- Top 10 most chilling paranormal stories told by motorists
- Real-life encounters from the last 20 years
- As compiled by the The Paranormal Database
- Spooky tales hand-picked by Select in time for Halloween
- Know what's not scary? Our latest lease deals!
- PLUS: Tell us your own 'scariest' motoring stories (it doesn't need to be about ghosts!) and win a £100 Amazon voucher!
These are the most chilling UK road ghost reports of the last 20 years - from terrifying backseat spooks to blood-curdling phantom hitchhikers.
Leading website The Paranormal Database has been logging spooky shenanigans in the UK since 2003 and invites readers to submit their own stories.
Of more than 15,000 database records overall, around 8% of them specifically relate to road ghosts.
And now new analysis of the stats by Select Car Leasing has revealed 10 of the most frightening cases - while also lifting the lid on the UK’s most cursed counties when it comes to highway phantoms.
By sheer volume of road ghost reports, weird Wiltshire tops the list, followed closely by Dorset, Essex, Suffolk and Somerset.
The stats are also backed up by a new survey by Select Car Leasing, which revealed how 9% of the 1,000 UK driving licence holders polled said they’d seen a ghost while on a road in the UK.
The figure is even higher among younger drivers - with a fifth (20%) of those aged 18-24 reporting a ghostly run-in while behind the wheel.
Graham Conway, Managing Director at Select Car Leasing, said: “If you think potholes and middle-lane hoggers are scary, look away now, because there might be something even more frightening lurking on Britain’s roads!”
Author and radio host Darren Mann is founder of The Paranormal Database. He added: “It is unsurprising roads attract so many paranormal experiences. We must remember some of our roads are routes which have been used for thousands of years by hundreds of thousands of travellers who have made journeys while scared, excited, concerned, joyous, or even dying.
“Have a few of those travellers left psychic scars which occasionally manifest to unexpecting drivers today, or does every vanishing pedestrian and ghostly vehicle have a rational explanation? After reading hundreds of accounts, I still do not know for sure.”
Here’s are some of the weirdest incidents logged by The Paranormal Database from the last 20 years:
Suffolk: A1065 heading towards Lakenheath, 2014
A lone driver heading away from Brandon in 2011 glanced into her rear-view mirror and spotted a lad, around fourteen years of age, sitting in the backseat of her car. She looked again, only to see he had gone. A similar occurrence occurred to a male driver three years later.
Sussex: A23 in various locations, sightings continuous since 1970s
A plethora of ghostly figures have been reported on this road, from London to Brighton. Most appear to interact with drivers - one male figure walks in front of a car, only to disappear when hit, while figures dressed in light coloured clothing have also been observed.
Wiltshire: A36 near Little Wishford, 2019
Driving to Somerset, a witness spotted what looked like a person, caught in headlights ahead, crossing the road. It moved like a woman and it half skipped towards the side of the road. As a vehicle in the opposite lane passed through it, the figure disappeared, and as the witness's own car reached the spot, nothing could be seen.
Devon: A377 between Copplestone and Morchard Bishop, 2022
Two people travelling along this road could hear a motorbike approaching their car from behind. The bike could not be seen, but clearly heard as it overtook the car and accelerated away. Both witnesses were left shaken by their encounter.
Norfolk: Watton Road, between Barford and Kimberly, 2013
A driver had to swerve to avoid three figures standing in the road. One wore a long red cloak, while the other two were dressed as eighteenth century footmen. The figures paid no attention to the car. The driver later contacted nearby Kimberly Hall to see if they had a fancy dress event on that evening - they had not.
North Yorkshire: Near Boltby village, 2012
One witness in a car reported seeing a white woman wearing an old fashioned party dress, although the woman's legs disappeared below the knee and the face was blurred. The witness said it was like watching a 'replay', and although the witness's car headlights did not illuminate the figure, the woman was visible against the darkness of the environment.
Nottinghamshire: George's Lane and George's Hill, 2016
A ghostly entity is reported to materialise on the back seat of passing cars in both these locations - on the lane the figure takes the form of an old lady, and on the hill the figure wears a black hooded garment. Normally the witness only sees the entity in their car's rear view mirror; when witnesses turn around, the figure has vanished.
Leicestershire: Castle Donington, near Junction 24 of the M1 Motorway, 2009
A driver was left shaken after seeing a man wearing a green jacket, dark trousers and headwear standing in the middle lane of the motorway. The driver glanced at her rear view mirror to see whether she could safely brake (she could not) and looking back at the road in front realised the man had vanished.
Kent: Cranbrook, 2011
A driver and passenger watched as a cloaked figure jumped down from the trees in front of their car before leaping over the vehicle. The cloak could be heard 'whooshing' over the car. The figure was too tall for the driver to see the head, although the rest of the entity was described as human-like.
Cheshire: Gawsworth, Congleton Road, 2024
The driver and two passengers of a vehicle could clearly see the solid apparition of a woman dressed in a black Victorian-style dress, including a bonnet type hat. The woman stood motionless on the roadside, near a metal gate, and the witnesses were confident the figure would have been caught on the front and rear cameras which continuously recorded in the vehicle. When reviewing the footage, the location had been recorded but the figure was not visible.
Top 15 counties with the most reports of road ghosts and haunted highways (according to The Paranormal Database):
- Wiltshire
- Dorset
- Essex
- Suffolk
- Somerset
- Norfolk
- Kent
- North Yorkshire
- Sussex
- Derbyshire
- Lincolnshire
- Greater London
- Buckinghamshire
- Nottinghamshire
- Lancashire
** We want to hear to hear about your OWN terrifying car journeys! It doesn't need to involve the supernatural or ghosts. It might be a tale of vengeful road rage, a roundabout gone horribly wrong, or a run-in with the law that haunted your driving licence!
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