteen consecutive hours listening to the same country music station. The DCMR, however, maintains that a small but significant percentage of incidents cannot be adequately explained by conventional transportation knowledge.
The Cryptid Truck Trials exists to investigate these incidents.
The investigation procedure
Teams begin at the Paranormal Freight Affairs field office, where they receive a case number, a map of the investigation area, a collection of evidence bags, and an official Cryptid Observation Log. Each team must designate a lead investigator, a photographic evidence specialist, a radio communications officer, and a chief of documentation.
The investigation takes place in an area containing suspected paranormal evidence. Participants might discover mysterious tire tracks that abruptly terminate, an abandoned delivery manifest bearing an impossible date, a set of glowing eyes visible behind a tree, or a CB radio message that repeats the phrase “YOUR LOAD HAS BEEN REASSIGNED” in an unsettling monotone.
Teams earn points for identifying clues, distinguishing reliable evidence from deliberate misdirection, and developing a plausible explanation for each incident. Simply shouting “GHOST TRUCK!” at every unexplained noise is not considered a scientifically rigorous methodology, although the DCMR acknowledges that it is emotionally understandable.
At designated checkpoints, teams may be asked to conduct a simulated roadside inspection, interview a witness played by a BTA volunteer, or reconstruct the last known movements of a suspicious vehicle. Investigators must document their findings carefully. Photographs should include timestamps, witness statements should be signed, and every unidentified object must be assigned an evidence number.
The competition's final stage is the Paranormal Freight Review Hearing™. Each team presents its findings before a panel of senior BTA investigators, skeptical mechanics, and at least one official whose job title contains the word “spectral.” Presentations must include a timeline, supporting evidence, alternative explanations, and a recommended course of action.
The panel may classify each case as Verified Anomaly, Probable Cryptid Activity, Insufficient Evidence, or Ordinary Mechanical Issue. The last category is notoriously unpopular with teams that have spent three hours investigating a haunted trailer, only to discover that its unusual behavior resulted from a loose reflective strip.
Awards and recognition:
- Best Cryptid Investigator: For the most thorough and convincing investigation.
- The Paranormal Freight Affairs Distinguished Service Medal: For exceptional dedication to supernatural transportation research.
- The Golden Flashlight Award: For outstanding fieldwork under dangerous or paranormal conditions.
- The Unexplained Evidence Citation: For discovering the most intriguing unresolved clue.
- The Skeptical Mechanic Commendation: For correctly identifying a supposedly supernatural event as a mechanical fault.
- The Mothman Maneuver Ribbon: For successfully completing the most difficult investigation without losing the team's paperwork.
The Cryptid Truck Trials conclude with the publication of a preliminary report by the DCMR. The report is distributed to participating teams, archived in the BTA's restricted paranormal records facility, and occasionally referenced in unrelated meetings about fuel efficiency.
The office maintains that its work is entirely serious.
the suspected entities
Each participating team receives a classified case file containing information about one or more alleged trucking cryptids. The files are assembled from witness reports, photographs of questionable quality, anonymous CB radio recordings, and official documents that have been stamped “PROBABLY”
The Phantom Flatbed
This legendary trailer supposedly appears at abandoned rest stops with a perfectly clean cargo deck, even after witnesses report seeing it carrying enormous and unidentified objects. Its defining characteristic is the complete absence of any record showing where it came from. Investigators must search designated evidence stations, interview costumed witnesses, and reconstruct the trailer's supposed route from contradictory shipping documents.
The Diesel Doppelgänger
A mysterious entity reported to resemble an ordinary BTA truck in every detail, except that its license plate appears to be the number of the witness's own truck. Drivers claim to see it following them at a perfectly constant distance, even when the road behind them is demonstrably empty. Teams investigating this phenomenon must compare photographs, document sightings, and determine whether the alleged duplicate has any verifiable identifying features.
The Mothman of Mile Marker 13
A towering winged figure allegedly observed near a particular stretch of highway, where CB radios develop a habit of transmitting weather forecasts from entirely different states. Witnesses disagree about its height, its wingspan, and its motives. Teams must examine clues, decode radio transmissions, and submit a formal determination of whether the creature represents a paranormal threat or an elaborate misunderstanding involving a tarp.
Google Sites
Report abuse