The Vanishing Hitchhiker

The book that launched America's urban legend obsession! The Vanishing Hitchhiker was Professor Brunvand's first popular book on urban legends, and it remains a classic. The culmination of twenty years of collection and research, this book is a must-have for urban legend lovers.

"I still remember the day as though it just happened today," said Bill Withers. "I was traveling down Old Hatchet Trail road after midnight when this beautiful woman with golden long blonde hair was standing all alone on the side of the road. It was starting to rain and I just couldn't leave her there in the black of night. I just couldn't, so I stopped my car beside her rolled down the front passenger window, and said "Please get in out of the rain and I'll take you home." The beautiful woman stepped inside his car and Bill was happy to help her out, but this woman he was giving a ride to wouldn't be around long enough for him to give her much comfort.

Vanishing Hitchhiker in the Urban Legends: Don't Read Alone! series explores the creepy story of the vanishing hitchhiker legend--from history to speculation to scientific explanation. This book is written with a high interest level to appeal to a more mature audience and a lower level of complexity with clear visuals to help struggling readers along. Considerate text includes wild facts (almost too strange to believe!) hold the readers' interest. A table of contents, glossary with simplified pronunciations, and index all enhance vocabulary and comprehension.

All over the world, motorists report giving lifts to hitch-hikers who then vanish ghostlike into thin air. Phantom Hitch-Hikers, as these insubstantial passengers are called, have become classified as an urban legend and have been related to historical tales of supernatural traveling companions. But is there more to such stories than picturesque folklore? Are there genuine paranormal experiences behind the reports? Goss explores the meaning and causes of this phenomenon. In terms of purpose and behavior, the Phantom Hitch-Hiker of urban folklore is a thoroughly conventional ghost: one who matches popular expectations of what a ghost is, what it does, and why. He or she is the spirit of a deceased person, the victim of a tragic accident, which resulted in the premature termination of earthly existence. It would appear that these “ghosts” are motivated by, especially on the anniversaries of their unfortunate accidents, a desire to complete their unfinished homeward journeys. It would also appear that they do not know that they are dead. This is the most comprehensive study of a peculiar phenomenon that has mystified students of the paranormal for centuries. Goss’ study will entertain and inform anyone who enjoys a good ghost story and anyone who is interested in understanding the mysterious and unexplained.

From the master folklorist and sly wit, Jan Brunvand, comes a collection of all-new urban legends. Did your cousin's wife's dentist's daughter go to the tanning parlor once too often and had her insides cooked? Has your husband's brother's nephew teacher try to make a dead rabbit look alive? If so, you've heard—or you yourself may have told—two of the seventy-plus legends in this collection. Urban legends are "those bizarre but believable stories about batter-fried rats, spiders in hairdos, Cabbage Patch dolls that get funerals, and the like that pass by word of mouth as being the gospel truth." But of course, though often told as having happened to a FOAF (friend of a friend), they aren't true. Included in this collection are legends about sex, horror, cars, business, and academia. Among them are "The Bible Student's Exam," "The Pregnant Shoplifter," "The Ice Cream Cone Caper," "Don't Mess with Texas," and "Mrs. Fields' Cookie Recipe."

The book that launched America's urban legend obsession! THE VANISHING HITCHHIKER was Professor Brunvand's first popular book on urban legends, and it remains a classic. The culmination of twenty years of collection and research, this book is a must-have for urban legend lovers.