Ghost Map

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Apparitions

Roadside and bridge ghosts

The legend of a hitchhiker who vanishes from the back seat and turns out to have died years earlier is one of the world's most popular urban myths. It has local versions in Chicago, Kent, South Africa and Poland. This group also includes bridges and bends where drivers brake for figures that dissolve in the headlights. Folklorists collect these stories as a living example of modern legends, the police as reports that can never be closed.

cases
8
years
1826–2026

Disputed: 2 Legend: 6

  1. 19th century

    1. 1826 Roadside and bridge ghosts · Legend Fisher's Ghost, Campbelltown Fisher's Ghost Creek, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia In a colonial legend, the murdered farmer Frederick Fisher sat on a fence rail one night and pointed to the spot where his body had been hidden.
    2. c. 1850–present Roadside and bridge ghosts · Legend El Silbón – the Whistler of the Venezuelan Plains Guanarito, Portuguesa State, Venezuela If you hear a whistle on the Venezuelan plains that seems far away – run. It is the Silbón, the ghost of a man who killed his father, carrying the bones in a sack.

  2. 1910–1919

    1. c. 1912–present Roadside and bridge ghosts · Disputed The Min Min Lights of Queensland Around Boulia, Channel Country, Queensland, Australia Mysterious lights on the plains of western Queensland are said to follow travellers for miles before suddenly winking out.

  3. 1920–1929

    1. 1921 Roadside and bridge ghosts · Disputed The Hairy Hands of Dartmoor B3212 road between Postbridge and Two Bridges, Dartmoor, Devon, United Kingdom On a road across Dartmoor, invisible hairy hands were said to seize steering wheels and handlebars and force vehicles off the road.

  4. 1930–1939

    1. 1939–present Roadside and bridge ghosts · Legend Resurrection Mary of Archer Avenue Resurrection Cemetery, Archer Avenue, Justice near Chicago, Illinois, United States A fair-haired girl in a white dress asks drivers for a ride home from a dance hall – and vanishes at the gates of Resurrection Cemetery.

  5. 1950–1959

    1. c. 1953–present Roadside and bridge ghosts · Legend The White Lady of Balete Drive Balete Drive, Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines On a street once lined with balete trees, taxi drivers see a woman in white with a bloodied face in the rearview mirror – the Philippines' most famous ghost.

  6. 1960–1969

    1. 1965–present Roadside and bridge ghosts · Legend The Phantom Hitchhiker of Blue Bell Hill A229 road on Blue Bell Hill between Maidstone and Chatham, Kent, United Kingdom On a hill in Kent, drivers see a young woman who runs in front of their car or asks for a lift – and then dissolves into thin air.
    2. 1968–present Roadside and bridge ghosts · Legend The Uniondale Hitchhiker N9 road near Barandas outside Uniondale, Western Cape, South Africa On an empty road in South Africa's Karoo, drivers pick up a young woman who vanishes a few kilometers later – leaving the scent of apple blossom behind.