Other details in the story often include the young man confirming the vanishing woman’s ghostly status by identifying her in a photo album or the fact that the young woman was killed in a car crash or hit-and-run on the very stretch of road on which the young man first encountered her. Sometimes the parent or parents inform him that that very night is the anniversary of the young woman’s death.

One particularly bone-chilling version has the young man lending the ghost his coat or sweater during the drive after she complains of being cold (with the chill of the grave, no doubt), it vanishing with her when she disappears. Later, after being told in a “go see for yourself” type fashion by the parent(s) as to the whereabouts of the young woman’s final resting place, the young man ventures to her gravestone only to find his missing garment folded neatly on top. While this sort of tale certainly has all the trappings of a pure, unadulterated campfire yarn, believe it or not, the tale of “The Vanishing Hitchhiker” is based upon not just one but numerous cases of actual reported ghostly phenomenon.

Indeed, the stories of vanishing hitchhikers go back as far as the late 1800’s when men told tales of phantom women appearing on the backs of their horses and riding with them for some time before disappearing into thin air. Even before the advent of the automobile, horse and carriage operators were apprised of and experiencing the scenario in which a ghostly passenger would give them directions to a certain locale only to vanish before reaching that destination. The most famous case of a vanishing hitchhiker, however, began near Chicago some decades later and still continues to this very day. This is the case of the ghostly hitcher known as Resurrection Mary.

Sightings of Resurrection Mary first begin in the 1930’s when motorists passing by Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois just outside Chicago told of a woman in a white dress attempting to jump onto the running boards of their cars as they drove by. This eerie apparition would always vanish inexplicably before the drivers had time to react. As time went by, the ghost began to appear in other places along Archer Avenue (the street that runs in front of Resurrection Cemetery) and seemed to be moving closer and closer to The O. Henry Ballroom (which is now called Willowbrook), until at last she was even spotted in the ballroom and was offered rides home by unsuspecting young gentlemen. In every case, the spectre would pull the classic disappearing act whenever the car would pass by the gates of the cemetery.

Mary, as she came to be known, began to manifest in front of cars driving down Archer Avenue past the cemetery as well, some actually experiencing the sensation of hitting her only to have her vanish without a trace. Others claimed to have passed right through the apparition and then watched her turn to walk towards the graveyard, disappearing as she reached the gates. They all described her in the same way: A young woman in a white dress with light blonde hair and blue eyes, carrying her shoes and a small clutch purse. The legend was that Mary had fought with her boyfriend after dancing one night at the O. Henry Ballroom in the early 1930’s. She had elected to walk home along Archer Avenue rather than ride with him and was killed by a hit-and-run driver. She is said to be buried in Resurrection Cemetery but attempts to pin down the historical Mary have proved inconclusive.

One chilling encounter with Mary was recounted by a young man named Jerry Palus in 1939. He had met Mary at The Liberty Grove and Hall (oddly, not the O. Henry Ballroom but another dance hall) and had danced with her and even kissed her. He later claimed that her touch and her lips were both ice cold. Offering to give her a ride home, she insisted they take Archer Avenue even though it was out of the way. At the gates of the cemetery she had him pull over saying,” This is where I have to get out but where I’m going, you can’t follow”, before walking towards the cemetery gates and vanishing. Jerry continued to the location where Mary had instructed him to drive her, meeting with Mary’s mother and identifying her from a portrait. However, Jerry cannot remember now exactly where he went that night, frustrating researchers’ attempts at finding the truth about Mary.

The 70’s and 80’s saw a huge increase in the number of sightings of Resurrection Mary, perhaps because the cemetery was being renovated during that time, thereby disturbing her spirit. One of the most eerie and intriguing incidents involving the ghost occurred around 10:30 on August 10, 1976. A motorist passing by Resurrection Cemetery saw a figure in white clutching the bars of the front gates from inside the cemetery. Concerned that perhaps someone had been locked inside the graveyard after hours, he stopped at the Justice, Illinois police station, informing them of what he had witnessed. An officer went to the scene and found two of the bars in the cemetery’s front gate bent at sharp angles and covered with blackened scorch marks in which appeared to be the indentions of two hand prints directly into the metal itself. The bars were eventually removed after hordes of gawkers began to frequent the cemetery to catch a glimpse of the ghost’s handiwork. Mary is still seen to this day, particularly in the winter months.

Resurrection Mary, while undeniably the most well-known, is far from the only phantom hitcher on record. In fact there are two more well-documented hitchhiking ghosts in the Chicago area alone. One known as “The Flapper Ghost” because of her 1920’s period dress and bobbed haircut haunts the roadside in front of the Jewish Waldheim Cemetery while another ghostly resident of the Evergreen Cemetery sometimes even rides the bus when she’s not hitching a ride! She gets on at the stop across the street from the cemetery and disappears when confronted by the bus drivers for payment.

On the roads connecting Bellefontaine and Calvary Cemeteries in St. Louis there are at least three roadside ghosts including one known as “Hitchhike Annie”, a boy child and a rather unsettling spectre of an older lady in a Victorian-era black mourning gown and veil. In Greensboro, North Carolina, a ghost who identifies herself as Lydia wears a white evening gown and haunts the U.S. Highway 70 Underpass there. The story of the coat on the grave may have some basis in reality as well. It is said to have happened to a young man who gave a lift to a female ghost that haunts Meshack Road in Tompkinsville, Kentucky. Another phantom on that same stretch of road appears behind riders of horses and motorcycles, clinging to their waists for about a mile. The list goes on and on. There are even reports of ghostly hitchhikers in other countries as well. In Warwickshire, England, “The Hitcher of Ragley Hall” is the ghost of an elderly woman who asks drivers to take her to Dunnington Cross. A woman’s bones were later discovered near the roadside where the ghost appears, after a search inspired by the strange hunch of one of the many drivers who have encountered her.

Yes, the dead do certainly get around it seems, and they might just be waiting for a ride from you.