I.C.P.I.R.
International Community For Paranormal Investigation & Research

The Vanishing Hitchhiker - Real or Urban Myth?

By Christy Necaise
ICPIR



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I am the director the International Community for Paranormal Investigation and Research. www.icpir.org Ghosts are obviously our mainstay of interest, but that is not what makes my hobby so alluring. I am fortunate enough to be able to study all things paranormal and one of the things that fit into those criteria is Urban Legends. When researching a location; more specifically, a historical location or building, my team often comes across stories and tales that we have to complete research on. As we weed through all of the tax assessor's records, newspaper articles, and other materials, we become historians on the hunt to determine what fact from fiction is. Our job as historians' changes when we realize that a story that we are being told that is supposed to substantiate a haunting is actually an Urban Legend that has perpetuated different stories about haunting phenomena.

The Vanishing Hitchhiker is an Urban Legend that has supernatural occurrences that comprise the basis for the story and one that practitioners in my field often encounter in their research. It has survived throughout many generations and in many different cultures because of society's penchant for ghostly or spooky phenomena. Before I proceed, I would like to share this short film called The Vanishing Hitchhiker, written by John Brillantes and directed by Mike Pisano.




As depicted in this short film, the Vanishing Hitchhiker urban legend centers on a lone individual operating some means of transportation who happens along an individual who is in some sort of situation that places them in a less than comfortable position; such as, rainy or cold weather. The person, who is operating the means of transportation, takes pity on the stranger and offers a ride to the mystery individual who ultimately disappears. Different variations of the legend have the vehicle operator either going to a cemetery to retrieve the article of clothing that they let the stranger borrow to warm up, or has them going to the residence that the stranger directed them to only to be told that the person died in a tragic accident several years ago. The vehicle operator either identifies the stranger through photographs or the stranger is identified by the item that the stranger left behind such as a pair of glasses or a book.

Notice that I said means of transportation or vehicle and I was not specific? That is because the legend of the Vanishing Hitchhiker goes back to biblical times! Remember the story of the Apostle Philip in the New Testament? He is picked up by a chariot that is being driven by an Ethiopian. Once the Apostle Philip baptizes the chariot driver in return for a ride, the person disappears, leaving the Apostle Philip in a state of wonder. The Vanishing Hitchhiker is a story that is multi-cultural as well as international in its origin. When the story is told in Hawaii, the hitchhiker is often associated with the volcano goddess Pele. Mexican versions of the story depict the hitchhiker as "La Llorna" or the weeping woman. I found just as many web sites dedicated to the story in Europe as I did in the United States. I find that very interesting when one delves into the meaning behind the Vanishing Hitchhiker.


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There are many different versions of the Vanishing Hitchhiker urban legend. Folklorists such as Jan Harold Brunvand suggests that a reason for this because urban legends have to adapt to fit modern society, yet always "retain the same basic plot and a powerful core of wonder - about the strangers we see along the highways and about the fate of those who died young and tragically" (Brunvand, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, 38). Louis C. Jones suggests that "the non-ghostly motifs have tended to die out as the more vigorous ghost lore has adapted itself to the changes of transportational environment, as the horse gave way to the auto and bus" (Jones, 289). This idea is substantiated when one reads several different versions of The Vanishing Hitchhiker legend as told throughout many different generations.

How can so many similar versions of the same story be told by so many different people, during so many different time periods, and is so many different countries? Jan Harold Brunvand provides a theory in that the stories "are a unique, unselfconscious reflection of major concerns of individuals in the societies in which the legends circulate" (Brunvand, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, xii). These stories survive and keep being retold because of human societies' need to express their fears and concerns about different issues. The Vanishing Hitchhiker urban legend is also told in Utah among the Mormon population. Folklorists theorize that this is a reflection of the Three Nephite tradition. The hitchhiker often delivers prophetic or religiously themed messages before disappearing in these stories. During World War II, many Vanishing Hitchhiker stories surfaced along the roads in the United States foretelling of the War's end and the need for driver and passenger to stock up on provisions before another disaster occurred, directly reflecting a society's concerns for that time period.


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Teens in American society have a few monumental events that happen and that society sees as a rite of passage. The freedom of getting a driver's license and driving a car means near absolute independence. Not only is a distance placed between the teen and his caregivers, the car is a symbol of a sacred space that no one else can enter when it is in movement. One of the current meanings behind the Vanishing Hitchhiker stems from the idea of teen freedom and independence. Society fears the unknown. As parents we teach our children not to talk to strangers and to travel from point A to point B without talking to anyone or something horrible may happen. Some Vanishing Hitchhiking stories have the driver of the vehicle falling dead from fright when he finds out that the occupant in his vehicle has been dead for many years. Is that not the ultimate punishment for interacting with a total stranger?

Another theme that can be found in the Vanishing Hitchhiking urban legend is found in our need to live until we are advanced in age. American society finds tragedy in the stories we read where a young life was lost. This legend repeats itself alluding to the fact that this poor young woman keeps riding with total strangers because she is searching for the life she lost. Another theme is surfaces when one looks at what the lone female hitchhiker is wearing. She is usually scantily clad and needs to borrow an article of clothing from the person giving her a ride because of exposure to the elements. How many times has a teen girl been asked if that was all she was going to wear or been told to put on more clothes before going out? This theme suggests an inevitable and tragic end to those that leave the house in suggestive clothing and partake in not so wholesome activities. It suggests a loss of innocence when a young woman lets herself be taken by total strangers. What better way than to invent a story that scares teens into acting like the innocent and wholesome characters that we saw on Leave it to Beaver as a child?

As Jan Harold Brunvard suggests, studying Urban Legends by "compare(ing) the tales, isolate(ing) their consistent themes, and relat(ing) them to the rest of the culture can yield rich insights into the state of our current civilization" (Brunvand, The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings, 2).


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Want to experience more of The Vanishing Hitchhiker?


Movies to watch:
Books to read:
Websites to visit:
Works Cited:


Christy Necaise
ICPIR Founder


Christy’s introduction into the world of the paranormal began when she was just a child. She had many experiences in dealing with spirits that came to her for help because of a need to communicate with their loved ones. In 2002 Christy formed the International Community for Paranormal Investigation and Research. She did all she could to surround herself with people that had a lot of experience with paranormal research and read every book on the paranormal and parapsychology that she could get her hands on. She took that knowledge and developed strict rules and protocols for ICPIR to ensure that the data that ICPIR teams collected was done so under the highest standards possible.

Christy has trained many individuals as well as entire paranormal teams in the art of historical research, forming a successful paranormal team, client education, the art of a client/witness interview, equipment techniques, photography techniques, how to review data, equipment placement and set up, and why it is so important to conduct research while adhering to strict rules and protocols. She can be found teaching Ghost Hunting 101 classes throughout the state of Arizona. She is also involved with preserving the integrity of some of Arizona’s precious historical sites. As an advocate of preserving our heritage, she expects her other paranormal teams around the United States to become active with restoration projects in order to protect relics of our past.

Christy has investigated numerous historical venues, private businesses, and private homes. She views each investigation as another opportunity to learn more about the wonderful world of the paranormal and the people that are affected by it every day.



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