The Hitchhiker

From: Anonymous
Story type: Ghost
Location: north of Bangor, Maine
Source: Form Submission

This happened when I was coming back from work on a late Wednesday evening. It was a very dark and rainy night, so driving all alone like that was very scary. I was a bit jumpy. Then I saw this man in a black, tall coat, waving his thumb at me. I don't usually take in hitchhikers, mind you, but this time I was all alone and needing a bit of company. So I stopped. The man climbed in. I asked him where he was going, and he said Portland. I told him I was gonna go no further than Bangor, and he said fine. He had a very low and grim voice. I directed him to the back seat as I had tons of printing paper at the front. We didn't talk much as I drove, and I started to grow nervous again. Then I looked into the rearview mirror, and the man was gone from the backseat! I screamed, no less, and hit the brakes. The car went straight into the bushes, and I was lucky not to be hurt. When we swerved from the road, I heard a groan from the back seat. Turns out, he had only bent down to tie his shoelaces.