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A website devoted to the study of the human condition |
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A website devoted to the study of the human condition |
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The following legend is a contemporary tale of a ghostly hitchhiker seeking a way to return home. Many variations of this story and of this particular motif have circulated for nearly a century. Below is an example we retrieved off of the internet (1998).
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Dr. Eckersall, a local physician, was driving home from a country-club dance late one Saturday night. He slowed down a bit while driving past the lake so he could admire the glistening of the full moon against the water. Out of the corner of his eye appeared a lovely young girl, dressed in the sheerest of evening gowns, beckoning him for a lift. He jammed on his brakes, and motioned her to climb into the back seat of his sedan. "All cluttered up with golf clubs and bags up here in front," he explained. "But what on earth is a youngster like you doing out here all alone at this time of night?" "It's too long a story to tell you now," said the girl. Her voice was sweet and somewhat shrill -- like the tinkling of sleigh bells. "Please, please take me home. My car broke down a few miles back and I have been trying to get help for the longest time. I live up the road about 5 miles. I do hope it's not too far out of your way." The doctor mumbled under his breath and set the car in motion. He drove rapidly to her destination, and as he pulled up before the shuttered house, he exclaimed, "Here we are." Then he turned around. The back seat was empty, except for a small puddle of lake water dripping down onto the floorboard. "What the devil?" the doctor muttered to himself. The girl couldn't possibly have fallen from the car. Nor could she simply have vanished. He rang insistently on the house bell, confused as he had never been before. At long last the door opened. A gray-haired, very tired-looking man peered out at him. "I can't tell you what an amazing thing has happened," began the doctor. "A young girl gave me this address a while back. I drove her here and . . ." "Yes, yes, I know," said the man wearily. "This has happened several other Saturday evenings in the past month. That young girl, sir, was my daughter. She was killed in a boating accident on White Rock Lake almost two years ago . . ."
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| Tales similar to this "Vanishing Hitchhiker" legend have been distributed internationally and are regarded as one of the oldest and most widely told of all legends. A biography of contemporary legend studies published in 1991 listed 133 publications concerning this particular motif. Versions of this story vary over time and place with local details changed and the ghostly evidence left behind varying from a sweater, scarf, coat or jacket to a book or puddle of lake water. Even the sex of the hitchhiker changes dependent on the other details. In some versions of this story, the hitchhiker is basically silent, except for a few directions. In other more prophetic versions of the story, the hitchhiker exclaims a revelation about Gabriel being poised to blow his horn or the immenent return of Jesus. This story is truly one tale that can fit just about any situation, location or time. As Barbara Mikkelson of the San Fernando Valley Folklore Society put it so eloquently, " The appeal of the Vanishing Hitchhiker stories lies in the nature of the encounter--an interaction with a ghost occurs not because the main character went looking for the supernatural, but because it came to him." Tales such as these (also see Hell's Valley) help foster the belief that spirits from beyond do exist and can be encountered at anytime. So beware. However, I do believe that there is a practical lesson we can learn from this story, and it is: "DON'T PICK UP HITCHHIKERS!" -The Folklorist
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| Links For other versions of the "Vanishing Hitchhiker" story, click here. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/vanish.htm
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