Are You Afraid of Driving At Night?
Wiltshire, England
December 2000
Near where I live in the south of England there is a road that runs for miles across the edge of Salisbury plain. It's pretty high up there and quite desolate. About half way along is a pub which seems to do good business despite its bleak location. This is due to the experiences that some drivers claim to have on this road...
Back in the 1970's my dad was driving this road late at night in his old morris traveller (car at the front end, van at the back). After a while he became aware that he could hear a noise over the car engine. The noise sounded like something moving about in the back of the car. My dad glanced over his shoulder but could see no cause, the back of the car was completely empty. He decided that perhaps he was imagining things and so tried to ignore his unease.
However over the next few miles the sound increased and with it came the distinct feeling that he wasn't alone in the car, a sense of dread. My dad is a totally rational man but he became convinced that whatever he did he could not look in the back and so he kept driving, not even daring to look in the driver's mirror. Then he saw the welcome lights of the pub in the distance. That's when he felt something nudge the back of his seat and had the sensation that someone had just laid their hands on each side of his headrest. As my dad pulled into the pub car park he felt cold hands slowly start to slide around the front of his neck.Then, as he killed the engine, the feeling totally vanished, as did the sense of a presence in the car. Jumping out of the car my dad hurried into the pub desperate for a calming drink. As the barmaid was pouring his pint he told her what had just happened and was amazed when she told him that quite a few drivers came in claiming the same thing had happened to them. The sensation of icy hands on the neck always disappeared as soon as the car was switched off. It makes you wonder what would happen if the pub was closed and an unfortunate driver was unable to pull off the road and hurry inside.