I’ve only heard about most of these in discussions about urban legends.
We did have a localized version of the vanishing hitchhiker in the Bay Area, called the “White Witch of Niles Canyon”. One of the classic variations on this story. A fellow driving at night on Niles Canyon Road (a lovely country drive in the East Bay hills northeast of San Jose) spots a ghostly young woman in a prom dress. He drives her to the address she indicates, whereupon she has vanished, leaving a hair clip or brooch or some sort of distinctive item on the back seat. Puzzled he knocks on the door of the address given, and it’s answered by an older woman who announces that the item left behind belonged to her daughter, who, of course, was killed in a car accident on Niles Canyon Road, on prom night, this very night 10 years ago. There are variations. Sometimes the girl says nothing and points to a card with the address. Sometimes the prom dress is blood stained and she tells the story of how her boyfriend was killed in a car wreck. Sometimes she leaves a single rose, and it is his description or some photograph on the mantlepiece that triggers the mother’s declaration. But the gist was always the same. Reminds me also of the Large Marge scene in PeeWee’s Big Adventure (Don’t ask me why I remember that).
AC,
The Vanishing Hitchhiker is also the basis of a song by [i]Blackmore’s Night[/i], “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore” (no video for it, however, except a [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=915N8-G7aeo]fan vid against a photo backdrop[/url] )
Lyrics:
Standing in the rain
The cold and angry rain
In a long white dress
A girl without a name
She stood beneath the light
Glowing like a candle bright
I guess it doesn’t matter anymore
I pulled along the side
And offered her a ride
Like the rolling mist she floated inside
As we pulled away
She had nothing to say
So I guess it doesn’t matter anymore
*I believe something’s can’t be explained
They are hidden in the mist and in the silver rain…*
The road was long
It ran on
When I heard her singing her silent song
I knew the melody
From my memory
But I guess it Doesn’t Matter Anymore
Finally she spoke
Come pull off the road
Saying she was headin’ home
I turned and she was gone
I was all alone
So I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
As I turned away
No reason to stay
She had faded back into the grey
A whisper in the trees
You could hear it in the breeze
Say I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
I still like “prune juice in the recipe for Dr Pepper…”
Of course there are no alligators in the sewers of New York – only Ninja Turtles.
I’ve only heard about most of these in discussions about urban legends.
We did have a localized version of the vanishing hitchhiker in the Bay Area, called the “White Witch of Niles Canyon”. One of the classic variations on this story. A fellow driving at night on Niles Canyon Road (a lovely country drive in the East Bay hills northeast of San Jose) spots a ghostly young woman in a prom dress. He drives her to the address she indicates, whereupon she has vanished, leaving a hair clip or brooch or some sort of distinctive item on the back seat. Puzzled he knocks on the door of the address given, and it’s answered by an older woman who announces that the item left behind belonged to her daughter, who, of course, was killed in a car accident on Niles Canyon Road, on prom night, this very night 10 years ago. There are variations. Sometimes the girl says nothing and points to a card with the address. Sometimes the prom dress is blood stained and she tells the story of how her boyfriend was killed in a car wreck. Sometimes she leaves a single rose, and it is his description or some photograph on the mantlepiece that triggers the mother’s declaration. But the gist was always the same. Reminds me also of the Large Marge scene in PeeWee’s Big Adventure (Don’t ask me why I remember that).
AC – I’ve heards that one too.
Niles Cyn is beautiful, especially in the spring and the fall.
AC,
The Vanishing Hitchhiker is also the basis of a song by [i]Blackmore’s Night[/i], “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore” (no video for it, however, except a [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=915N8-G7aeo]fan vid against a photo backdrop[/url] )
Lyrics:
Standing in the rain
The cold and angry rain
In a long white dress
A girl without a name
She stood beneath the light
Glowing like a candle bright
I guess it doesn’t matter anymore
I pulled along the side
And offered her a ride
Like the rolling mist she floated inside
As we pulled away
She had nothing to say
So I guess it doesn’t matter anymore
*I believe something’s can’t be explained
They are hidden in the mist and in the silver rain…*
The road was long
It ran on
When I heard her singing her silent song
I knew the melody
From my memory
But I guess it Doesn’t Matter Anymore
Finally she spoke
Come pull off the road
Saying she was headin’ home
I turned and she was gone
I was all alone
So I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore
As I turned away
No reason to stay
She had faded back into the grey
A whisper in the trees
You could hear it in the breeze
Say I Guess It Doesn’t Matter Anymore