The chief engineer for the building of the new airport was driving from the airport into town on the Friday before Holy Week. A man hailed him and the engineer stopped and picked him up. "Where are you going?" asked the chief engineer. "I'm going wherever you're going," came the reply. The engineer noticed that the cab of the truck had turned ice cold after his passenger climbed in. They drove on further until the engineer became nervous and decided to cut the trip short by stopping at The Bucket of Blood (a bar). "This is as far as I'm going," he said. "I'm going in for a beer. By the way, what's your name?" The stranger replied, "My name is Bob McField." When the engineer looked again, the cab was empty! The chief engineer had such a strange feeling that he asked Mayor Monte who Bob McField was. The mayor replied that Bob McField was a man hung on Utila many, many years ago. For murder.
The chief engineer was heard to say over and over again, "This land is not my land; this land is not land" as he quickly departed the island.
One theory behind this ghost story is that it was made up to scare "the Spanish" (the islanders' term for people from the mainland) off the new airport. The Spanish are said to be quite superstitious and the project is unpopular with many islanders.
Robert McField was hanged on Utila in 1905, following conviction for murder.
You can read a dramatic account of the events of the summer of 1905 in
The Story of Robert McField (aka,
Elsie Morgan's Heroism): April 16, 2000