PHANTOMS OF THE A23

Driving at night can often be scary enough, particularly down winding, unlit country roads. Just imagine encountering a vague figure suddenly drifting into the glare of your headlights. Many motorists have witnessed such unexplained phenomena. Some have even felt these apparitions pass straight through their vehicles.
There are many such roads in the U.K. that harbour ghoulish predators including Barford Bridge, Northamptonshire, The Devil’s Highway, near Bolton, Blue Bell Hill, Kent and the A23 close to Brighton, where there have been many reports of what are described as ‘spectral pedestrians’.

At Christmas time in 1976, Mr. Dave Wright and his wife Joan were journeying home to Brighton on the A23 having visited relatives in Birmingham. To their horror the car headlights suddenly picked out the vague figure of a man seemingly drifting across the road. Although they had not heard the sound of any impact they were both concerned enough to turn around and travel back down the road to investigate. They couple parked up and searched around, but could find no one. Mrs Wright later claimed how she had found the whole incident eerie and ‘felt a bit scared’. In retrospect the events of that evening took on an even more sinister tone when she discovered others had also witnessed strange figures ‘drifting across the road’, particularly by another couple only a month earlier.

A Mr Patrick Geary and his wife had seen the figure of a woman, on that same stretch of road, wearing a white mackintosh. The woman had stepped straight into the path of their car. Mr. Geary had braked hard but, like Mr and Mrs Wright, had felt no impact. It was as if the bizarre figure has passed straight through their vehicle. On stopping the car the couple looked about but could find no trace of the woman.

The local Evening Argus had reported many sightings of mysterious phantoms on a particular stretch of the A23 dating back almost a decade. These had included a figure in a red coat and a limping blonde woman near Pyecombe, thought to have been the apparition of a young woman killed in a motorcycle accident. Numerous other accounts also came to light involving the vague figure of ‘a young man in cricketing clothes’ and ‘a tall woman in a cape and hood’ accompanied by ‘the figure of a child similarly dressed’.

However, perhaps the most disturbing account of a road ghost was told to me some years ago in which the apparition actually appeared quite lifelike and actually spoke.

A motorist had been taking a scenic route home one night, down an unlit country road, when he suddenly noticed a strange glowing light up ahead. The light seemed to keep pace with his vehicle, yet the eerie glow did not resemble the tail lights of a car. The man accelerated but the weird light drew no closer. Then, quite suddenly, the dazzling light simply disappeared.

Feeing somewhat dazed the man pulled over and wound down the window in order to take some fresh air. As he did so he found himself reeling in horror at the sight of what confronted him. Literally throwing himself backwards onto the passenger seat the man sat rigid with fear. Outside of the car, glaring in at him, was the hideously mutilated face of a man. Then, in a strained and mournful voice, the loathsome creature began to speak saying, “If I exist, who am?” before fading into the darkness.

Quite understandably the man did not leave the car to investigate. Jumping back into the driver’s seat he revved up the engine and roared off. Needless to say he never again took the scenic route home.