Mystery of The Ghost Crews

At 9 am, Friday Morning, Jeff and Paul reached the Rochester city line on Buffalo road, when Bill Johnson flagged them down as he climbed out of a manhole at Buffalo Road and Mt. Read Boulevard, where he was splicing some cables after receiving reports of shorts that were disrupting phone service in the area. Josh Nelseon was working in another manhole a short distance away installing some bypass circuits, when he got word that the Hansen Boys were back in town after nearly a week in Buffalo. Josh then finished his work, climbed out of the manhole and packed up his equipment. He then called Bill about Paul and Jeff. Bill said,"Josh, let’s all meet at Wendy’s for lunch, Paul and Jeff have quite a story for us." Josh replied,"I’ll be there." At around 11, Bill, Josh, and the boys met at Wendy’s for lunch. The rest of the crew could not make it as they were cross town working on some overhead lines from the new bucket trucks recently assigned to each lineman.

Bill said," I hear you had quite a time in Buffalo." Jeff replied, "Bill, you’d be surprised as to how many ghost crews we saw there. We exterminated the single balls, but left the ghost crews alone as they were not bothering anyone." Bill said," We still have quite a few of them here, but as long as they don’t interfere with our work, I take a ‘leave it be’ stance on the matter. I have found a crouching green pair of pants being worn by these rubber ball like aliens to be one of the wierdest things I have seen to date. Then again, stranger things have happened." Paul said,"Every one of those things we saw had dual antennae, one for each ball. These alien balls favor cotton twill

Pants in light and dark green and light brown. However, they occasionally wear brown and black pants. At the final manholes on the list Joe Rizzo gave us, two of the single balls bounced us and the next thing we saw was a pair of balls wearing the light green pants I had on and the white pair Jeff had on, both duplicated somehow. Needless to say, Bill, we popped them both with our dart gun."

Jeff added,"Most of the ghost crews we saw wore dark green pants, with a few wearing light green pants. In all cases, the alien balls had antennae sticking up 3 feet, both when in the crouching position, and when climbing out of manholes, the adjusted forms of the balls wearing the pants was most discernable. " Paul said," These ghost crews aaare most active in the overnight hours, ride in stepvans that drive themselves and have their own manhole equipment." Bill said," I have heard stories that more people are seeing these ghost crews late at night." Jeff said," I think we should get the word out that the ghost crews are harmless and something of a novelty that could bring badly needed tourist dollars to both Buffalo and Rochester." Paul said," Let’s do it in moderation. Going overboard could produce harmful effects, such as turning them hostile." Jeff said, "You’re right, moderation is the way to go.

As the boys and Bills crew discussed the subject, a ghost crew was setting up on Genesee Street at Brooks Avenue. It consisted of three pairs of dark green pants each worn by a pair of the rubber ball aliens. By 6 pm Friday Night, the ghost crews were just getting started. They became something of a tourist attraction , bringing badly needed tourist dollars to Rochester, whose school district was on the verge of financial collapse.