New Mexico Ghost Story: The Haunted Ride

This story is told in my state close to Halloween. It is stated that it is a true story. * I really like it because it is a ghost story with an unusual twist. 

There are many ghost stories that have a “hitchhiker” in them. This story also has a hitchhiker in it but it is not your typical hitchhiker story. For one thing in this story the hitchhiker is not the ghost…

This happened near a small mountain town in northern New Mexico. A young man was hitchhiking across the state on his way back to college. It was late at night and he was walking alongside the road when it started to thunder and lightning. 

Very quickly this young man was drenched in a typical desert rainstorm. Now cold and wet he can hardly see two feet in front of him. In despair he wonders if a car will ever pass.

Finally, he sees a pick-up truck coming toward him. It approached him slowly and stopped where he stood. The student without hesitation got into the truck and closed the door. 

As he wiped the water from his face he realized that no one was behind the wheel. He clutched the door handle intending to get out but the truck started to move and being on a hill it picked up speed quickly.

The man watched as the truck approached a sharp curve; terrified for his life he starts to pray. In the next moment he spots a black shadowy hand emerge from the rain through the drivers’ side window as the truck hits the curve. The hand grasps and moves the steering wheel. Now in shock, the student watches as the hand reappears each time the truck hits a curve to steer the truck.

As the rain finally stops the young man is able to muster enough courage to open the trucks’ door. He stumbles out and hits the road at a dead run too frightened to look back. 

At the bottom of the mountain he finds a cantina on the edge of a small town, he enters and orders a shot of tequila. Shaking and visibly upset he gasps out his story to the locals in the bar as he waits for his drink. The patrons at first think he must be drunk but when they realize he isn’t they start asking him questions in concern.

Fifteen minutes later two men walk into the same cantina. The taller one states to his companion, “Mira, Pedro, that’s the parasito that got in the truck while we were pushing it.”

* I have read various versions of this story from Africa, Australia, and of course Ireland where I believe it originated. This story is told because of its humorous ending.