I'm Lauren Norton, and this is One Strange Thing, the show where we search the nation's news archives for stories that can't quite be explained.

Strangers, we have collected a number of stories about haunted highways and roads over the past four years.

Ghostly hitchhikers, they've made plenty of appearances. And please, we beg you, if you're driving along a lonely road at night,

do not offer rides to anyone who seems even the least bit transparent. But there are

plenty of other tales out there too. For instance, we found a few newsclippings about a spirit-plagued

toll road in Virginia.

According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, it was 2002 when a truck driver and a toll booth

operator claimed that, quote, three flickering points of light on a high bluff were spotted along

a local highway.

When the truck driver drew closer, he saw what he described as

three ghostly figures holding torches. The driver reported that two more of the figures

appeared in front of his truck, and he hit the truck's horn in an effort to, well, we don't know what,

because we doubt personally that apparitions are dissuaded by honking.

But, per the Times' dispatch, when he arrived at the next toll booth and relayed that shocking

encounter, it wasn't actually a shock to the toll booth operator.

According to some message board posts that we found, the staff there had been seen ghostly figures for weeks.

And it wasn't just their staff either. Local law enforcement had called in reports as well.

The post claimed that they'd seen even more figures, including headless ones.

Now, of course, this was surprising and probably unpleasant, at least when it came to missing heads, but the story never got much coverage,

and it's not particularly well known in the area. Other traveling ghosts, though, they've become

famous, infamous even,

and have been blamed for all sorts of misdeeds, vehicle malfunctions,

...