Terrifying Tuesday: Road Ghosts

So you’re out in your car, it’s a lovely evening drive when all of a sudden, something or someone appears and subsequently disappears in no time at all. You feel your knuckles whiten as your grip tightens on the steering wheel, wondering what the hell you just witnessed. If this has happened to you, you’re not alone. The Paranormal Database currently has over 1,000 records related to “road ghosts” across the British Isles (or Celtic Archipelago as I read it referred to recently). Inspired by our latest ‘Shorts’ episode (POS 3: Plas Teg) and the supposed sightings of the spirit of Dorothy Trevor darting across the A541, I thought I would look at some other ‘Road Ghosts’ around the UK.

The A75 between Gretna and Annan

Our first stop on this macabre road trip, takes us just over the border in to Scotland. In the early 2000s there were a couple of reports of incidents on this stretch of road, first was a woman who whilst driving her car, was adamant she hit a man in a red jumper and dark pants, having come to a stop and checking around her car for a body, the woman found nothing at all. Another incident included a stagecoach, pulled by a horse bolting in to the road and across to the other side, other apparitions which have been seen include: an aging woman in Victorian clothing, an old man with no eyes and also multiple reports of the man in a red jumper being “hit” by drivers.

Audlem Road, Audlem, Cheshire

If you feel that one ghostly experience down a stretch of road is enough, imagine driving the same road and witnessing exactly the same thing, a year to the day since you first saw it. That’s what happened to one motorist who saw the same apparition in 2001 and again on the same night in 2002. Driving down the road they spotted a “strange looking man” who stared in to the car as they approached, upon passing him, the figure didn’t appear in any of the mirrors on the car.

A1065 heading toward Lakenheath, Suffolk

Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? Have you ever unwittingly picked up a hitchhiker? That’s what happened to a poor, unsuspecting woman in 2001. Glancing in her rear view mirror to her back seat, the woman spotted the face of a teenage boy around 14 years old, she turned to look at the boy and find out where he’d come from, only to see he wasn’t there. The exact same thing happened to a man on the same road, four years later in 2004.

Bepham, Surrey on the A3

In December of 2002, witnesses watched on helplessly as they watched a car careen off the road and into a ditch below. When police arrived they didn’t find a car crash which has just happened, instead, they stumbled upon a car in a ditch which had been there for 5 months, complete with the semi-skeletal remains of the occupants. Was this after life repeat one last roll of the dice by the departed to reveal their resting place?

Station Road, Stanbridge, Bedfordshire

Possibly the most famous paranormal encounter on Britain’s roads, is the experience of Roy Fulton on this road in 1979.

Driving home from a darts match in Leighton Buzzard, the 26 year old Carpet Fitter spotted a figure extending their thumb in the headlights of his Mini van, down an isolated stretch of the road. Deciding to play the role of the good citizen and realising the man was heading the same way, Roy pulls over. The man approached the car, dressed all in dark clothing and a white shirt, he opens the passenger door and sits next to Roy, when Roy asks where he’s heading, the man silently points down the misty, gloomy road ahead of them. Roy turns his attention to the road and sets off.

After a few minutes riding along in silence, Roy reached forward to get his cigarettes from the centre console, turning to offer one to his pale-faced passenger, Roy was stunned to see nothing but an empty seat to his left. Shocked beyond belief, Roy pulled in to The Glider pub in Dunstable, his local, where he retold his story to the landlord and some regulars. Over the years, Roy would retell his story to academics, researchers and TV crews, not once did his story deviate.

So there you go, the roads of the UK and British Isles are very much alive with the dead, from pale-faced hitchhikers, ghostly carriages and right through to, in my opinion the most scary, spectral HGVs which have been seen travelling the wrong way through traffic on the M6.

Have you ever had an encounter on Britain’s roads? Why not get in touch and tell us about them?

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