Legends of ghost travelers are found in folklore around the world. It seems that they are usually associated with some kind of tragedy that happened during travel, with seduction or love while traveling, as well as with strong emotions that people experience during meetings that take place on the roads. The history of the legends about ghost travelers is quite ancient. In Europe and Russia, ghost travelers are already mentioned in documents from the 17th century. Then these stories are overgrown with many legends.
The most interesting type of ghost traveler is the one who appears to the observer to be a perfectly real person. Some cases of ghost travelers occur without visible phenomena, but only through sounds, light phenomena, strange sensations and smells.
Lord Halifax, who collected British ghost stories, recorded a story about a ghost traveler traveling as a passenger on the railroad. Lord Halifax received his description from Colonel Evart, who, according to his own words, once met a ghost woman. On the train from Carlisle to London one day, Evart locked himself in a compartment and dozed off. Soon he woke up feeling uncomfortable and strange, and suddenly saw a woman in black in front of him. There was a black veil on her face; she seemed to be looking at something in her lap, but nothing was visible. Ewart spoke to her, but the woman did not answer. She began to sway and hum something softly, like a lullaby is sung. However, there was no child in her arms.
Before Ewart could continue his research, the train buzzed and crashed into something. A suitcase fell on Evart's head, and the colonel lost consciousness. Recovering himself, he immediately got off the train and found that the accident was nothing serious. Then Evart remembered the woman in black and returned to the compartment, but the woman had already disappeared and was nowhere to be seen. None of the passengers he asked about her saw her. Moreover, as Evart himself said, having entered the compartment, he locked himself, as he usually did, so that after him no one could freely enter there.
Months later, a railroad clerk told Evart that the woman in black was a ghost that lived on the route. According to legend, she and her fiancé rode the same train; while the train was moving, the man stuck his head out of the window too far and was blown away by the wire. His headless body fell directly into the young woman's lap. When the train arrived in London, the woman was found sitting in a compartment. She held the body of her beloved and sang a lullaby over him. Reason never returned to her; she died a few months later.
Other travel ghost and ghost stories are associated with train stations, metro stations, and airports. At Darlington Station in Durham, England, ghosts of a man and a black hunting dog have been seen repeatedly in the porters' quarters. The man's ghost is said to belong to a man who committed suicide by throwing himself under a train. This man had a black hunting dog, which also became a ghost. A ghost dog is reported to have once bitten an old carrier, but no bite mark was found. At Dearham Bridge Station in Meriport, Cumbria, sometimes at night, before the train passes, a child is heard crying. Tradition tells that one evening a married couple walked here with their little child;unexpectedly, the father grabbed the child and threw it from the bridge under the train. He was hanged for this crime. At Mayfield Station in Manchester, where at least two suicides and numerous other accidents have occurred, the footsteps of ghosts are often heard on the platform. One of the most famous ghosts on the London Underground is Aldgate Station on the Circle Line. Such wonderful things happened there that they were even recorded in the station's logbook.that they were even entered in the station logbook.that they were even entered in the station logbook.
Perhaps one of the most intriguing stories of ghost travelers is the story of a gentleman, dressed in a black suit and bowler hat, who has inhabited Heathrow International Airport since 1948, when a Belgian airline's Dakota plane crashed on landing. Sabena ". All 22 passengers on board were killed. As the rescuers were taking apart the wreckage, to their amazement, a man suddenly appeared from the crashed plane and said: "Excuse me, did you find my file folder?" Since that time, the ghost has repeatedly appeared at the airport; he walked along the runway on which the plane crashed. It is believed that this ghost is one of the victims of the tragedy.
Other Heathrow ghosts are some kind of invisible creatures breathing heavily, like animals, people in the back of the head, as well as a "ghost in a light gray suit" that lives in apartments for VIPs. As for the latter, one person saw it somehow, though only the lower half.
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Manchester International Airport also seems to be home to many ghosts; Among them was an old man who was seen every day in the premises of the C. Claridge and Company Limited in 1971, which is engaged in cargo transportation at the airport. We saw this ghost sitting in the warehouse and walking barefoot through it. This ghost also made strange sounds, and his inexplicable cries were heard. It happened, it moved the equipment. After 1971, the ghost was also seen, but rarely.
Ghost travelers usually appear on certain days, moving in a certain way: they walk, gallop on ghost horses, ride ghost bikes, ghost motorcycles, ghost carriages, as well as cars, buses and trucks. If they are walking, they may suddenly appear in the middle of the road. Drivers, noticing them, can try to avoid a collision, sometimes sacrificing their own car; sometimes they do not have time to do this, and it seems to them that they have hit a person. However, when they stop and carefully examine everything around, they do not find any traces of anyone's presence. (see also Ghost Cars).
In the United States, in the vicinity of Elmur, Ohio, it is said that there is a headless motorcyclist who appears every year on the night of March 21, the anniversary of his death. According to legend, this motorcyclist was a young soldier who, after leaving the army after the end of World War I, bought a motorcycle to impress his girlfriend, whom he left behind to go to war. When he arrived at the farm where she lived, he was shocked to learn that his girlfriend had contacted another man during this time. In desperation, he drove at full speed on a motorcycle and near the bridge, losing control, flew off a cliff. His head was blown off; the motorcycle lost its headlight. His ghost can be seen at night only by a luminous headlight. It runs at full speed along the road and disappears in the middle of the bridge. According to legend,the anniversary of the death of the ghost can be called up by flashing car headlights and three intermittent car horns.
In 1968, two people tried to photograph this ghost using film and photographic film, as well as record it on a tape recorder. They called him twice, but failed. The third time, one of them stood on the bridge. Then he returned to his friend and found that he was lying in a ditch badly beaten. When he woke up, his friend could not remember what happened to him. Nothing was visible on the film either. However, a strange light appeared on the film, and the tape recorder recorded some unusually high voices; but such data is clearly insufficient to prove that it was in fact a paranormal phenomenon.
Some ghost travelers seem to be doomed to eternal wanderings as punishment for their folly or sins. The Flying Dutchman is probably the most famous.
Another similar legend is the story of Peter Rugge, which dates back to the early 19th century and is associated with the Boston area. One witness, William Austin, said he saw the ghost of Wragg one day in 1826 while he was riding in a carriage outside Boston. Austin, who was sitting next to the coachman, suddenly noticed that the horses were nervous. The coachman said to this that the "storm maker" must be approaching and that the horses were feeling him. In the meantime, there was not a cloud in the sky.
The "storm maker" suddenly appeared in the guise of a man with a child in an open carriage. Rain clouds came after them. Kucher noticed that he often met these two on the road. The man usually asks for directions to Boston, but does not pay any attention when he is told that he is going in the wrong direction.
Three years later, Austin, staying at a hotel in Hartford, Connecticut, saw the mysterious carriage again as it pulled up to the hotel. Someone told him that it was Peter Rugg who had arrived with his child. Rugg even here asked everyone for directions to Boston, but he did not pay attention to the answers they gave him. Austin, he said, caught up with the ghost's carriage and spoke to him. Wragg gave his name and said that he lived in Middle Street, Boston. He and the child left the city "some time ago" and got completely wet in the rain. The ghost asked Austin for directions to Boston and refused to believe it when he told him they were heading for Connecticut. Offended, Rugg quickly rode off.
Austin met several people in Boston who told him the story of Rugg, a stubborn man who lived in the city around 1730. One day he and his daughter Rugg went in a carriage to Concorde. When he was about to return, a friend warned him that a storm was coming. But Rugg vowed that, despite this, he would be home tonight.
Otherwise, he will never see his house again. Neither he nor his daughter returned home, and no one knew where they had disappeared. However, their ghosts are still eager to get home.