The Hoosier state is home to many urban legends, but the tale of the hitchhiking ghost is quite eerie.

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Ghostly Roads

Every community seems to have its own version of a haunted road, bridge, or tunnel.  For instance, in Avon, Indiana there is the haunted Avon Bridge, there's also the legend of the Edna Collings Bridge, and of course the infamous legend of the Tunnelton Tunnel.  These are just a few of Indiana's most notorious haunted road legends.  But have you ever heard the legend of Indiana's hitchhiking ghost?

The Tragic Drowning of Elizabeth Wilson

In Northern Indiana, there is a road that is known for being notoriously haunted, Reeder Road, or Redar Road as it's sometimes spelled, is a road located in Griffith, Indiana.  The story varies a bit, but always ends the same way, with Elizabeth drowning.  According to Indiana Haunted Houses, in the 1950s a young woman was traveling down Reeder Road when she lost control of her car and tragically crashed, and drowned in a nearby swamp.

The Legend of Haunted Reeder/Redar Road

Indiana Haunted Houses claims that the ghost of Elizabeth is often seen walking down the road, hoping for a car to stop so she can hitch a ride, but some have claimed to see weird lights, hear voices, or see apparitions when driving down Reeder Road.

 What-When-How has a more in-depth look at the legend of the hitchhiking ghost that claims Elizabeth actually hitched a ride with a local teenager to her final resting place.

According to accounts of teenagers in the vicinity, the main story of this “haunted” stretch of road concerns a teenage youth in the 1970s who encountered a specter as he drove home from a date. As he was racing down the road, a beautiful young woman with long, blonde hair traversed his path. He was forced to stop his vehicle as she instantaneously entered his car. She proceeded to tell him that her car had veered off the road and that she needed a ride home. While she was giving him directions to her home, the young man drove by Ross Cemetery. To his horror, he discovered that his mysterious guest had vanished. Local lore states that this young woman was buried in this cemetery in 1955 after a car accident had sent her hurtling to her death face-down into a nearby swamp.

Whether you believe in hauntings, urban legends, or the like, this is enough to make me tap "re-route" if Google Maps were to ever send me down the notorious Reeder Road!