Strange Noises in the Night

Last night I awoke from a deep sleep when I heard a strange noise. It sounded like a dog howling and then an "thud", as if something hit my house. I thought it might have been a dream, but I looked out a few windows and saw nothing unusual, so I went back to bed. Then a few minutes later I heard sirens, and could see flashing lights through the blinds. I looked out the window again and still saw nothing, so I went back to sleep. Later I woke up to the sound of a helicopter flying around. By this time I wanted to sleep, so I ignored it, but I knew something bad had happened. So I checked the Internet this morning and found the news story about a 21 year old woman who crashed her car into a tree just down the road from me. Unfortunately, she died. Her car also started a small fire and the road was closed most of the morning. I drove through that intersection this morning and saw no evidence of an accident. I expect to see flowers at the location soon. In fact, this stretch of road is lined with "memorials" where people have been killed. I'd say since I've lived here, at least six people have died in the four mile stretch of the highly traveled "rural" road. I think they should widen the road to four lanes, with a median and guard rails on the side. But that would involve cutting down eucalyptus tress, and the community would never approve of that, even those these trees will either catch on fire, fall over or kill someone.