Who knew such things were possible?

From this morning’s Pilot:

A semi tanker carrying a load of liquid chicken fat early Tuesday left a 20-mile greasy trail along U.S. 13 on the Eastern Shore that isn’t expected to be fully cleaned up until late today.

It left Almeda Johnson nearly speechless when she smelled it [ed. note - I'll bet]. She was driving over the dark slick that covered the northbound lanes as they ran through Temperanceville, while taking her daughter to day care. Suddenly, an odor rose up and nearly made her gag.

“Whew,” she said later. “Ain’t no words to describe it. No words at all.”

“Rancid” and “putrid” later came to mind.

“People were slippin’ and slidin’ on that stuff,” Johnson said. “It was thick and black – it had the appearance of gunk.”

The truck apparently left the Perdue Farms chicken plant in Accomac with a partially open valve, according to investigators. Not until the trucker stopped at a weigh station in New Church was the leak stopped – after gallons of fat had poured onto the station equipment, shutting it down for the day.

Vehicles caught behind the trucker were sprayed with the funky goo, and at least four crashed shortly after the fat began leaking around 6 a.m.

One car hit a utility pole and the driver was taken to a local hospital, said Sgt. Joe Bunting of the Virginia State Police. At least three other vehicles crashed, but no one suffered life-threatening injuries.

Putting aside the substantial “ick“ factor (and really, why wouldn’t you), how bizarre is a 20 mile long chicken fat slick? If I just made that up, no one would have believed me. People, sometimes truth is stranger (and grosser) than fiction.