With Halloween just a spectral fingertip away and representing the thinning of the veil between the living and the dead, it makes sense to turn one’s thoughts away from the horrors of the M25 and consider instead the country’s most haunted highways.
Research into the spookiest roads across Europe found four of the top 10 were based in the UK and have terrified drivers with ghostly apparitions and paranormal activity.
The six-mile Stocksbridge Bypass between Sheffield and Huddersfield in South Yorkshire is notorious for eerie encounters and was reportedly built close to or on top of an old monastery.
The route has developed a reputation for ghostly sightings, with reports of a medieval monk appearing in the rear view mirror of passing motorists and ghostly children dancing in a circle in the moonlight.
The Kinmount Straight of the A75 in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, has also played host to a ghoulish gallery of phantom hitchhikers, ghostly parades and creatures.
The area’s rich history of conflict, violence and witch trials is cited as a possible source for the hauntings, although car rental comparison site DiscoverCars.com, which compiled the list, said HGV drivers who use the route have blamed the physical and mental exhaustion of long drives for playing tricks on the mind.
Blue Bell Hill near Rochester in Kent is home to a ‘ghost bride’, where unwitting drivers claim to have picked up a young woman trying to get home, only for her to disappear from the back of the car.
The B3212 in Dartmoor, Devon is another haunted road that makes the list, with accounts of a ghostly pair of hairy hands that grab the steering wheel in an attempt to steer doomed drivers off the road.
Aleksandrs Buraks, head of growth at DiscoverCars.com, said: “Our research found that the UK and Ireland in particular have many eerie roads you can drive through, as the majority of the haunted roads we found are in one of these countries.
“If you find yourself driving down one of these spooky roads, make sure to drive slowly and carefully.
“Knowing that you’re in an allegedly haunted place might be distracting, so it’s important to pay attention to your surroundings and drive safely.”
The research uncannily materialised at the same time as a survey by Select Car Leasing, which revealed 9% of UK driving licence holders said they’d seen a ghost while out on the roads.
The figure was even higher among younger drivers, with 20% aged 18-24 claiming to have faced a phantom while cowering behind the wheel.
Graham Conway, Select Car Leasing MD, said: “If you think potholes and middle-lane hoggers are scary, look away now, because there might be something even more frightening lurking on Britain’s roads!”
