All across the country and the world, there are tales told about roads and highways that are haunted by restless spirits. One of the most common experiences that weary travelers have is they are visited by a phantom or vanishing hitchhiker.
This urban legend dates back before the invention of the first automobile, with an example in the Holy Bible, in Acts 8: 26-39. Several works of fiction, including movies and novels have also portrayed this phenomenon.
Blue Bell Hill
On November 19, 1965, bride to be, Susan Browne and her two bridesmaids were travelling in their Ford Cortina on the A229 in Maidstone, England when they collided with an oncoming Jaguar. The collison killed the three young women. Ever since that day, motorist have witnessed the restless spirit of Susan searching for the husband that she never got to marry.
One documented account is from July of 1974. It was reported that a young girl walked in front of Maurice Goodenough’s car and was struck down. Maurice immediately exited the vehicle and placed a blanket over the girl and went in search of help. He arrived back at the scene of the crime with the police and tracker dogs who couldn’t find any evidence of the accident. The only thing that remained to back up Maurice’s claims was the blanket that he used to cover her.
The same thing occurred in November 1992 to a man named Ian Sharpe. He struck a woman with his automobile, but when he got out of the car to help, she had vanished. He brought the police in anyway, but like the Goodenough case, they turned up empty handed.
Resurrection Mary
Perhaps one of the most famous ghostly hitchhiker stories is that of Resurrection Mary in Justice, Illinois, just miles from Chicago.
The legend claims that a young girl was out dancing the night away with her boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom, when the couple got into an argument and Mary decided to walk home alone. She didn’t get far up Archer Road before she was struck down by a car and killed. Her parents buried her in a beautiful, white dancing dress with matching shoes. The same outfit that she is still seen wearing.
One of the most disturbing accounts of Mary was from a young man named Jerry Palus. He claimed in 1939 that he danced and even kissed a young girl at the dancehall. When he tried to drive her home for the evening she jumped out of the car at Resurrection Cemetery and vanished.
There have also been several documented accounts of motorist striking a woman on the road, but before they even exit the car, she is gone.
Nobody knows for sure who this mysterious girl was in life, but researchers have tracked down at least two young girls who have died in automobile accidents. The first one was Mary Bregovy who died in 1934 in Downtown Chicago, miles from Archer Road. The other possibility is Anna Marija Norkus who was involved in an accident coming home from the Oh Henry Ballroom.
So if you are out and see a young girl wearing a white dancing dress with matching shoes, she just might be looking for a ride home along the ghostly road back to Resurrection Cemetery.
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