Phantom Hitchhiker
On US 76, it is said that an old, ghostly hitchhiker appears at the entrance of the bridge-usually on rainy or foggy nights. The lady, who appears to be in distress, is usually offered help by most. The apparition, who is said to be extremely lifelike, gets into the back seat and tells the driver she is en route to Columbia to visit her mother. Giving them an address on Pickens Street, she continues to converse with the driver before becoming silent. By that time, the car is across the river, the woman has disappeared. It is said that in the 1940s, a woman was killed in the spot that is now the beginning of the bridge, while trying to get to Columbia to see her mother.
I’ve actually seen this once. and i looked through another cars window and saw it disapear o_O
Comment by Dan | 10.21.2005 | 9:17 pm
This is another one of those things that I have heard about almost every major city in every major state. At this rate almost everyone should have picked up a phantom hitchhiker at least once in their life. You may as well say that she also had a hook for an arm.
Comment by Ann | 10.26.2005 | 12:56 pm
I just saw this story commented on TV These apparitions have beeen investigated and have been caught on film.
Comment by mon | 11.9.2005 | 7:19 pm
My mom had this ghost thing happen to her friend. (Friend of a friend story, how convenient). But yeah, it’s happened in almost any major city in the country. I agree: everyone should get a chance to give a ride to a ghost hitch hiker. Of course, one would think there would be a public transit story about ghosts….
Comment by Andy | 12.8.2005 | 6:38 pm
There is a public transport story… waiting at a bus stop, opposite a cemetary, a young woman boards a bus and, unsurprisingly, does not pay the fare. the bus driver approaches the stragely dressed girl for the money, only to see her disappear before his eyes!
…spooky…
Comment by Shannon | 01.11.2006 | 1:50 am
Well, I cross this road on a daily bases. The first time, I heard this story was on the local news about a year ago. I’ve seen many people walk that road during the summer moths, but there was this one time; when there was a lady walking down the road I felt compiled to stop but she was headed the wrong way BECAUSE I was coming from 5pts.
Comment by Joseph | 01.20.2006 | 10:37 pm
I have crossed this bridge many times and I have not seen any woman walking this bridge.. This story is fake.. As a matter of a fact they have the same story in North Carolina, and many other states or one very similar.. Don’t believe this one..
Comment by Rick | 04.29.2006 | 9:30 pm
This is a true story. She was on her way home from a dance that she had been to. The car she was in wrecked and she died. The boyfriend lived. This has been documented several times and also on unsolved mysteries. She also gets out at the cementary instead of home. She can be seen and you may give her a ride but it has to be a foggy rainy night. Just like the night she was killed.
Comment by candee | 06.3.2006 | 9:55 pm
My grandmother once picked up a lady and I was beside her in the back seat sh was lie like and when she dissipeard i was so scared.
Comment by Lexi | 06.26.2006 | 12:57 pm
holy **** this aint real it’s an old ghost story my great great great granpa told me
Comment by kody green | 07.18.2006 | 12:13 pm
i ain’t ‘fraid of no ghost!!
Comment by Susi Ghoul | 09.28.2006 | 9:56 am
Every bridge has a story of a women getting killed and needs a ride to the same place she was going every time it rains or the moon is full.
Comment by Shebah | 10.7.2006 | 1:34 am
There is a similar story that comes from Crawfordville,Ga. about a woman that waits at an intersection where she was hit by a car many years ago. She will ask you for a ride, and a few miles down the road she will disapear. I’m not sure if it is true or not,but the first time I heard the whole story it was really creepy.
Comment by Amanda | 10.13.2006 | 1:53 pm
Okay, this is a really “used” ghost story… i mean
lyke everyone has heard something lyke this before.
I personally have had scarier things happen too me
in my life. Lyke once, i was in this place in Paris
Kentucky called the T.b hospital,,, it is reallyyyyyy
freekkkyyyy!!!!!!!!!! And i was there w/ muh uncle
and he let me in b/c i hit a softball in there from
a previous game! yea me! lol but i went in alone unfortunayely and i was on the 3rd floor…. and
i was walking out and i saw a little girl hiding under the set of stairs!!! i wasssss flippin out!
she was starin at me and i didnt know wat too think.
i just ran and never came back…. my father also
seen later a man lurking around the top floor and staring at him an my mom. it was even freekier!
soooo everytime i drive close too it i jus always try
not to go to close! beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a true story. by, me! an i dont even wanna hear any 1
say no different b/c no 1 no’s wat the heck they talking bout. thanx.
Comment by carly beth | 10.14.2006 | 8:02 pm
Which bridge is this? There are three bridges, Garvis Street, Blossom Street, and Hwy 12? Can someone please let me know before the 31st.
Comment by d block | 10.16.2006 | 5:25 pm
Never mind, i used mappoint.com. There is no one walking on that brige anytime because it’s I-126. The way people drive around here, if anyone does walk the interstate they will be a ghost. Oh, I’ve never seen any ghost just broken down cars.
Comment by d block | 10.16.2006 | 5:30 pm
JAJAJA UR RIGHT “RICK”
I WENT OVER TO NORTH CAROLINA AND READ IT TO
ITS CALLED “JAMESTOWN BIRDGE”
ITS THE SAME
PPL GO READ IT
Comment by mark | 10.20.2006 | 4:20 pm
Many studies have supported the benefits of healthful exercise…let them walk
Comment by copdoc | 10.25.2006 | 10:31 am
that is my grandmothers first cousin she really died on that bridge going to get married.
Comment by hunter mims | 11.9.2006 | 7:37 pm
THIS BRIDGE IS THE ONE ON SUMTER HIGHWAY GOING ACROSS THE WATEREE RIVER.I WAS COMING TO COLUMBIA FROM GEORGETOWN AND SAW THIS WHITE GIRL THAT LOOKED SILVERY/GRAY ON THE SUMTER SIDE OF BRIDGE. I DIDN`T SEE HER IN TIME TO STOP. WHEN I CROSSED THE BRIDGE I TURNED AROUND AND WENT BACK BUT DID NOT SEE ANYONE.I HAVE HEARD DIFFERENT SIDES TO THIS FROM DIFFERENT PEOPLE.MAYBE A GROUP OF PEOPLE SHOULD HANG OUT AT THIS BRIDGE AND WAIT.EVEN IN BAD WEATHER.IF YOU HAVE A VIDEO CAMERA TAKE IT WITH PLENTY OF GOOD BATTERIERS AND TAPE OR DISCS. I`M GAME TO WAIT WITH YOU. CALL ME (803)7995732, JAMES
Comment by JAMES | 11.11.2006 | 2:39 pm
THIS BRIDGE CROSSES THE WATEREE RIVER AT THE RICHLAND AND SUMTER COUNTY LINE.SUMTER HIGHWAY.I WAS COMING FORM GEORGETOWN TO COLUMBIA AND SAW THIS SILVERY/GRAY LOOKING WOMEN/GIRL. I DID NOT SEE HER IN TIME TO STOP. WHEN I GOT TO OTHER SIDE I TURNED AROUND. SHE HAD GONE BEFORE I GOT BACK.WE SHOULD GET TOGETHER AND WAIT FOR HER IN GOOD WEATHER AND IN BAD.IF YOU HAVE A GOOD VIDEO CAMERA WITH PLEANTY OF GOOD BATTERIES AND DISCS OR TAPE PLEASE CALL ME AT (803)7995732, JAMES
Comment by JAMES | 11.11.2006 | 2:51 pm
I watched this movie and it was called the Hitchhiker. In this movie, the girl needed a ride and said “I need a ride because I need to go visit my grandpa”. She was talking about how she was trustworthy or something like that. I believe that was based on on the story of the Ghostly Hitchiker. Plus, before the movie started it said that it was based on a true story, but I don’t know if that person is still around. Bye Bye.
Comment by Rajeh | 01.30.2007 | 4:14 pm
I think this story is true. My uncle knows a Truck Driver who had this happen to him. My uncle told me about this story years ago. I believe this story and I think it is scary, although I would like to go to the place and see if it happens to me.
Comment by Patricia Duvall | 02.23.2007 | 6:49 pm
PATRICIA,
Call me and we can go together. It`s best to have a witness to something like this. Do you have a camera, still or movie?(803)7995732
James
Comment by James | 02.26.2007 | 8:41 pm
This is a popular urban legend that has its origins in Chicago. There, the young woman is known as “Resurrection Mary.” Unsolved Mysteries did a story on it years ago, likely before most of you kids were born. Try some searches for it online. The original story is interesting, and of substance. Other versions were adapted to practically every other city in the country with a bridge and cemetery, and have absolutely no basis.
Comment by lb | 03.6.2007 | 6:34 pm
This is ****. I live in south Carolina and pass this road on a daily basis,fog,rain,anything and everything and I have seen nothing and have heard nothing of the sort. I mean I think I would have heard of it by now but nope. oh! I did see Graphite one time…
Comment by Sunny | 03.26.2007 | 12:22 pm
Hey that is really cool. well i got a really sad story for you and here it is.
There was a girl named Jenny. She was new in town. She just wanted to be a regular girl. When she finally got some friends..she started dating a boy that was on the football team. He was the quarter-back. One night Jenny and her boyfiend got invited to a party one fall. She lied and told her parents that she was going to a friends house that night. But she went up to meet her boyfriend. They went to the party that was in a cemetary. Her boyfriend and her went to the moonlight ride like everyone else. Her boyfriend started to drink.And he had got drunk. Her parents just thought of something. That the girl that Jenny said she was going to stay with had went out of town. So they went looking for Jenny. Jenny got scared because her boyfriend couldn’t drive because he was drunk. So she said “I want to go home.” He got mad at her and took off driving really fast. When they got half way down the rode the ran stright into a car. Her boyfriend and the other people were killed right then and there. Jenny was knocked out cold. They rushed all of them to the hospital. When Jenny woke up she found out that her boyfriend and the other people were dead. And she said ” tell the family of the other people that were killed that I am sorry.” Then she leaned over and died. And the man that had found them said ” why didn’t you tell her that was her parents that had got killed?”
Wasn’t that a really said story? I think it is. It makes me want to cry!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by teresa | 07.15.2007 | 2:31 pm
Sounds to me like jenny shouln’t have lied to her parents. This just shows what happens when you lie, people die.
Comment by pw | 09.19.2007 | 10:24 am
Ok to add to this freaky story if anyone happens to go to Pelion or has heard this story. I was driving home one night from work and I swear I thought I had almost hit someone riding a bike at the corner of 302 and Old Charleston Hwy. I had never told anyone about this until a couple of years ago when I was talking to some friends and they had told me they heard about it before. There is some man that was killed on his bike years ago that rides his bike up and down that road. I remember when I looked back, there was no one there. Not the first time I had seen a ghost, wont be the last.
Comment by Heidi | 10.17.2007 | 7:09 pm
I know that the phantom hitchhiker is a common type of ghost story, but strange as it may seem, I believe from my own experience that some of these stories are true. That’s because I saw the Wateree Swamp apparition myself on a rainy, foggy night in the early 1980s, when I was returning to Columbia from Sumter. She looked like a living person, but there was a strange glow around her that looked unworldly, and she didn’t have a flashlight. I thought immediately that she was the ghost and I’m ashamed to say I was so convinced she was that I didn’t stop for her. I simply didn’t think I could stand the shock of her disappearing. I swear that I was sober and clearheaded that night. I remember clearly what she was wearing, and what her face looked like, and would appreciate it if anyone else who has seen her would describe her appearance, so that we could compare notes, so to speak. I also would be interested in hearing from anyone who knows the identity of the accident victim who may have become the ghost. I’ve become fascinated with the story because of my experience, which convinced me that this apparition really occurs at or near the U.S. 76-378 bridge.
Comment by Mike | 11.10.2007 | 4:55 am
Man I am only an hour from Columbia and have never seen it. Been up and down that road at all hours. May have to take another trip one day.
Comment by Phillip | 12.28.2007 | 8:48 pm
HOLY **** I WENT THERE AND MY FRIEND DIED!! NOOOOOOOO!
Comment by Chris | 01.10.2008 | 11:59 am
I believe and that good for the reader to believe its true. I think you could write more great horror stories if you put your mind to it.You may possibly write a book one day. GOOD LUCK!
Amber
Comment by amber | 01.11.2008 | 7:00 pm
I think its true and its great for the reader to think its true too. If you keep writing like this you may be able to write a book one day. GOOD LUCK!
Amber
Comment by amber | 01.11.2008 | 7:08 pm
There’s versions of this legend that are older than the invention of the automobile, and as far away as London or other European cities.
Also, if you type like “u no ur lyke wat i meen lololz” or other such gibberish, do the world a favor and kill yourself. Thanks.
Comment by Thanatos | 01.13.2008 | 1:04 am
Hey I have heard many stories that envolves a bridge and some kind of car accident. there really is a similar story in just about every town you go to. But some have actually been proven to be true. anyways i came on this website because im looking for some REAL haunted places that i could actually go and investigate. but its really hard to find legitimate places or get an address to them. Im trying to start my own paranormal group for south carolina but its hard to do that when you have nothing to go and incestigate. so if anyone knows of some places that are legitimate please let me know.
Comment by crystal | 01.22.2008 | 8:46 pm
Hey I have heard many stories that envolves a bridge and some kind of car accident. there really is a similar story in just about every town you go to. But some have actually been proven to be true. anyways i came on this website because im looking for some REAL haunted places that i could actually go and investigate. but its really hard to find legitimate places or get an address to them. Im trying to start my own paranormal group for south carolina but its hard to do that when you have nothing to go and incestigate. so if anyone knows of some places that are legitimate please let me know.
My e-mail is : crystalwsc@yahoo.com
Comment by crystal | 01.22.2008 | 8:47 pm
i sort of believe this story because anything is possible but than again.. there are TOO MANY stories that are similar to this one
but i will say again… Anything is possible
~Imperfect Angel~
Comment by SMM | 04.8.2008 | 4:12 pm