• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Phantom Hitchhikers & Road Ghosts

Morning everyone
I'm researching for Book #6 at the moment - does anyone know of the alleged haunting of the A197 from the small hamlet of Woodhorn, past St Mary's Church, towards Newbiggin-by-the-sea? And has anyone on here had any odd experiences along there? Much appreciated.
 
Have just finished listening to the excellent Rob Gandy talking about his road ghost research and there are some cracking and very perplexing cases:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mysteries-and-monsters/id1457501963

Some of these accounts are as recent as 2015; mother and son witness a ghost/time slip car on a Southport road that vanishes whilst also experiencing light from the moon and vehicle headlamps being distorted and 'arcing downwards'. Truly fascinating case that might provide a clue to the perplexing nature this phenomenon.

See also:

Revisiting The Old Man of Halsall Moss Full Version Rob Gandy.pdf

Rob discusses these witness reports in some detail
 
WeirdExeter said:
Have just finished listening to the excellent Rob Gandy talking about his road ghost research and there are some cracking and very perplexing cases:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/mysteries-and-monsters/id1457501963

Some of these accounts are as recent as 2015; mother and son witness a ghost/time slip car on a Southport road that vanishes whilst also experiencing light from the moon and vehicle headlamps being distorted and 'arcing downwards'. Truly fascinating case that might provide a clue to the perplexing nature this phenomenon.

See also:

Revisiting The Old Man of Halsall Moss Full Version Rob Gandy.pdf

Rob discusses these witness reports in some detail
Click to expand...

Interesting stuff!

One piece of information that rarely, if ever, seems to be reported, is the history of the car in question i.e. was it a new car or a second hand one with multiple previous owners?
When paranormal occurrences take place in a house, the history of the house is usually cited as a factor, especially if a traumatic event happened there. In similar manner to the stone tape theory, could a car remember its previous owners/occupants under certain conditions?
After all, there are plenty of ghost stories set on ships, aircraft and trains, so why not cars?
 
blessmycottonsocks said:
Interesting stuff!

One piece of information that rarely, if ever, seems to be reported, is the history of the car in question i.e. was it a new car or a second hand one with multiple previous owners?
When paranormal occurrences take place in a house, the history of the house is usually cited as a factor, especially if a traumatic event happened there. In similar manner to the stone tape theory, could a car remember its previous owners/occupants under certain conditions?
After all, there are plenty of ghost stories set on ships, aircraft and trains, so why not cars?
Click to expand...
An interesting idea..... although, I actually have two accounts in my books of apparitions dressed as if from possibly the Cavalier period of English history materialising inside cars, so obviously that wouldn't fit there.
 
Researching for book #6:
Has anyone heard anything about the stretch of road between Cullompton and Honiton in Devon being haunted? Or having any other paranormal phenomena along it? It's the A373 - let me know if you know of anything? Cheers all
 
The always excellent Quantum Mechanics podcast did an episode on road ghosts last week. It focuses primarily on a number of cases in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire, beginning with the famous Roy Fulton incident from the early 80s - a favourite case of mine.
 
NomDeGuerre said:
The always excellent Quantum Mechanics podcast did an episode on road ghosts last week. It focuses primarily on a number of cases in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire, beginning with the famous Roy Fulton incident from the early 80s - a favourite case of mine.
Click to expand...
Do you have a link for that?
 
NomDeGuerre said:
The always excellent Quantum Mechanics podcast did an episode on road ghosts last week. It focuses primarily on a number of cases in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire, beginning with the famous Roy Fulton incident from the early 80s - a favourite case of mine.
Click to expand...
Where in Bedfordshire were they covering, out of interest?
 
RuthRoperWylde said:
Researching for book #6:
Has anyone heard anything about the stretch of road between Cullompton and Honiton in Devon being haunted? Or having any other paranormal phenomena along it? It's the A373 - let me know if you know of anything? Cheers all
Click to expand...
Just asked a friend who lives in Devon and uses that road all the time, mainly at night. He hasn't seen or heard anything mentioned about it, but he'll ask around.
 
I was just reading through the letters in the classic motorbike monthly ' Old Bike Mart' and there is a letter from someone who mentions a story told to him by a friend in the early 1960s of an encounter with a road ghost.
He said he was riding from Harlow to Swaffham in Norfolk on a dark winter evening and had passed through Brandon on the A1065 to a section where there were dense trees on the right side and open field on the left. Suddenly a woman ran out of the trees directly in front of him - he had no time to brake and braced for an impact but there was none and he passed straight through. Shocked, he turned the bike around to use his headlight to see the road but there was nothing there. Obviously a third hand story now and impossible to confirm I would think but just wondered if the road or story rang any bells for similar tales?
 
Giant R said:
I was just reading through the letters in the classic motorbike monthly ' Old Bike Mart' and there is a letter from someone who mentions a story told to him by a friend in the early 1960s of an encounter with a road ghost.
He said he was riding from Harlow to Swaffham in Norfolk on a dark winter evening and had passed through Brandon on the A1065 to a section where there were dense trees on the right side and open field on the left. Suddenly a woman ran out of the trees directly in front of him - he had no time to brake and braced for an impact but there was none and he passed straight through. Shocked, he turned the bike around to use his headlight to see the road but there was nothing there. Obviously a third hand story now and impossible to confirm I would think but just wondered if the road or story rang any bells for similar tales?
Click to expand...
Great find! Very similar to some of the goings-on at Blue Bell Hill. Could you post the text of the letter?
 
SimonBurchell said:
Great find! Very similar to some of the goings-on at Blue Bell Hill. Could you post the text of the letter?
Click to expand...
This is a copy of the letter from PressReader.com I have deleted the names as I am not sure if it is ok to publish names without permission on here but you can see the names on that site or in Old Bike Mart. The other story in OBM439 is there too but is a fictional Christmas tale.

A ghostly encounter in Suffolk​

​

  • Old Bike Mart
  • 5 Mar 2022
Who doesn’t like a ghost story at Christmas? Alan Graham’s excellent story in OBM439 reminded me of another ghostly tale told to me and other members of the Swaffham motorcycle gang in our usual meeting place at the Greyhound pub in the early 1960s.
The tale was told by xxxxxx, sadly like so many lifelong mates no longer with us. Now, if anyone else had told this story then I would have had my doubts but xxxxxxx was what we would call ‘a steady old boy’, not given to flights of fancy.
xxxx was riding his Tiger Cub home to Swaffham after spending the week at college in Harlow. It was winter, dark, mid-evening.
xxxx had passed through Brandon on the A1065 to a section where there are dense trees one side of the road and a flat open grass area to the left. Suddenly a woman ran out of the trees directly into xxxxxx path. He had no time to do anything but put his head down and brace for the impact.
But there was no impact. He had seemed to pass through the figure. Totally in shock, xxxx stopped and turned around to shine his headlight on the spot where he was convinced he would find an injured person. There was nothing to be seen. After a few minutes to calm down he continued his lonely journey home.
I would like to finish the story by saying that when he arrived home and removed his helmet, his mum said: “Are you all right? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost” but that didn’t happen!
 
Giant R said:
This is a copy of the letter from PressReader.com I have deleted the names as I am not sure if it is ok to publish names without permission on here but you can see the names on that site or in Old Bike Mart. The other story in OBM439 is there too but is a fictional Christmas tale.

A ghostly encounter in Suffolk​

​

  • Old Bike Mart
  • 5 Mar 2022
Who doesn’t like a ghost story at Christmas? Alan Graham’s excellent story in OBM439 reminded me of another ghostly tale told to me and other members of the Swaffham motorcycle gang in our usual meeting place at the Greyhound pub in the early 1960s.
The tale was told by xxxxxx, sadly like so many lifelong mates no longer with us. Now, if anyone else had told this story then I would have had my doubts but xxxxxxx was what we would call ‘a steady old boy’, not given to flights of fancy.
xxxx was riding his Tiger Cub home to Swaffham after spending the week at college in Harlow. It was winter, dark, mid-evening.
xxxx had passed through Brandon on the A1065 to a section where there are dense trees one side of the road and a flat open grass area to the left. Suddenly a woman ran out of the trees directly into xxxxxx path. He had no time to do anything but put his head down and brace for the impact.
But there was no impact. He had seemed to pass through the figure. Totally in shock, xxxx stopped and turned around to shine his headlight on the spot where he was convinced he would find an injured person. There was nothing to be seen. After a few minutes to calm down he continued his lonely journey home.
I would like to finish the story by saying that when he arrived home and removed his helmet, his mum said: “Are you all right? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost” but that didn’t happen!
Click to expand...
That's great! Thanks!
 
SimonBurchell said:
I sense a story coming on... or at the very least a link to another thread!
Click to expand...
How very gracious. :cool:

I used to buy from the local market fabric and haberdashery sellers and knew them all well.
One day I was walking to the market and passed a trader nearby, walking the opposite way, and greeted him cordially. He didn't even glance at me, which rudeness was most unusual for him.

A couple of yards further on, suddenly remembering that Bill had died within the last week, I stopped and turned back; and he was gone.
The shock must have shown on my face when I arrived where I was going a couple of minutes later. :chuckle:
 
escargot said:
How very gracious. :cool:

I used to buy from the local market fabric and haberdashery sellers and knew them all well.
One day I was walking to the market and passed a trader nearby, walking the opposite way, and greeted him cordially. He didn't even glance at me, which rudeness was most unusual for him.

A couple of yards further on, suddenly remembering that Bill had died within the last week, I stopped and turned back; and he was gone.
The shock must have shown on my face when I arrived where I was going a couple of minutes later. :chuckle:
Click to expand...
I often wonder how you get different types of ghosts and we can never get to the bottom of it but anyway great report.
 
Giant R said:
I was just reading through the letters in the classic motorbike monthly ' Old Bike Mart' and there is a letter from someone who mentions a story told to him by a friend in the early 1960s of an encounter with a road ghost.
He said he was riding from Harlow to Swaffham in Norfolk on a dark winter evening and had passed through Brandon on the A1065 to a section where there were dense trees on the right side and open field on the left. Suddenly a woman ran out of the trees directly in front of him - he had no time to brake and braced for an impact but there was none and he passed straight through. Shocked, he turned the bike around to use his headlight to see the road but there was nothing there. Obviously a third hand story now and impossible to confirm I would think but just wondered if the road or story rang any bells for similar tales?
Click to expand...
I've documented several sightings along that stretch/nearby in my book "The Roadmap of British Ghosts".....
 
I was having a look through the local rag on line and read an article from April 2nd about the A23 being closed near Hickstead, north of Brighton. The previous night someone had reported they may have hit someone with their car. I thought it a bit odd the use of the word 'may'.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/20040549.police-close-a23-hickstead-report-person-injured/

In the comment section one person commented in may be one of 'those old highway ghost sightings'. The comment underneath mentions Bolney crossroads which isn't far from Hickstead. Being curious I did a search for 'road ghosts Bolney'.

One of the links was to the same local paper and an article from 2001 about a book that had then just been released, Haunted Land by Paul Devereux.

In the newspaper article Hickstead again gets a mention. A girl in a coat with no hands or feet suddenly appeared.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/5140606.secrets-of-spookiest-road-revealed/

The A23 at Hickstead is quite notorious locally as one of those places where vehicle accidents happen quite often especially late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
 
I had a really unsettling experience in the mid 1990s which I am not sure fits into road ghosts, but it was near a road.
I was going through quite a stressful period at the time and went out quite late at night in my van to just have drive around and clear my head a bit.
I drove around for an hour or so and decided to pull into a small grass carpark a few miles from home just to sit and have a bit of peace and quiet before going home. It was a small parking area just off a country lane which I knew quite well and was used in the daytime by walkers and for fisherman as it was quite close to the canal.
It was around 1am and obviously empty and I parked and switched off the ignition. It was a light night with clear skies and the moon out so not too dark and once I had got used to it I could see quite clearly around me. There was no passing traffic and I was just sitting enjoying the absolute silence when, after a few minutes I heard a weird kind of heavy breathing which seemed to be coming from behind. I thought it might be some animal approaching the van but couldn't see anything in the mirrors and within seconds the noise seemed to get very loud and seemed all around the van, although I couldn't see anything at all. Within seconds it passed and everything was silent as before.
Needless to say I was scared stiff but it all happened, and ended, so quickly I was more stunned I suppose.
I wasn't asleep as I had only stopped for a short time unless it was a micro sleep and I've never told anyone about it as I couldn't compute it myself really. As it was so brief I have struggled to try and understand what it could have been, the closest I could describe is maybe like a herd of cows moving past the vehicle but there was nothing around at all to produce such a loud noise. It is hard to convey how loud the noise was, but only for a very brief period and there was certainly nothing visible moving around me.
 
kesavaross said:
I was having a look through the local rag on line and read an article from April 2nd about the A23 being closed near Hickstead, north of Brighton. The previous night someone had reported they may have hit someone with their car. I thought it a bit odd the use of the word 'may'.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/20040549.police-close-a23-hickstead-report-person-injured/

In the comment section one person commented in may be one of 'those old highway ghost sightings'. The comment underneath mentions Bolney crossroads which isn't far from Hickstead. Being curious I did a search for 'road ghosts Bolney'.

One of the links was to the same local paper and an article from 2001 about a book that had then just been released, Haunted Land by Paul Devereux.

In the newspaper article Hickstead again gets a mention. A girl in a coat with no hands or feet suddenly appeared.

https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/5140606.secrets-of-spookiest-road-revealed/

The A23 at Hickstead is quite notorious locally as one of those places where vehicle accidents happen quite often especially late at night or in the early hours of the morning.
Click to expand...
That Bolney spot gets a brief mention in my "The Roadmap of British Ghosts", but the account I had found gives the haunting as "a woman in a grey dress"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top