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| pic credit: Rankers |
Today, we're going through the top ten terrifying road trip stories that come out From Reddit! A good road trip is one of my favorite things to do! The best trip I've ever made was from Tucson, Arizona to San Francisco, with stops along the way at the Grand Canyon, Vegas, and Venice Beach! On that journey, the most terrifying thing I witnessed was a tumbleweed.... Things were a little more terrifying for the folks in the stories on this list, though!
10. The Delivery Man
This bizarre event took place in Death Valley, a scorching and desolate region in East California. This story comes from a Reddit member who recounts an event that occurred in their parents' lives about 20 years ago.
Their parents were planning a weekend getaway to a hotel 30 minutes outside of Death Valley town, in the middle of the desert, they said. When they arrived at their lodging, it appeared to be completely deserted.
The father got out of the vehicle to take a look around, but the mother remained inside. A man with a stack of newspapers appeared out of nowhere and began approaching the mother, whose car window was open.
He claimed that his motorcycle had broken down and that he was delivering newspapers to Death Valley town, and that if he didn't make them there before the deadline, he would lose his job. The mother was concerned because she couldn't see the motorcycle. The man pleaded with her to let him into the vehicle, but she refused.
When the father returned, the paper delivery guy appeared distressed, dropped his papers, and walked off into the desert. When the mother and father arrive at the hotel, the receptionist informs them that newspapers are not delivered to the hotel. The newspapers, according to the mother and father, date from 1954. Was he a serial killer or a phantom from the 1950s?
9. Norwegian Mountain Menace
Tonberryking posted this information on Reddit. They claimed that they and a friend went on a late-night drive into the Norwegian mountains to view the sunrise from the top of the mountain range. That's quite appealing!
He stated the climb up the mountain is delightful, and there is a bar at the top, which he knew would be closed at the time he and his friend were traveling, but he thought they could sit on the benches outside and enjoy the view while smoking.
They came across a person seated on a boulder on their way up. They only understood what they had seen after driving by, and because it was late and the roads were a little slick, they decided to turn around and see if the individual was okay. Good on them for being typical courteous Norwegians.
They noticed a woman dressed in a long white gown with long, lovely hair. When they reached out to her, she turned to look at them, and the Redditor described her as having a face three times the length of a typical person's, eyes that were entirely blank, and a smile on her face. Creepy.
They were virtually immobilized with dread, according to the Redditor, yet they continued driving. Both men developed a severe fever the next day, which lasted for days.
8. Midnight Scratching
So, my narrative is based on a 7-year-old Reddit post. A man was driving back from a family reunion. Because he had to work the next day, he had opted not to stay the night. He said he was exhausted after 45 minutes on the journey.
He couldn't find a layby or a place to park off the road, so he drove into a field and parked his car behind some shrubs to hide it. He fell asleep about 11:20 a.m. but was jolted up 30 minutes later by a scratching noise.
He was fatigued, so he looked at the clock and chose not to pay attention to it. The same sound awoke him 50 minutes later, and he was terrified... this time he didn't ignore it. He speculated that it might be animals, but what animal scratches alongside a car for an hour?
When he looked back, he noticed someone or something rushing towards the woods. He decided to go back on the road and drive away. He observed an abandoned automobile with its door open as he drove forward...
As he approached to investigate, a man dashed around the corner, yelling for him to get out of his car. The man was afraid and drove away. The moral of the story, he continued, was not to sleep on the side of empty highways.
Also Read: How Ghost Stories Have Evolved: Examines the origins of 11 scary stories
7. The Pick Up Trucks
This story was submitted to the subreddit, let’s not meet. From Ruidoso to Albuquerque, a girl and her friend Amy were driving. They took the NM55, a more isolated road because the girls enjoyed exploring. They noticed a white pickup truck in the distance ahead of them.
When they were close enough, the truck crossed both lanes and pulled off the road. They noted the driver was a middle-aged man who peered at them intently while chatting into a walkie-talkie as they passed by. He returned to the roadway and began following them as they passed him.
They then spotted a second pickup truck approaching them slowly. This one was an older, battered vehicle. They saw that guy was also talking into a walkie-talkie as they passed it. After passing them, the truck turned around to follow them behind the white truck.
The white truck then attempted to hit them, but they continued to accelerate. It was soon clear that the trucks were attempting to wedge the car between them. Fortunately, a US Park Service car approached from a side route, and both vehicles made a U-turn. The girls, on the other hand, were terrified, which is understandable.
6. Real Life Can Be Scarier Than Any Movie
This story is based on a trip from Twenty-nine Palms, California to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The driver passed into Amboy, a ghost city below sea level that has been linked to devilish activity. The vehicle came to a halt at the Amboy sign to take photos to show his buddies.
They passed past a lonely town and into a canyon when they came across a red automobile stopped in the middle of the road. They noticed a bag and two bodies laying face down when they got closer. The driver drove on, obviously spooked out and uncomfortable, drawing their 9-millimeter pistol from behind the seat since they had a sneaking suspicion it was a trap.
When they went by the site, they noticed two so-called bodies rising up and roughly 20 people emerging from the long grass in the rearview mirror. The driver pressed down on the accelerator pedal and accelerated forward.
When asked about their experience, the driver remarked, "I'll never know what would have happened to me if I had gotten out of the car." I don't think it would have worked out well. Real-life can be scarier than a movie at times.
5. Nothing Good Happens After 2AM
A man wrote a long and winding story about his journey from Nashville to Kentucky and back. He'd gotten into an argument with his girlfriend and needed to let off steam by driving.
He realized he was out of petrol on his way to Alabama, so he exited Interstate 65 and drove off the ramp near a filling station. Here's where he discovered something unusual.
The only other vehicle on the road had come to a complete stop at a green signal. It was after 3 a.m., and the driver thought it was strange, but it could have just been because the driver was fatigued. The vehicle pushed forward when the light turned red, pulled beneath the overpass, and turned off its lights. Creepy.
When the lights turned green again, the driver didn't want to continue forward, so they waited. They opted to move when the lights turned green a second time, and the vehicle began following them. The man arrived at the petrol station, where he was met by a police officer.
When he walked in to pay, the person who was following him parked at the station and glared at him. He then got out and stood at the back of the line. The stalker departed the line after the road tripper paid to follow him again. The driver claimed that in order to get away, he sped through some red lights on his way home, adding that it is still the creepiest thing that has ever occurred to him.
4. The Bay Bridge
The Bay Bridge and the famed Golden Gate Bridge are two of San Francisco's many gorgeous bridges. A grandfather and his granddaughter were driving from San Diego to Portland and making a quick stop in San Francisco.
They were driving across the Bay Bridge when they came to a diversion. The diversion took them to a part of town with no street lights and an ominous atmosphere. Not only were the roads desolate, but the streets appeared to be as well.
A car passed by, but it was a 1930s Japanese type. The route eventually took them over the Golden Gate Bridge, which was very dark — even the toll booths were closed. Cate, the granddaughter driving, said she felt a force trying to turn her around as she approached the bridge. She was eventually able to move forward.
When Cate told one of her San Francisco friends about the event, they stated the Golden Gate was lit up and that the area couldn't have been abandoned because there was a festival going on that day.
Okay, we've had a lot of fun with Reddit, but now it's time to move on to some real-life scary road trip stories that have made national news...
3. The murder of Peter Falconio
This story terrifies me because it is so simple and easy to imitate. Joanne Lees and her boyfriend, Peter Falconio, were traveling on the Stuart Highway near Alice Springs, Australia, on July 14, 2001.
The couple in their twenties was on a backpacking holiday in a VW Campervan, road traveling about. A driver in a Toyota four-wheel-drive flagged them down while they were on the road. He indicated he noticed engine trouble, so Peter got out to inspect while Joanne sat in the driver's seat and revved the engine.
The man reappeared at the window, pointing his gun to her head, and she heard shots. He was pulled into the rear of the man's car after tying her hands behind her back with cable ties. The girl successfully concealed in the bushes while he was distracted moving Peter's body.
The man searched for her, drove close to her, but never found her, and then drove away with her boyfriend's body. Joanne afterward flagged down a road train diver, who rescued her. Although Peter Falconio's body was never located, the killer was later identified because of DNA obtained on Joanne.
John Murdoch was convicted and received a sentence of 28 years in jail. Not every road trip is taken in a car... Road vacations are popular among cyclists, as hitting the pavement on two wheels is sometimes the best way to explore the open road. Unfortunately, what this biker learned will stay with him for the rest of his life.
2. The Annecy Killings
When the Al-Hilli family was on vacation in France and driving through the alps in their red BMW, they were shot at in their car. Iqbal's parents, Saad and Iqbal, as well as Iqbal's mother, were all killed.
The family's two kids were injured but survived, and their four-year-old daughter was discovered tucked under her deceased mother's legs eight hours after police arrived. Sylvain Mollier, a French cyclist, was shot and killed next to the car.
Another rider, Brett Martin, happened to be passing by when he noticed the horrific situation. Despite the fact that a murder inquiry was launched, the culprit of the 2012 incident has yet to be identified. Some detectives believe the killings were random, which is even more... There could be another deranged killer on the loose.
1. Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders
I'd never hitchhike, but that's mainly due to stories like this one. But I get it; it's a cheap way to go on a road trip. There was no genuine understanding of how perilous hitchhiking could be in the 1970s... But then the assassinations began. Six women were discovered dead and naked in rural locations along creeks near roads between 1972 and 1973.
The girls were all female hitchhikers going through Sonoma County and Santa Rosa, California. The assassinations remain unsolved to this day. So there you have it, the top ten creepy and dark road trip stories.