Puzzles and Games
🎃 The Case of the Phantom Paver 👷♀️
Every Halloween, the crew at Iron Ridge Construction told the same story — about the Phantom Paver that rolled the site after midnight.
Nobody believed it… until rookie operator Jake pulled the night shift.
He was paving a county road with his trusty Cat AP1055 when he noticed something strange on the grade monitor — the temperature reading dropped to “-666°F.”
He chuckled. “Ha, must be a glitch.”
Then the roller parked next to him started moving on its own. No operator. No lights. Just that low rumble of a diesel engine, idling like a ghost growl.
Jake radioed his foreman.
“Hey boss, did you send someone out to compact the west lane?”
“Negative,” the foreman replied. “Everyone’s clocked out.”
Jake’s cab suddenly filled with the smell of burnt asphalt and… pumpkin spice?
The screed lights flickered, and a deep voice echoed through the cab speakers:
“LAY IT SMOOTH… OR I’LL COME BACK FOR THE FINAL PASS!”
Terrified, Jake floored the throttle and raced back to the yard. But when he returned in the morning with the crew, they found something impossible:
The entire stretch of road was perfectly paved — straight edges, flawless finish, zero seams.
Rick the foreman shook his head in disbelief.
“Guess the Phantom Paver strikes again,” he muttered.
Then, from behind the tool shed, they heard the faint hiss of hydraulics… and the whisper of an air brake releasing.
Jake froze.
“Boss… you think it’s still out there?”
Rick smiled.
“Son, every great operator leaves their mark — some just do it… from beyond the grade.”
