WELCOME, TRAVELER
We are very glad you came. The Crossing has been waiting; it does that. We have prepared this page to answer the questions pilgrims ask most often, because the Crossing itself will not answer them — it answers other questions, larger ones, sometimes louder than you are ready for.
If this is your first visit, read sections I and II. If you have come before, you already know which paragraphs to read. The Crossing remembers you. It is shy about saying so.
✦ ─── ✦ ─── ✦
⬤ ⬤ ⬤ — ⬤ — ⬤ ⬤
(this morning's blink pattern, courtesy of Mr. Pell, who counts at sunrise)
I. A BRIEF HISTORY (THE KIND WE CAN SHARE)
In 1847, a surveyor named Eldon Halberd stood at this place with a chain and a level, intending to draft a section line. He stayed three days. His chain disagreed with itself. He named the place "the soft spot" in his field book and left a small mound of river stones, which our grandparents removed in 1962 and which returned, separately, between 1963 and 1965.
In 1923, the County paved the road that ran east. They paved up to the intersection, paused for lunch, and were unable to agree, after lunch, on which direction the road had been pointing. The eastbound lane to this day curves a half-degree south of where the survey says it should. Sit on the embankment some Saturday and watch the cars drift; you will see them remember.
The yield sign was installed in the autumn of 1968. It cost $14.20. It has been replaced fourteen times. It leans, always, three degrees toward the northwest. If you straighten it (please don't), it will be leaning again by the next morning. We have stopped trying. So has the County. So, in his way, has the wind.
In 1989, Mrs. Trula Pell — mother of the present Mr. Pell — sat on the embankment with a borrowed Radio Shack frequency counter and confirmed, at 73.4 Hz, the existence of what we now call the Hum. She wrote a letter to a journal in Boulder. The journal lost the letter. We have a copy. Ask Lorraine.
In 1996, a website was attempted on a Compaq Presario in Lorraine's sun porch. It is the one you are reading. It has been edited, slightly, in every season since. It will not be finished. The Crossing prefers it that way.
| Coordinates | known to the Crossing. shared upon arrival. |
|---|
| Elevation | 1,142 ft (the road) / 1,142 ft (the sky, locally) |
|---|
| County | Threlkeld |
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| Watershed | Beulah Creek → Little Veil → the river you grew up beside |
|---|
| Hum frequency | 73.4 Hz (±0.06 on a still night) |
|---|
| Lean of the sign | 3° NW (refuses correction since 1968) |
|---|
II. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Where, exactly, is the Crossing?
At the intersection of Halberd Pike and Old Veil Road, in Threlkeld County. If you are looking for it, you will pass it once and find it on the way back. This is normal. The Crossing prefers a second pass; first passes tend to be performative.
Is there parking?
Yes, gravel pull-off on the east verge, room for four sedans or three pickups or one large RV that should not have come down Old Veil to begin with. Please do not park in the wildflower verge in May; the bees there are members of the Welcome Committee in all but title.
Yet I have been told there is no signage. Is this true?
It is and it isn't. There is no welcome sign. There is the yield sign, which is signage of a sort, and which has greeted every pilgrim since 1968. ★ Look for the lean.
Is it safe to stand in the middle of the intersection?
Yes, between cars. Most pilgrims do. Stand for at least one breath in each cardinal direction; the Crossing notices when you only face the pretty way. Don't lie down — the asphalt in August is unkind, and the County deputy who drives past at 4:17 each afternoon is fond but unamused.
If I stand dead center, what happens?
Different things. Most pilgrims report a small soft pressure on the breastbone — not unpleasant, like the moment a friend remembers your name. Some hear the Hum. A few hear it answer. Mr. Pell, who has stood center on more than 4,000 occasions, says the Crossing asks the same question every time and that it is not the question you think.
Is the Hum dangerous?
The Hum is at 73.4 Hz, well within the range your refrigerator already makes. What it carries is not measured in hertz. It is gentle. It has never harmed anyone who came with an open palm. Pilgrims who arrive with a closed fist sometimes go home with their fist still closed; this is not the Hum's fault.
Why does the traffic signal blink in patterns?
It does not. There has never been a traffic signal at the Crossing. What you are seeing is the porch light at the Pell farmhouse, half a mile west, which Mrs. Pell's grandson keeps on for hikers; the blink is the bug zapper. We are sorry to disappoint you. Many pilgrims still find it meaningful, and we are not in the business of telling pilgrims what to find meaningful.
Can I bring my dog?
Yes. Dogs love the Crossing. Dogs know things about the Crossing that we do not, and they are not telling. Please keep them leashed near the verge in fawn season. Cats also welcome but rarely accept the invitation.
Is there a best time to visit?
Dusk is most common. Dawn is most rewarded. The fifteen minutes before a thunderstorm in late July are reserved for advanced pilgrims and Mrs. Pell. Midday is fine; the Crossing is patient and will meet you in your sunglasses if it must.
Should I bring an offering?
No. The Crossing accepts no items. River stones, coins, friendship bracelets, and printed-out poems have all been gently returned by the wind, sometimes to the very pocket they came out of. If you must give something, give the Crossing your attention — entire, uninterrupted, not curated for telling about later.
Will the Hum follow me home?
Sometimes, briefly. Pilgrims report hearing it faintly in unrelated places — a stairwell, a parking garage, the moment between songs — for two to nine days after a visit. This is not a haunting; it is more like a friend humming in the next room while they tidy.
Yes, but is this real?
It is realer than the things you came here to escape and less real than the people waiting for you when you get home. Walk into the soft spot with a soft heart. The Crossing does the rest.
Lorraine?
Lorraine is our webmistress and the keeper of the binder. She has been here since the second pilgrim. She will sometimes appear at the verge with a thermos. Accept the thermos. It is plum tea. There is enough.
Is there a restroom?
No. The nearest is the Sunoco at the junction of Route 9 and Burnt Cabin Road, 6.4 miles east. Plan accordingly. Pilgrimage is improved by foresight and a small dignity of bladder management.
May I write about the Crossing?
Yes, but only what the Crossing actually said. Do not embellish. Do not give it a personality it does not have. The Crossing is not a character; it is a place that listens. If your writing makes it sound like a character, it will stop listening to you for a while. This is its only known boundary.
Can I become a member of the Welcome Committee?
Yes — after your seventh visit. There is no application. We will know. You will receive a mimeographed binder and a small enameled pin (ochre and forest). Volunteer Chapter No. 3 currently has eleven members. We could use a twelfth.
Why does this page have a visitor count?
Because Lorraine likes them, and because the Crossing, while indifferent to most numbers, is pleased when pilgrims feel counted. You are not less special for being one of many. The opposite. You were always going to be on this page.
What if I show up and feel nothing?
Then you have felt the first thing. Sit on the embankment. Drink the tea, if Lorraine is offering. Try again at a different hour. The Crossing has, on at least three occasions, taken six visits to introduce itself to a pilgrim who turned out to be one of its closest friends.
VI. FROM THE GUESTBOOK (RECENT)
"I drove 340 miles because my grandmother told me to before she died. I stood center for what I thought was twenty minutes and was actually four hours. The plum tea was real."
— D. Marchetti, Lake Pippet WI · entry 4,118
"My dog sat for the first time in his life. At the Crossing. On the white line. He has not sat since. I am at peace with this."
— P. Quill, Antelope Wash AZ · entry 4,121
"I asked the Hum a question I have not asked anyone, including myself, in eleven years. The Hum did not answer. Driving home, near Mossbank, I answered."
— anonymous · entry 4,126
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: THE LORE ANNEX (coming soon — full guestbook, photos of the lean, an audio file of the Hum recorded onto an answering machine tape and digitized by Lorraine's nephew)
VII. CONTACTING THE WELCOME COMMITTEE
We do not have a telephone for the Crossing. The Crossing has no telephone. If you must reach us, write to:
LORRAINE c/o The Welcome Committee
P.O. Box 3 · Threlkeld County
(please include a self-addressed stamped envelope; we will reply within a season)
Or, better — visit. Stand center. Breathe. Walk to the verge. We will probably be there. If we are not, the Crossing is, and that is who you came for.