It’s a lonely stretch of forgotten highway, and you’re alone with only the dim glow of your headlights to guide you. The broken yellow line of the road mesmerizes you, and it seems like hours have passed since you last saw another car or passed a town. Then, up ahead, you see something moving out of the dark. It’s a young woman, and she seems distressed. She implores you to stop, so you do.
She asks if you can take her home; it’s only a few miles up the road. You agree, and she thanks you as she sits in your passenger seat. The woman is calm and quiet, offering no explanation for how she came to such a lonely place. You’re just about to ask when she points to a weed-choked driveway and says, “We’re here.”
You turn down the driveway, there are no lights, and something seems off. As you reach the end, you find only the crumbled foundation of a ruined house. She thanks you again and steps out of the car into the darkness. You look at the house again, thinking maybe you missed something, but there is nothing but rubble and weeds. You turn to her to ask if she’s certain this is where she wants to be, but the woman is gone.
You’ve just met a vanishing hitchhiker.
This phenomenon is ancient and represented in almost every culture. One early example is the Biblical tale of Phillip the Evangelist and the Ethiopian traveler. As the man was traveling from Jerusalem to Gaza, he encountered Phillip on the road and gave him a ride in his cart. Later, Phillip baptized him, then mysteriously vanished. As long as there have been roads, there have been ghostly commuters.
There are several variations to this ghostly tale. In some versions, it’s a cold or rainy night, and the traveler offers the hitchhiker a jacket to warm up. After dropping the stranger off in some remote place, the traveler realizes they’ve forgotten to retrieve the garment. When they return to the spot, they discover it is near a cemetery, where they find the jacket draped over a grave marker. In another version, after dropping the hitchhiker off at their “home,” the traveler discovers that they left an item behind, usually a sweater or jacket. When they return to the house and knock on the door, they are told that their passenger has been dead for years. Less common is the prophetic stranger. The encounter occurs as before, but the passenger issues a dire warning before leaving. Usually, it’s some imminent tragedy or impending doom.
The most famous example of this phenomenon is Chicago’s Resurrection Mary. Sometime in the early 1930s, Mary was dancing at the Willowbrook Ballroom on Archer Avenue. After fighting with her boyfriend, she decided to walk home. Mary didn’t make it far before she was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver. When she didn’t come home, her parents went looking for her and discovered her body. She was buried at nearby Resurrection Cemetery, dressed in a white gown and dance shoes.
Over the years, there have been dozens of documented cases of drivers encountering her on Archer Avenue. Typically, they see her standing by the side of the road in her white dress. For those who stop to give her a ride, her destination is not far. She asks to be dropped off at the gates of Resurrection Cemetery, where she disappears among the tombstones.
Another example is Mamie Thurman, the Ghost of 22 Mountain. Maime was a married woman who often frequented speakeasies and was known to have had affairs with at least a dozen influential men in the county. In June of 1932, she was brutally murdered, and her body was discovered on 22 Mine Road, near Holden, West Virginia. Because of her extramarital affairs, there were numerous suspects. However, a murder weapon was later recovered at the home of her landlord, Harry Robertson. Ultimately, it was Robertson’s handyman who was convicted and executed for the crime. The handyman is widely believed to have been a scapegoat. Further adding to the controversy and potential conspiracy, her death certificate was falsified, claiming an incorrect burial site. Her killer and her final resting place remain unknown.
Not long after her death, motorists began reporting strange encounters on 22 Mountain. Some claim to have seen a woman in distress standing by the side of the road, only to pull over and find she has vanished. Sometimes, Mamie accepts the ride, only to vanish from the passenger seat moments later. A popular urban legend states that if a car is parked in neutral near where her body was found, it will move as if being pushed up the hill. Believers say Mamie won’t rest until her true killer is brought to justice. Unfortunately, it seems too late for that.
The road can be a strange and lonely place, and destinations can be elusive. Take care when you travel, be observant, and most of all, have empathy. You never know who you may find, and they may need your help…
Jason Roberts is a Seattle-based author noted for his acclaimed Western Horror series The Dead Wind Trilogy and other works of cosmic horror infused with historical fiction. His web-based series, Dark Distractions, examines paranormal mysteries, unexplained phenomena, and all things strange.
