NAME.....Backseat Hitchhiker
CODE.....HR4701
ORIGIN...1967, USA
STATUS...False

Example A

As a girl is driving back home along a dark country lane after a night out with the girls in Bracknell, Berkshire (England), she comes across a dog lying in the middle of the road. Being a fond animal lover, she immediately stops and dashes over to the dog to see if it is dead or just injured. After approaching the dog, the headlights of a car appear in the distance behind her. After a quick examination of the dog she realises it is dead and moves the body to the side of the road.

By now the approaching car is near, so she rushes back to her car and pulls away swiftly. As soon as she does this, the car behind accelerates right up behind her. The girl looks in her rear view mirror to see the man driving making hand gestures of some kind at her. He then starts beeping his horn and continuously flashing his lights. By now the girl is petrified and accelerates even more to try and shake off the nutter. The pursuer keeps up. Still flashing his lights and beeping his horn.

This pursuit carries on for another couple of miles before the girl finally reaches home, and speedily pulls up onto her drive. She immediately rushes into her house; double locks the door and rushes to the window. The man who had pursued her was now running up her drive. He reaches her car just as another man is climbing out from the back seat. The pursuer grapples the man to the floor and calls for the girl to call the police. The police promptly arrive and arrest the man who had climbed out from the backseat of her car.

Later, the man in the pursuing car told the police that he had spotted a man climb into the backseat of the girl's car when she had been attending to the dead dog. He had followed her frantically trying to catch her attention. Every time he saw the mans head bob up from the backseat, he beeped his horn and flashed his lights to put him off. The man from the backseat has now been taken back to the jail he escaped from, serving a sentence for murder.

Example B

It was a dark and foggy night. This girl was having trouble staying awake and the road was slick. Her Anxiety level was not helped by the fact that she was running low on petrol and didn't know where the next town was. Finally, just as she thought she would have to pull over and sleep till morning on the side of the road, she saw a run down petrol station and pulled in. The petrol attendant approached the car but seemed distracted when she asked him to fill her car up. As the attendant was filling the car with petrol he kept looking over at the girl in a way that gave her the creeps and made her feel increasingly vulnerable. After the attendant had finished, the girl handed over all money she had, which happened to be the exact money for payment. The attendant told her it was not enough and she would have to step into his office. The girl felt incredibly scared and worried as she followed him into the small office, as she knew that the amount she had given him was correct. As soon as she stepped into the office the attendant slammed the door shut behind her, and she felt like she was going to scream. The attendant hurriedly explained that he had to drag her away from the vehicle as he had observed a man crouching down in her back seat, and didn't want the man to realise that he had been spotted.

The attendant called the police who promptly arrived and arrested the man. The girl later found out that the man was a wanted serial killer, and had stowed away in her car waiting for the right moment to pounce.

Summary

I first heard 'Example A' when I was very young, and this UL has been doing the rounds in one format or another for many years. It is believed that the legend first entered the scene in 1967, becoming one of the most popular horror stories of that period. Although versions do vary, the core elements of this UL remain the same; the intended victim is always female and always misreads the intentions of the male rescuer. The rescuer is always astute, either luring the female away from danger, or beeping his horn and flashing his lights every time the madman pops up from the backseat, forcing him back into hiding. The stranger in the backseat is always male, and either a lone madman/serial killer, or part of a gang initiation. His intentions are rarely clearly defined, and you are left to draw your own conclusions.

Final Thoughts

Although it is popular belief that there are grains of truth in this UL, I believe that it was originally told as a warning to lone females to be vigilant when travelling at night. It is also a story of stereotyping, with the lone female always jumping to the wrong conclusion about the rescuer's intentions. Not realising the real danger was much closer than she thought.