- Think ghosts can’t get you if you stay in your vehicle?
Haunted houses, castles, and graveyards are so cliché. Aren’t there other places where you can find ghouls, ghosts, and goblins?
Yes, there are — and the good news is that you won’t even have to get out of your car. Many roads in the U.S. are claimed to be utterly riddled with ghosts and other supernatural beings.
The bad news is that if the spooks get into your car, you have no way out. Here’s a collection of seven options you can hit for the most terrifying road trip of your life.
1. Haynesville Woods Route 2A
Do you know the Dick Curless song “Tombstone Every Mile?” It’s about this road.
Maine Route 2A going through Haynesville Woods has reportedly had so many traffic accidents that there might as well be, as Mr. Curless sings, a tombstone every mile. It’s all due to the road’s potential to form a treacherous sheet of ice on its surface.
Due to all those accidents, there are many restless travelers supposedly lingering around the road. Among them are the ghosts of two girls whom a truck ran over in 1967.
But the creepiest is the woman who’ll emerge screaming from the woods that her husband is trapped in a crashed car. As soon as you stop and get out of your car to help her, the woman will disappear as if she was never there.
2. Bloody Bride Bridge
What kind of a story would you think is behind a name like Bloody Bride Bridge? Spoiler alert, it involves a bloody bride.
This bridge near Jordan Park, Wisconsin, carries County Highway 66 across a small body of water. According to the story, a couple on the way to their wedding got into a gruesome accident on the bridge that left the bride dead.
She supposedly still hangs around the bridge in her gore-stained wedding gown, wandering back and forth. As long as you simply drive by, she doesn’t really do much harm to anyone.
Just remember not to look in your rearview mirror as you pass her. If you do, you might find her sitting in your backseat.
3. Boy Scout Lane
Boy Scout Lane is another Wisconsin road where the tragedy is written right there on the label. An entire troop of Boy Scouts perished on this remote unpaved lane near the city of Linwood in the early 1960s.
The big question is: how? One story states that the Scoutmaster slaughtered his troop, while according to another story, it was the bus driver.
Yet however the kids died, they never left the roadside. Drivers on the road have reported feeling watched and hearing young boys laughing in the forest.
Others have said they’ve seen the disembodied beams of spectral flashlights between the trees. And then there are those who have later found children’s handprints on their car doors.
4. Jeremy Swamp Road
We’re not quite sure if Jeremy Swamp Road in Southbury, Connecticut, counts as haunted. There’s something in the woods surrounding the forest, alright, but whether it’s ghosts is anyone’s guess.
Drivers on the road often say they’ve seen shadowy figures flitting in the trees. Those who have gotten a closer look at them have noted the beings’ oversized heads.
This has led to locals nicknaming the things Melon Heads — which would be funny if they weren’t so terrifying. They supposedly subsist on the flesh of various woodland animals and stray pets.
Yet, they also have a taste for another kind of meat. Let’s just say stories tell of people who have broken down on Jeremy Swamp Road and disappeared before the tow truck arrived.
5. Sandhill Road
Sandhill Road in Las Vegas, Nevada, stretches over several underground drainage tunnels. And whatever lives (or no longer lives) in those tunnels makes a lot of noise.
Stories tell of a whole variety of eerie ruckus emanating from the tunnels. Among the rumored noises have been scratches, whispers, shrieks, zombie-like moans, and persistent scraping sounds.
Considering that the tunnels are only about three feet high, it’s unlikely people are spending time in the tunnels. Nobody knows what’s down there because no one’s dared to go check — or if they have, they haven’t reported back.
6. Devil’s Washbowl Road
Devil’s Washbowl Road is a dirt lane stretching through the woods of central Vermont near Northfield. In the forest, there’s a creature.
The being is reportedly a roughly 5-feet-8-inch-tall humanoid. Although vaguely human-shaped, it has a pig-like face, clawed feet, and a rough, thick mane of hair.
Fittingly, the beast carries the name of Pigman in the local folklore. And he’s not a fan of intruders.
According to stories, the monster will come charging out of the bushes, trying to chase down passing cars while grunting and squealing like the animal it resembles. If you find yourself on Devil’s Washbowl Road, keep an eye out and be ready to step on the gas.
7. Route 666
US Route 666 carries the nickname Devil’s Highway for obvious reasons. It sure seems some kind of malicious spirit is lurking along this road, stretching from New Mexico through Colorado and into Utah.
The New Mexico portion of the road has a bizarrely high fatality rate. Due to the number of deaths, the road has earned a terrifying reputation among local motorists.
With so many people dying on the road, ghost stories of dead drivers returning to the road abound in the area. Many people report ghostly cars and trucks suddenly coming roaring down the road, disappearing into thin air just before the impact.
Others claim to have seen the road’s infamous hellhounds — demonic dogs that run out of the darkness to chase down passing cars. Partially because of the sinister associations with its designation, the road was reassigned as US Route 491 in 2003.