I'm Laura 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.

Thank you. Today, we want to talk to you about the Great Wide Road.

Trips across the country are certainly not limited to the American experience, but we, the people, certainly love our highways.

Just take a look at the map of our interstate systems, reticulating the country with asphalt.

According to our cinematic lore, a long enough road trip in America will most certainly assure

you come of age, and you'll no doubt make colorful

friends along the way.

You will also run into a man in overalls somewhere in the Ozarks, and inexplicably,

and let's be honest, unfairly, win a rap battle halfway between Austin and Los Angeles. We don't make the

rules. In any case, from the freeways to the highways, while some are rather, well, bland, or

just irritating in the why has no one maintained this since Y2K kind of way, there are many American

roadways that have distinct personalities and even their own accompanying lore.

Everyone knows about Route 66, of course.

It's famous for being a pop culture mainstay, songs, movies, but

in certain paranormal circles, there are other attractions to be sought along its way.

According to the Travel Channel, quote, there are at least 100 different places along

the highway that are rumored to be sites of paranormal activity.

Quote, including the Hotel Monty Vista in Flagstaff, Arizona, where a phantom bellboy knocks on guest's doors at night.

To the mysterious spook light, an unexplained orb that appears in the dark

sky over Quapaw, Oklahoma, which, by the way, made an appearance on this very podcast,

to a theater in Albuquerque, New Mexico, plagued by a mischievous little boy who died there in the 1951 boiler explosion.

...