By Reddit user "guyintheyear2525" It happened to his grandfather somewhere in the late 60s and early 70s.
“My grandfather worked for a trading company in Ontario. One day, at work, he had to urgently go for the night looking to go from Montreal to the city of Guelph.
But when my grandfather drove along Highway 401 almost halfway, he suddenly ran out of gas.
It was night, Sunday, all the nearest gas stations were still closed, and besides, it was winter and the temperature at night dropped to minus 40 Celsius.
This meant that if my grandfather had dared to walk the rest of the way to Guelph, he would definitely freeze soon.
My grandfather began to think about what to do. Finally he decided to go out and look for houses nearby and ask them for gas. He found a private house nearby and began knocking on it. Some person opened it, but when asked about gasoline, he said that he had nothing and could not help.
Then my grandfather returned to the car and sat in it, realizing that most likely he would not survive this night and would freeze to death.
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And suddenly a young guy appeared on the highway. He approached my grandfather's car and asked for a ride for him. The grandfather said that he had practically no gas left, but the guy began to assure that where he took him there was a can of gasoline.
The grandfather put this guy in the car and they drove off. They were driving only a few minutes when a guy asked to stop near a private house not far from the road.
Soon he returned with a can of gasoline and his grandfather began to thank him and offer money for help, but the guy refused.
Grandfather refueled his car and drove along the highway. And after a while he saw hitchhikers on the side of the road. It was a man with a wife and a child, they also ran out of gas. When my grandfather stopped to help them in turn, the man said that they had been standing here for two hours and no one had ever passed by them, and grandfather was the first.
All three of them were so cold that the man could barely open the door when he got into his grandfathers' car, his fingers almost did not obey.
The grandfather drove the family to the nearest gas station. If not for him, this man with his wife and child probably would not have survived until the morning. The man thanked his grandfather for a long time and also offered him money, but the grandfather refused to take the award.
Three years later, my grandfather was driving the same route on Highway 401 for work again. And he decided to stop by the house where he gave the young guy a lift and thank him again.
He remembered that place well, but when he got there, there was no house there, and instead there was just an empty field. My grandfather traveled all around there, but he never found this house.
Later he met a local resident and told him his story, and this man looked at my grandfather with great bewilderment. And then he said that there had never been any home in the field area, at least for the last 50 years.
To say that my grandfather was puzzled is to say nothing. The place was the same, and after all, only three years had passed, the grandfather still perfectly remembered exactly where he had taken that person and at what point on the highway it was.
My grandfather later visited the area several times and every time he tried to find that house, but each time he failed. I think that some higher powers helped my grandfather. And not just to save him, but that he also saved that family of three."