Oh yes, and I just found this link too, on a case which I don't think has been mentioned on here before, but is a well-known legend locally - the M1 Phantom Hitchhiker.
https://digitalfilmarchive.net/media/the-m1-ghost-story-2136
That's the M1 between Belfast and Lisburn - not the M1 between London and Leeds.
Might be of interest, as I think someone had commented upthread that the thing with phantom hitchhiker tales was that they
always seemed to happen to the archetypal 'friend of a friend' - never the speaker themselves.
Well, the above link's an archived local news interview with a man who claimed to have picked up a hitchhiker on the motorway one night, and who then vanished from his car moments later.
I transcribed the interview a while ago; there's a few discrepancies about dates (which seems to relate to the archive?) but it's quite interesting nonetheless.
The M1 Ghost Story
View attachment 57424
Location: M1 Motorway, outside Belfast
Date: 1962 stated
[but M1 opened July 1962, and sighting reportedly occurred on 31 December – description claims ‘two years after opening’ – so 1964/65?]
Interviewer: Charles Witherspoon (CW) – News Reporter, Ulster Television (UTV)
Interviewee: William Nesbitt (WN)
Duration: 5m 14s
DFA Description:
Restrain your hearty laughter and hear a sober tale of a ghost that hitchhikes on Northern Ireland’s new motorway.
Just two years after the opening of Northern Ireland’s first motorway legends have already begun to take root. Join Charles Witherspoon on the M1 flyover as he interviews William Nesbitt for Ulster Television news about his roadside psychic experience. This encounter with a ghostly hitchhiker is not Mr Nesbitt’s only tale of telekinesis, judge for yourself as he testifies to the viewers at home.
DFA Notes:
The M1 is Northern Ireland’s first and longest motorway. An urban myth was circulated that the straight sections of the M1 were built so that the US Air Force could use them as supplementary runways if war broke out with the Soviet Union. Plans for the motorway were announced in 1946 but work only began in 1959. The first stretch opened without ceremony on 10th July 1962. The RUC instigated a vigorous campaign to educate people on how to use the new motorway. Northern Ireland remained free for years from the 70 mph speed limit that was introduced in the UK. This material is courtesy of the UTV Archive.
View attachment 57425
Transcript:
CW (voiceover):
The M1 – Ulster’s new, or fairly new, motorway. A quick way of getting from Belfast to Lisburn and, in time to come, to the heart of our province.
CW (to camera):
But, new as it is, legends have already begun to spring up about the M1. For the past month, there has been a legend about a ghost appearing on this road. Now is that true, or is it false?
Well, Mr William Nesbitt is one of the most sensible, down-to-earth people I know, and on New Year’s Eve he was driving along this road. Now, to restrain your hearty laughter, let me tell you that Mr Nesbitt is a teetotaller.
CW (turning to WN):
Mr Nesbitt, what happened?
WN:
It was just about a quarter to twelve and I was coming down on – you can see it from here, about a quarter mile up the road – and a girl was walking on the hardcore. I pulled in knowing that she shouldn’t have been on, hoping to give her a lift. She got into the car with me. I didn’t speak to her until I got back onto the… the M-way again, and when she got in to the… or, when I spoke to her, I asked if she wanted a lift, if she wanted a telephone. She made no reply. I glanced round at her – but she wasn’t there.
CW:
Well now, you opened the door, and she got into the car?
WN:
Yes.
CW:
And you felt nothing unusual about it?
WN:
Nothing unusual, no – except the car got very cold at that stage. And remained cold, until she disappeared.
CW:
How long would you say this girl was in the car with you, altogether?
WN:
I would say approximately two to three minutes.
CW:
And what age would she be, roughly?
WN:
Between eight – late teens, early twenties. Quite an attractive looking girl she was, from what I could see – absolutely full, there was no ghostly look about her. Not transparent or anything, absolutely full.
CW:
Well, did you sense anything unusual at the time?
WN:
Not at that time, with the exception of the intense coldness in the car, at that stage.
CW:
How long did you say she was with you?
WN:
Say, about two to three minutes.
CW:
Could you see her all the time she was there?
WN:
Oh yes. Yes I could. I could even – I could even distinguish that she had on a grey-green suit and like a dark coat, while she was sitting beside me in the car.
CW:
Well, how did you know that, with the car being dark?
WN:
Well, I had the dashlight – was on, I could see from the dashlight what she had on.
CW (nodding):
Well you had no – she didn’t ask you to stop?
WN:
No, she didn’t ask me to stop; she was more walking along a road, with a view of looking around as if she – as if she knew somebody was coming, or somebody was behind, going to lift her. More the type of, say: well, if you know me, give me a lift; and if you don’t, go on ahead, type of thing. If you wish to stop, stop; if you don’t…
[nod of head].
CW:
When she got into the car, did she shut the car door?
WN:
No, I shut the car door. She didn’t make any attempt to shut - to close the door, and I had to reach over and pull the door closed.
CW:
And there was no possibility during that time of her getting out of the car in a natural way?
WN:
None – none whatsoever.
CW:
How did you feel, after it?
WN:
Well, I was shocked I suppose, after it. Very much so. I - only one thing I wished, I had have had wings on the car rather than just having four wheels!
CW:
Um – have you had any other psychic experiences, at all?
WN:
Yes, one or two, which I pass no remarks on. One was in 1948 in South Africa – uh, my father appeared to me on board the ship that I was on. I learned about a week or so after that he had just passed away at that particular time; about five past midnight when he appeared; spoke; spoke back… that was one of them. Other one was on the High Donaghadee
[to] Bangor Road; that can be verified by a witness. We were motoring home from Donaghadee one Sunday evening, just about half past eleven, and this friend suddenly said, “look out, there’s a man in front of the car” – but I knew it wasn’t, because I – because I’d already seen that man before.
CW:
He’d appeared to you a number of times?
WN:
He had, yes. Twice before.
CW:
So the experience doesn’t alarm you now?
WN:
Not now, not any more, no.
CW (turning back to camera):
Well, there it is. Mr Nesbitt, I think you’ll agree, is a solid, sensible man. Now, I’ve been talking to the psychic research people about this and they tell me that this form of what they call telekinesis – someone appearing – is quite common. And they have also assured me that in this kind of manifestation, there is absolutely nothing to be frightened of. These are very gentle ghosts indeed. They are not the malicious poltergeists, who bang doors and throw furniture and crockery about. So if you should be driving along the M1; you should pick anyone up; they should disappear – don’t be frightened, because there’s nothing to be frightened of.
https://digitalfilmarchive.net/media/the-m1-ghost-story-2136