A question about hitch-hiking ghosts.

[seanan_mcguire]

Almost everybody's heard the basic hitch-hiking ghost story—dude (usually) gives a girl a ride home, and later finds out that she was actually dead way before she got into the car—but there are some really fascinating regional variants. So here is my question for you:

How does the story go? Is she a victim, a predator, or just a confused kid trying to go home? Is seeing a hitcher like seeing the Bean Nighe—you're just doomed to die now? How does it go?

To be clear, I'm not asking you to make something up; I want to know how, in your part of the country or the world, the story goes. Or, if this is the first time you've encountered the idea (outside Disney's Haunted Mansion), I'd like to know that, too.

Curious cat is curious.

Comments

[lysystratae.livejournal.com]

Growing up in Maryland, it was a combo of victim/confused kid trying to go home; the ghost never hurt or tried to hurt the one giving her a ride, and you got the sense that she knew she was dead but she wanted to go home anyway.

ETA: I wasn't going to mention this, but what the hell - my former father-in-law used to say he'd had a ghost hitchhiker. He was coming home late one night from work, on back country roads, and stopped at a stop sign. He was just about to pull off when he realized there was now a man sitting in his truck next to him. He knew it had to be a ghost, since the door hadn't opened and there wasn't anyone for miles in the middle of the woods; he was scared shitless, but figured his best bet was to keep driving and act like nothing had changed. A couple miles down the road, as he drove past an old church with a tiny cemetary, he felt a breeze and the ghost was gone.
We never were able to figure out who the man was; there'd been so many accidents on that road that it was impossible to narrow it down.

[archangelbeth]

You just made all the hairs on my arm stand up, I hope you know.

[lysystratae.livejournal.com]

Guess I shouldn't mention the ghost that saved my life, then :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

YES YOU SHOULD.

[lysystratae.livejournal.com]

ROFL... ok, then. My aunt lives in an old Victorian mansion in Philly that's haunted 14 ways to Sunday. Growing up, I spent a month or so every summer there (my brother did, too, once he was older).
The house has servant's stairs leading from the hall just outside the kitchen to the second floor just outside the library. I loved those stairs - it was narrow and dark and windy and nifty - and I used them all the time. You could sometimes feel a cool breeze on the stairs, as if someone passed you in a hurry, which was odd since there wasn't anywhere for it to come from.
When I was 10, I was coming down the stairs and about halfway down I slipped and started to fall, face-first. There weren't any handrails or anything to grab on to, and with the curve at the bottom I was sure to smash head-first into the wall before tumbling the rest of the way to the hall below. If I didn't break my neck, I'd still be badly injured (altho all that actually went thru my mind was 'oh shit this iss gonna hurt').
Then I felt hands on the front of my shoulders. They caught me, and pushed me back up until I was standing again, and then the breeze went by.
Eventually, we learned that one of the maids that lived and worked there for the original owners had fallen down those same stairs and broken her neck. She still travels those stairs (hence the breeze), and if she hadn't caught me, I'd probably be just as dead as she is.
I was always thankful the ghosts of that house like me :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

Wow.

That's awesome. Also, good on you not being dead.

[lysystratae.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I kinda like the not being dead part, too :)

[seanan-mcguire.livejournal.com]

...that is AMAZING. I know a lot of people who've seen/encountered ghosts, but this is the first time I've heard someone mention a one-step connection to a hitcher. Thank you!!!!

[lysystratae.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. If he was still alive, I'd ask him for more details, but he died about a month ago.