Trees keep man's SUV from deadly plunge

Walter Holloway was coming down his driveway near the Cliff Dwellers Inn when he turned, but his vehicle slid forward and rolled. He lay there in his SUV, which lodged on its side in a nest of branches.

"I was laying on the passenger window and I hoped it would hold; Toyota's got a good window," Holloway laughed.

"I peeped down, but I only did it once," he said. 

A child in a passing car saw Holloway's SUV and asked his parents to call 911.

Holloway and his rescuers believe there was something more than just the trees blocking him from a fall.

"We were surprised to see the vehicle didn't come off the cliff onto Highway 321," said Aaron Miller, of the Blowing Rock Fire & Rescue team.

The crew used a tow truck and chains to secure Holloway's car and a bucket truck to remove him to safety.

David Rogers, a photographer for the Blowing Rock News, snapped a series of photos of Holloway's SUV suspended on the cliff's edge.

"There are angels around," Holloway said. "For people who don't think there are angels around, tell them to look at this picture."