Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:06] I'm Ben and welcome to the show where you and I gather around this campfire to hear some of our fellow campers scariest experiences. Whether you're a new camper or returning one, I'm glad you're here.
[00:00:19] Tonight's story was sent in by a camper named Joanna and it was about a hitchhiker she she encountered.
[00:00:27] Now, without further ado, do you want to hear Ghost Story?
[00:00:33] Back in the mid-2000s, I was working the swing shift at a fulfillment center in Orange County.
[00:00:39] It was right where 91 and 55 meet. My job was basically stuffing shirts into plastic shipping bags for eight hours a day. By the time 11 o' clock rolled around, my eyes were shot from squinting at packing slips.
[00:00:54] At the time, I was living in Chino. It should have been a quick trip, but anyone who lives out here knows the 91 freeway is basically a parking lot 24 7.
[00:01:06] Even at midnight you can look out and see nothing but a sea of red brake lights. It's frustrating when all you want to do is get home and get in bed.
[00:01:16] On the bad nights, I'd try to outsmart traffic.
[00:01:20] The second I saw cars slow down, I'd bail off the freeway and hunt for shortcuts through the back streets. On a good night, it saved me 20 minutes or so, but on bad nights, everyone else had the same idea. I'd just end up stuck creeping along a side street instead of a freeway.
[00:01:40] On one night in September, the power went out across the entire area.
[00:01:44] The warehouse went completely dark.
[00:01:47] Quiet.
[00:01:48] We had a rule at work that if the power went out for more than 30 minutes, we were allowed to leave.
[00:01:54] And around 9 o' clock that night they sent us all home.
[00:01:58] I was thrilled that I was getting off early, but as soon as I got in my car and turned on the radio, I heard that there was an eight car crash.
[00:02:07] I was bound to keep the freeway closed for hours.
[00:02:10] To get back home, I would need to avoid the freeway and navigate my way home in the dark.
[00:02:17] Now normally when there's a crash like this, the side roads are also jammed as well as the freeway. But for some reason, maybe the blackout. I don't know.
[00:02:26] The side streets were like a ghost town.
[00:02:28] I drove for blocks without seeing a single pair of headlights in front of me.
[00:02:32] I kept fiddling with the radio trying to find an update on the power.
[00:02:37] Luckily, it sounded like the outage was just in north Orange county, so at least I knew when I got home I would have power. I eventually hit the intersection of Weir Canyon and Santa Ana Canyon Road.
[00:02:50] It's a large junction that overlooks the 91 Freeway. My plan was to hop on the freeway and bypass the mess.
[00:02:58] But as I looked at the red light, I noticed police cruisers on the on ramp, keeping anyone from entering.
[00:03:05] At this point, I didn't have a choice.
[00:03:07] I had to stay on Santa Ana Canyon Road.
[00:03:11] For those unfamiliar with this road, it's a jagged two lane stretch of road that's basically carved right into the side of a mountain.
[00:03:19] The left side parallels the freeway on the right, it's just a sheer wall of rock. There's really nothing out there except for one steep road that leads up to a church hidden in the hills.
[00:03:33] It's the kind of road that if your car broke down, it would be a long time before anyone found you to help.
[00:03:40] Just being outside your car there was a death wish.
[00:03:44] Locals loved to fly down the road, treating the narrow lanes like a racetrack even in the middle of the day.
[00:03:51] In between that and the current state of the blackout, you didn't really want to be standing on the side of the road.
[00:03:58] But the worst part about it being two lanes was always the headlights. Cars coming at you were always blinding. I really hated driving at night in the first place, and this was the last place I wanted to be.
[00:04:11] But the only other option I had was to turn back around and take 55 all the way, which would have added another hour to my drive. So I took a deep breath and kept driving.
[00:04:23] By this time, a thick fog had started rolling in through the canyon.
[00:04:28] That heavy Orange county fog that leaves a layer of moisture on everything.
[00:04:34] Usually one wipe of your wipers clears it right up. But that night it was unusually dense.
[00:04:41] I was split between messing with my defroster and trying to keep my eyes on the road.
[00:04:47] That's when I saw him.
[00:04:49] A man walking along the shoulder of the road with his thumb out. I only saw him for a split second as I passed by, but a few things stood out. He was wearing a red and black plaid shirt tied around his waist and was carrying a can of gas.
[00:05:08] I started thinking about my favorite movies in an attempt to distract myself from the creepy vibes of the road.
[00:05:16] But about a quarter mile later, I came upon the hitchhiker again.
[00:05:21] He was walking on the side of the road with his thumb out for a second. I panicked. Had I accidentally turned around?
[00:05:30] Was I driving in a circle?
[00:05:32] There was no way it could be the same guy again. There was no way he could get ahead of me.
[00:05:38] I kept my eyes on him in the rearview mirror. This time as I passed.
[00:05:42] But then my radio glitched, cutting from my station to some loud static filled broadcast.
[00:05:50] I looked down to fix the dial, but when I looked back up at the mirror at the road behind me, the hitchhiker was gone. No plaid shirt, no can of gas.
[00:06:00] My car finally rolled to a stop by the end of the canyon, right where the road meets the freeway on ramp.
[00:06:08] Thankfully, this on ramp wasn't blocked, but as I started to accelerate, there he was, standing on the right side of the mouth of the on ramp, thumb out, gas in hand, flannel tied around his waist.
[00:06:24] I don't know what came over me, maybe it was just the exhaustion, but I ignored the voice in my head telling me to keep driving and pulled over. I rolled the window down and asked if he needed a lift, but there was nobody there.
[00:06:38] I actually got out of my car to look around.
[00:06:41] I walked over to the shoulder of the road, stepping onto the dirt, looking to see if maybe he was hiding in a culvert when I tripped on something.
[00:06:51] When I looked down, I realized I'd stumbled into a makeshift wooden cross, half buried.
[00:06:57] Scratched into the center of the wood was a single greg and attached to the cross was a photo of a man in a black and red flannel.
[00:07:09] I hurried back into my car and didn't slow down until I got home.
[00:07:15] Thank you Joanna for allowing me to share your story.
[00:07:19] I really liked this one. I don't know if it's because I have the movie the Passenger on my head or what, but there's just something about driving and seeing the same person on the side of the road over and over again that drives me personally crazy.
[00:07:35] And with that, I have no show announcements this week, but to everyone listening, if you would like to support the show, gain access to our monthly bonus episodes and get early access to show episodes, head over to patreon.com do you want to hear Ghost Story?
[00:07:49] But as always, I am just glad to have you all as campers on this journey. Please keep sharing the show with anyone you think might like these stories or someone you're just trying to scare. If you're enjoying the show, please leave a review.
[00:08:03] I would love to hear from you. Until next time,
