Brower didn't hear the train?
-
regexfan — 11 years ago(February 16, 2015 10:03 PM)
I know it's been quite a while since you asked the question, but I'm going to answer it anyway.
According to the book, the Brower kid's mom told the police her son went out (bringing with him a bucket) to pick blueberries and never came back. So that was what was on the news, and that was how the 4 main characters knew.
And then the kid got lost and he followed the track all the way (the reason why he got so far away) thinking it could lead him back home. He became disoriented when he realized he was still in the middle of nowhere, and now having lost interest in picking blueberries he threw his bucket away (this is the reason there was no bucket or blueberries anywhere near his dead body).
In the book, the 4 main characters discussed how the Brower kid had probably gotten so scared when the night arrived and had stick to the track, or even slept very near to or even on the track. He was alone, unprepared, so far away from home, and was probably in shock too, plus it was dark, so it's very logical that he didn't hear the train (or was to shock to move before the train hit him).
IN SHORT, he was not hit by the train when he was in normal mental state, picking blueberries and whistling (lol). He was hit by the train after he got lost, became disoriented and scared, most likely at night, and was probably sitting or sleeping on the track.
So there ya go! -
davcalla777 — 11 years ago(February 22, 2015 06:10 PM)
who knows.. gordie said the train knocked him out of his shoes, so we know that the train mustve whacked im good, but, its IMPOSSIBLE not to hear, or even feel a train coming, those things are so powerful and loud, a deaf man can feel the air and surroundings around him rumbling. outside of a suicide, or being frozen in fear
-
rek16803 — 11 years ago(February 22, 2015 08:34 PM)
It happens all the time. two times just in Portland Oregon the past 4 months.
http://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/index.ssf/2015/02/amtrak_train_fatally_hits_man.html
http://www.oregonlive.com/weather/index.ssf/2014/10/man_killed_by_train_in_southea.html -
-
serendipity-13 — 10 years ago(May 25, 2015 05:47 PM)
as a child, I used to have to cross a railway track on my way home from schoolnot at a crossing, just along the line. One day, walking home with my brothers, I was very cross for some reason and stomping along lost in my own angry world. I went to step across the first track and my brother pulled me back by grabbing my jacket.as I turned around to yell at him the train went whooshing past! Up until then, I had not seen or heard it. If not for my brother's quick thinking, I would have been smooshed on the front of that train!
Also, about the shoes coming off. W@hen a person dies, their body goes limp initially and that's when shoes fall off.you'll often see random shoes when there has been a bombing or other type of accident where people have been suddenly killed -
irishfl80 — 11 years ago(March 11, 2015 09:40 PM)
My father was an engineer for amtrak, and yes people got hit & killed all the time. Granted most of the time the people were drunk, but it happenes rather often to people not drunk.
If anything is a plothole in the story, it would be how did the engineer not know he hit someone. Trains will stop after they hit someone, not just keep going leaving the body to be discovered whenever. I suppose it's possible back in those days the engineer could get away with not paying attention. Maybe reading a newspaper or something. -
willydoe71 — 10 years ago(November 20, 2015 01:25 AM)
If anything is a plothole in the story, it would be how did the engineer not know he hit someone. Trains will stop after they hit someone, not just keep going leaving the body to be discovered whenever. I suppose it's possible back in those days the engineer could get away with not paying attention. Maybe reading a newspaper or something.
Well for starters, it could have been night time when he hit him. Also, back in those days, it wasn't too uncommon for train engineers to be drinking while on the job. My uncle used to be an engineer as well. They had to build an overpass over one of the tracks because back in those days, he and his buddies would be piss drunk and stop the trains across the road, blocking all traffic. -
wilft1 — 10 years ago(April 09, 2015 09:52 AM)
Ray Brower went to the Prometheus school of running away from things i.e. running in a straight line away from whats coming straight at you instead of running sideways away from it
People tend to look at you differently when you stuff a voodoo doll full of laxitives -
BingoFlip20943 — 10 years ago(May 24, 2015 08:44 PM)
Maybe this isn't how it was in the 50s, but trains can be extremely quiet, especially if they're running with the engine in back. I grew up near train tracks, and a friend and I once didn't hear a train until it was under us when we were climbing a chain link fence on a bridge. It was almost completely silent and scared the beep out of us.
-
willowtara — 10 years ago(June 14, 2015 01:37 PM)
I lived next to train tracks for years. Trains do not constantly blow their horns, usually just when the trains are approaching a crossing or they see something on the tracks.
Ray could have been very tired or had dosed off and didn't hear it. We'll never know -
daughterofolaf — 10 years ago(July 10, 2015 09:33 PM)
Oddly this type of thing has happened in real life a number of times. It sounds incredibly bizarre but it's not unrealistic. There have been at least two stories like this in the media in Southern California in the last year or so. Freakin' weird and one could categorize it as stupid but it happens.
"It's Minnie Pearl's murder weapon." -
Merry-Go-Girl — 10 years ago(August 11, 2015 08:05 AM)
That part of the track ran though a forested area, it's not crazy to think that an approaching train would also sound like wind passing through branches. Also, wasn't there a body of water like 15 feet away? Plenty of things to distract from or disguise the sound.
Why do people so frequently get told to read the book on a
movie
database? -
anonymous_guy — 10 years ago(January 26, 2016 07:55 AM)
this is not far fetched at all. this is something that actually happens in real life. i personally know a guy that got hit by a train when he was kid and nearly died
And whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first, they must catch you -
selenedm999 — 9 years ago(November 06, 2016 01:18 AM)
In the book, he's described as not being all that banged up, either. It's entirely possible he was trying to get away from the train and hit his head or something.
It's also hinted at that there is SOMETHING ELSE IN THE WOODS, and maybe that's what got him! It is, after all, a Stephen King story!
