Ghost Cars July 13, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Contemporary, Modern , trackback
There is lots of interesting burbling about technology and ghosts. How long does it need for a new technology to become hauntable? When will the first call centres or internet hubs get their poltergeists? To us today that wonderful Dickens story ‘The Signal Man’ is a straightforward ghost tale. But part of its daring back in 1866 was putting a ghost in the context of something bright and shiny and new, the train: you can almost see the reader shaking his or head ‘but, Charles, ghosts are about old vicarages and derelict castles’. Beach has recently been interested in car ghosts. There was after all a long tradition of coach ghosts or horse and cart ghosts. So how long would it be before car phantoms charged through the British, Irish and American countryside? This is a particularly good one from Ireland. It appeared in WMN, 22 Jan 1927, 4
Mysterious happenings are reported in the villages of Athleague and Mount Talbot on the borders of Counties Roscommon and Galway. Witnesses in the locality state that on many occasions about midnight a mysterious vehicle somewhat like a high-powered motor-car ablaze with light dashes noiselessly through the roads. There is apparently no driver, but seated in the car are a number of white-robed figures. Walls, ditches, fields, and plantations present no obstacle to the car. The superstitiously inclined connect the visitation with a tragic occurrence in a neighbouring estate when, during the recent troubles, a landlord and his wife were driving from their homes and died of fright. Local inhabitants are afraid to leave their homes after nightfall.
The ‘troubles’ was the recent Irish civil war. A couple of thoughts here. First, Ireland had a strong tradition of the death coach: is this just an updating? Second, there is some inconsistency about the car on the roads and yet driving through walls etc. Perhaps this was some kind of ignis fatuus?
Next up is a much more bizarre one: Ken and Sus, 20 Oct 1950, 4.
There are legends about coaches, driven by ghosts, that silently pass through Kentish lanes at night. Tonbridge police now have record of ghostly motor car. Driving through Hildenborough at 7 a.m. on Sunday, a motorist observed another car parked by the roadside in a deserted spot. He saw the shadow of man outlined against the mist, in the driving seat. He got out of his own car and shook the other car violently but the huddled figure did not move. Tonbridge police were told but on investigation they could not find a car on that particular stretch of road, and now take the very material view that the silent driver was waiting for the mist to rise before proceeding. But. why didn’t he move when his car was rocked?
This seems a bit of journalistic nonsense. The most important question, surely, is why would you get out of your car and shake someone else’s when you could just go and knock on the window?! Much more promising are some London reports of motor ghosts including a silent phantom bus and a non-existent taxi; there is also a frustratingly vague reference to a phantom car ‘in an England midland shire’: well that narrows it down… (Dun Eve Tel, 4 Jan 1939, 3).
Can anyone help with car ghosts: our first good reference is apparently 1927 and west Ireland. drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
13 July 2015: Michael D writes in ‘I can’t beat your 1927 date but can give you an American example from 1932 or maybe 1934. I’m attaching a screen cap of a paragraph from Vance Randolph’s Ozark Superstitions (New York”1947)(post 1984 reprints under title Ozark Legends and Folklore), p. 232, about a ghost car in Christian County, Missouri; Christian County Sheriff Frank Jones was killed in a car accident on Highway 14 between the towns of Nixa and Ozark, Mo. His car is said to haunt the road, which I’ve driven a number of times. Randolph dates the accident to Spring 1932 though a list of Christian County sheriffs dates Jones’ death in the accident to 1934. See screen cap attached.’
13 July 2015: Chris from Haunted Ohio Books writes with wonderful ones. This is from Woodland Daily Democrat Woodland, California Fri, Oct 22, 1926 – Page 4: explanation_of_ghost_automobile_1926
There is a second one from Lawrence Daily Journal (Lawrence, Kansas) 10 Aug 1907, Sat: Phantom_auto_1908
Evening Herald [Klamath Falls, OR] 11 June 1915: p. 2
There’s also the haunted Brooklands racing track. The sound of the racing car is heard, although this plays it down. Don’t know when the ghost story originated.
More:
Here is a luminous one. The day book [Chicago, IL]., January 11, 1913, p. 4
Yet another: Arkansas City Daily Traveler (Arkansas City, Kansas) 4 Nov 1908, 6. honking__quot_ghost_auto_quot__1908
And another: Lawrence Daily Journal (Lawrence, Kansas), 10 Aug 1907, 1. Phantom_auto_1908-1
Chris ends by writing ‘Ghost cars are surprisingly thin on the highways. There are some stories of phantom motorcyclists in Ohio, but they morphed in the 1970s from traditional spook light stories. If you compare statistics, there are many more stories of ghostly trains, going back into the 1880s, as well as a few haunted street-cars. Given the ubiquitous nature of autos in American life, it is a little odd that our best efforts in this genre are vanishing hitchhiker stories. So many ghostly car stories seem to have more than a touch of the urban legend about them and most are later in date with no real primary sources. One example is a story that has gone the rounds for years about someone driving along seeing a vintage car with a horrified mother and child looking at him. The implication is that they have somehow traveled in time and are shocked at the modern cars around them. You’d think the Spiritualist literature would be a rich source, but perhaps automobiles were not aetherial enough for the movement. One can’t generate sympathetic spiritual vibrations with earthy elements like oil, rubber, and metal. There are also many cases of hoaxes and mistaken identity among phantom auto reports: smugglers, burglars, dew shining on various surfaces, luminous paint, and windmill shadows are just a few explanations. When persons report a mysterious auto that then vanishes, there is often ambiguity as to whether the vehicle was something supernatural or just very fast or evasive. Liquor runners were particularly noted for their fast cars and, just as some spectral coach stories in England were sometimes used as cover for smuggling activities, “ghost cars” would perhaps keep the curious away from nefarious activities. One of the most frightening stories I’ve heard came first-hand story from a long-time friend who was the only survivor of a horrific car crash on the site. The place was known as “Dead Man’s Curve,” a road noted for its many fatalities. It is supposed to be haunted by a “faceless hitchhiker” and a driverless car that reaches impossible speeds.
13 July 2015: Martin Shough gives me permission to put these comments up. Thanks Martin! ‘Re ghost cars of the “phantom headlights” variety, I recall one or two from the north of Scotland near where I used to live https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardvreck_Castle, http://www.benloyal.co.uk/#!local-legends/c1dhr There was another on the 40-mile single-track Lairg road south of Tongue. I heard stories locally and it was mentioned in a local guide book. My late father was prone to these things and, knowing nothing of this, said he saw one there when visiting in 1990.
21 July 2015: Amanda, an old friend of this blod, writes in. ‘Read with interest the ghost cars article. My father has an interest in classic cars and used to tell us the odd story ghost car story. One he mentioned was of a ghostly Austin 10 with a skeleton driver. Another was of a phantom road that would change appearance and cause accidents. I’ve come across a few links that might be of interest.
http://listverse.com/2013/07/16/10-creepy-and-mysterious-phantom-vehicles/
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/surrey/hauntings/a3-burpham-ghost-crash-2002.html
http://www.militaryairshows.co.uk/unex11.htmh
https://ludchurchmyblog.wordpress.com/places-of-interest-in-cheshire/m6-motorway-the-taker-of-life/
