The other day I was thumbing through a collection titled North Carolina Legends by Richard Walser. These are cool books with brief descriptions of ghosts and other strange stories from the region. Some of the titles from this collection include: “Specter at the Gold Mine,” “Mystery Ship of Diamond Shoals,” “The Witch Bride,” and “The Evil Hunter of Purgatory Mountain.” You get the idea. You usually find these books at gift shops in tourist traps. The write-ups are brief enough to fire your imagination to create your own stories based on the original without weighing you down with too many details.
As I'm looking through, I come across a story titled “Girl at the Underpass.” Sounds like a ghost story. It is. A man on a lonely, rural road comes across a young girl in a formal dress. He stops. She tells him in a strange monotone voice that she's trying to get home. Her date to a dance had left her there. The man offers her a ride. When they reach her house, he opens the door for her to find no one in his car. Thinking she somehow slipped out, he inquires about her at the house. An old woman answers and tells him the girl is the ghost of her daughter who was killed in an automobile accident years ago.
If you're familiar with my story Highway 24, you know why I found the “Girl at the Underpass” so fascinating. The stories share the same premise: man comes across ghost-girl in a formal dress on a lonely, rural highway. Deliciously creepy, eh? Ever come across a story so similar to one of your own tales that it could have been the source?
That is creepy. There's definitely another story there. You should write it.So creepily meta.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Deborah. Another idea for the idea list.
DeleteHighway 24 sounds really interesting! I'll check it out.
ReplyDeletewww.modernworld4.blogspot.com
Thanks, Gina. Hope you enjoy it.
DeleteThere have been a number of legends about The Girl in White that are along the same line. Very often the girl says her home is the cemetery, or she's picked up near a cemetery. She always rides in the car, doesn't hurt anyone, but then disappears as soon as she gets out. There was an episode on "Supernatural" like that too. It's an urban legend with many slight variations. I really enjoyed your variation though - you took it to a new level with the male mc. Much more interesting than the other ones! :)
ReplyDeleteOoh, that is creepy. And cool. Perhaps there's another story to be written there - author picks up an old book and finds familiar events from his own life portrayed there...
ReplyDeleteWow, so story premise pretty much mirrored the other? Did you scramble to see if it was published before yours? Don't you just hate when that happens?
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question, twice so far but one of them was actually produced into a movie. The premise and characters are very close, even to a single name. Yikes! I promise you I finished my book and didn't come across this movie until years, YEARS later... x(
♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥
There have been many variations on that urban legend. Maybe one did creep into your subconscious.
ReplyDeleteWeird, but I know I read this and thought I'd commented already. Maybe the ghost ate my comment...