Vanishing Hitchhiker
This is one of the most popular urban legends today. It has hundreds of different versions but the general plot remains the same. A mysterious roadside figure is picked up for a ride to a stated destination but then disappears from the moving vehicle. The hitcher sometimes makes an odd or prophetic comment. The ghost nature of the rider is confirmed when the driver inquires at the address given and then sees a picture of the rider. The picture is said to be of a long-dead relative of the home’s inhabitants who was killed in an car accident at the same spot on the road where the hitchhiker had appeared.
An American version of this legend is that the hitchhiker is a young woman in a party dress who borrows a coat or sweater from the driver, then vanishes. She is identified by a portrait, and “returns” the clothing she borrowed on her grave for the driver to find.
(Source: Brunvand, Jan H. Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. 2001.)
