Your True Tales
September 2003 – Page 20

Highway Ghost
by Jan V.

Late one Friday night, I had just left the office, after having put in late hours trying to put the finishing touches on a 50-page budget grant, due to be mailed the following day. During that time, I lived about 15 miles into the country, from the city in which I worked. It was a little after midnight when I started driving down the long, unwinding stretch of highway, toward my home. Traffic was far and few in between, unusually so, I might add. The moon was fearsome bright, and being that it was Fall weather, the trees surrounding both sides of the highway appeared as gothic figures molding into one gigantic creature.

I had not driven more than three miles, when suddenly a white figure appeared in the middle of the highway. I was traveling at a speed of about 60 miles per hour, and within seconds, I had driven through the ghostly white figure. The car swayed as if a heavy wind was blowing. Although, the heat was on, the inside of the car suddenly felt like an icebox, and the windows quickly steamed. I immediately braked and pulled over to the side of the road. For a few minutes, I was frozen with fear. I thought I had hit someone with my car. I sat there, frightened, wanting to get out and check to see if maybe I had hit someone, but I could not move. Suddenly, the car began to shake, the steam that once glazed the windows, was now beginning to slowly fade. I started yelling out for help because, at this time, I'm thinking to myself, this is not good.

Once the steam had faded, I glanced in my rear-view mirror, and to my surprise, I could see the ghostly figure floating in mid-air, staring directly into my car. The figure was that of a woman, with long, stringy white hair. Where her eyes should have been, there appeared to be two big black circles. Her arms were stretched as if she was reaching for me, and her hands were like that of a skeleton. I saw no legs are feet. She appeared to be wearing a ragged white gown, flapping in the wind. All I remember saying was, "Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God" and with trembling hands, I started the car and pulled off, flooring the gas. I could hear the hardened dirt and rocks from the cold ground, hitting the sides, and beneath my car.

Once home, I ran into the house, went into my bedroom, and said nothing to anyone. It wasn't until about two years later, when I overheard my mother talking to a neighbor about the same sighting, that I put the bizarre incident into reality. Apparently, I was not the only person to see the ghostly figure. The figure (which appears to be that of a woman), can often be seen between October and November, usually around, or a little after midnight. I finally told my mother about my encounter, and to my surprise, she laughed. She told me that, she had a gut feeling that sooner or later, with the late hours I worked, she knew that I would eventually have my encounter, just as others had before me.

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