America’s Haunted Roads

An isolated stretch of pavement where not even high beams penetrate the darkness is ready-made for ghost stories.

Sharp curves, a canopy of trees, isolated homes set far back from the road: it’s enough to rattle the spine of the most sober driver. Ghostly children, phantom automobiles, vanishing hitchhikers, bloody brides, and even a headless horse are just some of the denizens alleged to wander these highways. Travel them …if you dare.

Ghostly children are almost always creepy, but they are especially so when they appear in unexpected places. This is the case along Strasburg Road in economically ravaged Detroit, Michigan. For years, travelers along this road have reported the unusual sound of a young child rapping on their car doors and windows as they pass. According to legend, an adolescent girl was riding her bicycle in the neighborhood when she lost control and rolled into the busy street. She was struck and killed.

Today, her ghost knocks on the windows and doors of passing motorists, trying to get their attention. Another version of the legend, however, tells of a car full of teenagers who crashed their car into a pole and slowly burned to death. Trapped inside the burning vehicle, they pounded on the windows, desperately trying to alert people to their plight.