Hitchihiking Horror Stories?

[Tyrel]

Medicine hat.
I swear that this town is impossible to hitch hike out of, for two reasons.
1 Last year (06) this 13 year old goth girl killed her parents and brothers and sisters becuase her parents wouldnt let her date some 23 year old goth guy. Due to the fact that southern alberta is just ridiculously conservative and ignorant they must think anyone with a piercing in the face is a goth and will kill there family.

2. Theres so many damn cops there one drives by you every 5 minutes, so there either gonna drive you back into town, give you a ticket, or catch the nice person whos trying ot give you a ride and give him a wonderful 2000 dollar fine just for trying to help someone out.

I tired last year and myself and my travelling partner Jordan were on the side of the road for 2 and a half days. Its much easier to hop here.

 

[venusinpisces]

Here are a few: Hitching down 95 going through N. Carolina I got picked up by this redneck who kept complaining about "interracial dating" the whole time. He was riding with his son who was talking about how to make crystal meth every time his Dad got out the car. So at one point the Dad is telling me about how his daughter had a black boyfriend and then she had a girlfriend after that, a fact he was not happy about to say the least. Then he said one time he held a gun to her head to make her "choose between niggers and Christ". I don't remember what I said but I didn't wait long to ask to get out the car. He really didn't want to let me go either--he kept asking me "are you sure honey? I just want to make sure you're all right." Yeah, you better believe I'm sure. Thankfully I had my rottie mix with me that time so I was never too worried.

That guy was creepy but the next one was worse. He was a truck driver that picked up me and my road dog somewhere in Texas and was driving with his "wife". He started off being really friendly but something was off because he had these huge bug eyes and it was all a bit much. So the second we got in the truck he started in with the bible verses right away and then I could tell he was a total psycho. As it turns out, he had just "rescued" his "wife" from a crackhouse in Baton Rouge after she had run away from him, an act he was quite angry about. He kept talking about himself like he was the messiah for "saving" her while she literally said about 3 or 4 words over the course of several hours. The guy was raging at her the whole time. No wonder she ran away--poor thing. Even though he never said or did anything explicitly violent, the whole time there was this underlying feeling that it was a potential murder suicide in the making. I felt so bad for that lady for being stuck with him.

Then he started in on us, saying we were demonically possessed, needed the light of Christ and all that. We were about ready to get out and then it started pouring outside. He stopped at a truck stop and said we could sleep in the truck. Since he had a bunk bed in the back he said and his wife could sleep on the top and we could sleep on the bottom. We really didn't want to but it was wet and cold out so we fell asleep anyway despite some serious reservations. Before the sun came up I woke up to the sensation of someone caressing my forehead while I heard the sound of him speaking in tongues. The guy was standing over me with his eyes rolled back in his head and his "wife" had just gone inside for a shower. He said he was trying to cast out a demon. I immediately jumped out of bed and got into the passenger seat. After that I was ready to brave the rainstorm and got out fast. Moral of the story: never ignore your intuition.

 

[ericafuckyea]

Was hitchhiking from Fayetteville Arkansas to New Orleans by myself afew months ago. You can already guess how fun that was. Every ride was scary. One guy picked me up somewhere in Arkansas and started driving on all these back roads and shit for no apparent reason. Kept talking about how private and isolated the land was. I told him my dad knew where I was (my dad lives in arkansas) and that I had friends waiting for me in Nola. He ended up taking me to some state park so I could use the showers, seemed pissed when there were other people at the park. This dude totally wanted to kill me, I spent the whole time watching him out the corner of my eye and plotting my escape. In the end he gave me some money and told me to call him if I was still at the spot he left me at that night. Yeah.....

Took a trucker ride out of Texarkana because a.) it was getting dark and i was alone in the middle of nowhere and b.) dude was going to baton rouge. I was reassured by the collage of family pictures on the inside of his truck. He seemed pretty nice at first, then he started telling me all about hauling acid. What kinds of acid he hauled, how much damage acid could do to say, a persons face. Then he told me that hitchhikers were crazy and couldnt be trusted, telling me stories about truckers picking up girls and them freaking out and the truckers having to throw them out of their cabs. Started telling me this story about a lady who was walking in a parkinglot and got a cup of acid thrown on her face, but it turned out she actually did it herself after investigation. This was a long ride, at one point he had to stop to get his load checked at some acid factory, and the whole time I was thinking this guys gonna fill a cup with acid, throw it in my face, and say that i was just some crazy bitch who attacked him or that i did it myself. hella scary. buuuut everything was cool in the end, i think he was just a little scared of me and paranoid about being caught with a rider.

was hitching the 101 up to portland afew years ago, again i was by myself. i'm not good at sticking with road dawgs, i tend to ditch people for no good reason, can't lie. i had just ditched these kids mikey and spoon (portland homebums) in petaluma cuz it took us EIGHT days to get there from SF. fuuuuuck no. anyways, this dude in a pickup picked me up and we're driving along. he was asking a buncha questions about traveling, he kept saying "thats killer" everytime i said something about traveling. then asked me if i got scared hitching by myself. this is always a red flag for me. i told him no, that i always carried a weapon and that i stayed in frequent contact with my family. he started telling me i was cute and he liked my freckles. then he turned off on a dirt road and said he was taking me to see his land. i told him he needed to get back on the hwy. we were already in bumfuck nowhere. he stopped his truck in the middle of the road, LOCKED BOTH DOORS, and just stared at me. we stared at each other for what felt like a fucking hour before he laughed, unlocked my door, and told me to get out of his car. Then he FOLLOWED behind me slowly in his truck until I got back on the hwy. I ran like three miles down the street until i started seeing cars. so fucking scary.

One of my first times hitchhiking, it was me and this kid marc and we were near baltimore after getting pulled off a train in lorton virginia. This fat guy in a blue cadillac picks us up. I sit in the back and marc sits up front. the dude starts asking Marc questions about me, is that your girlfriend? no, well do you guys have sex? can i spend a little time with her? moneys no problem, how much do you need? etc etc as if i have no say in the matter and he can buy me from this kid. when the dude was on the phone marc told me to keep my mouth shut and he would handle it. After about fifteen minutes of thiskind of conversation I'm about to freak out, Marc keeps saying no to the dude, and then says we need to get out of the car and for him to let us out at the next exit. The dude turned around and spoke to me for the first time saying "c'mon honey give it a try. I'll treat you like a princess if ya let me." OMFG. i literally puked on the side of the road when he let us out of the car.

figure i should probably stop hitchhiking by myself...

 

[Alaska]

Not really a horror story, just shitty and sketch as fuck.

Me and my friend were hitchin from Fairbanks, AK to Anchorage. Took us about 45 minutes to get a ride, and this guy finally stops RIGHT NEXT to a railing. So I tried my best not to ding the door. I ended tapping it a bit. Wasn't my fault, it was physically impossibly to get me and my pack in there. He pretty much raged "I SWEAR TO GOD. YOU HIT MY DOOR? YOU HIT. MY DOOR?" and was just mumbling afterwards. I apologized.

So, about 20 seconds later down the road, we realize this guy is completely fucked up. Drunk and stoned. Was guzzling beer after beer, smoking bowl after bowl. And he kept trying to make me take a hit, and every time I said "I'm okay, sir" or "No, sir".
Mostly because I was incredibly nervous, and I get into a panicy type of thing when I smoke when nervous. I wanted to pay attention to the road. But this guy was completely adamant, and I said "okay, fine" and took a few fake hits. Didn't touch the lighter to the pipe. He didn't notice, he was obliterated. Swerving left and right, left and right. No such thing as "wrong way" to this man. He ended up taking some dudes side-view off (as well as his own) and freaked shit. He raged so hard that he ended up puking on the side of the road. Everywhere. Then WE had to bring him back to his car.

As we were trying to help this man out, lo and behold, a police car comes up. I was about to shit myself. In that moment in time, I can only assume we looked like the bad stereotype we all know.

Surprisingly, the cop comes up to us (with this man in the middle of the road, looking dead) and we explained what happened. He said he understood, took the man into his car (along with the beer cans and bud) and took off.

So... we hitched more. Fucking weird ride.

 

[venusinpisces]

Here are a few stories told to me by drivers just so people can get a good idea of what they have to deal with. The first was from a trucker who I had been talking with about skeezy truck stops in Newark/Trenton. He had been briefly stopped on a side street in one of the two places (I really can't remember which but they're both just over-sized ghettos) when about a dozen thugs climbed up onto the hood and stepladders and started slamming baseball bats into the windows. So he started up the truck fast and tore out of there, crushing one of the men beneath the wheels of the truck. He said it was like driving over a big speed bump. I actually believe this because 18 wheelers are a lot more powerful than regular vehicles. He said the rest of the guys just fell off.

The next guy was a trucker too and he stopped to pick up a hitcher who appeared to be completely mute. When he climbed into the cab the driver asked "Where you headed?" No response. "You been waiting long?" Nothing. He asks a few more questions and receives no reply so they continue driving in silence for several hours. Suddenly the hitcher turns to the driver and asks "Do you like Madonna?" The driver says "sure, I guess so." (or something along those lines) So then it's like the floodgates have opened and the hitcher is suddenly very talkative, only he won't talk about anything else except Madonna. Eventually the driver drops him off and goes home to tell his son about the crazy hitchhiker who
was obsessed with Madonna. A few weeks later his son calls to tell him that some guy has been arrested for breaking into Madonna's house and going through her lingerie. So the driver does an online search and discovers, to his horror, that in fact it was his friend the hitcher!!!

So if drivers seem a little hesitant to pick us up, it may be good to keep these stories in mind. I definitely have a lot more sympathy for them now than I did before.

 

[Diagaro]

I'm waiting for that asshat that thinks that they can pull some stupid shit - worst case scenerio I can drive from a passenger seat, I'ts easy tou just kick there feet out of the way of the pedals and take controll of hte wheel. I can have my knife out and in clean through a drivers throat in less than 2 seconds . . .

 

[Traveler]

worst case scenerio I can drive from a passenger seat, I'ts easy tou just kick there feet out of the way of the pedals and take controll of hte wheel. I can have my knife out and in clean through a drivers throat in less than 2 seconds . . .

I don't hitch but yeah this is my line of thought. I would much rather take that persons life than have them take mine.

 

[ericafuckyea]

I don't hitch but yeah this is my line of thought. I would much rather take that persons life than have them take mine.

good luck proving your case in court.... killing someone in their own vehicle when they picked you up hitchhiking is gonna look pretty sketchy.

 

[venusinpisces]

good luck proving your case in court.... killing someone in their own vehicle when they picked you up hitchhiking is gonna look pretty sketchy.

Seriously. And what is with all this melodrama about throat-slashing and murder all about in the first place? Doesn't anyone realize that the number of people in this country who would straight up murder a hitchhiker with no money/resources just because they felt like it is so small that it's bordering on insignificant? Yeah, people are going to ask for sex and some will be aggressive about it. But your chances of getting picked up by Jeffrey Dahmer is pretty much nonexistent. I've been in hundreds of rides and have never had to resort to anything more than just swatting someone off me. Even my friends who have actually been raped are girls who didn't put up much of a fight. Unfortunately, if you're not assertive, people will notice that and take advantage. If you really feel unsafe then get a big protective dog, as I have stressed elsewhere. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get one even if you don't feel unsafe. Any other solution causes more problems than it's worth. And the last thing that other travelers need is a bunch of paranoid police on nation-wide alert about "hitchhiker serial killers".

 

[outskirts]

Seriously. And what is with all this melodrama about throat-slashing and murder all about in the first place? Doesn't anyone realize that the number of people in this country who would straight up murder a hitchhiker with no money/resources just because they felt like it is so small that it's bordering on insignificant? Yeah, people are going to ask for sex and some will be aggressive about it. But your chances of getting picked up by Jeffrey Dahmer is pretty much nonexistent. I've been in hundreds of rides and have never had to resort to anything more than just swatting someone off me. Even my friends who have actually been raped are girls who didn't put up much of a fight. Unfortunately, if you're not assertive, people will notice that and take advantage. If you really feel unsafe then get a big protective dog, as I have stressed elsewhere. It wouldn't be a bad idea to get one even if you don't feel unsafe. Any other solution causes more problems than it's worth. And the last thing that other travelers need is a bunch of paranoid police on nation-wide alert about "hitchhiker serial killers".

Well said!

 

[outskirts]

The most dangerous thing about hitchhiking is the same dangerous thing that you'd have to worry about
while driving your own car... Deadly Traffic Accidents! They happen every day in America. Just being in a
moving car is dangerous but billions of people do it everyday.

 

[Traveler]

good luck proving your case in court.... killing someone in their own vehicle when they picked you up hitchhiking is gonna look pretty sketchy.

Yes because thats an intelligent line of thought.... "gee I don't think I could prove it in court... I should just let this person take my last breath!"

It's nice to be a pacifist but not at the cost of your own well-being. I agree, the chances are slim. But that doesn't mean that it will never happen and that you shouldn't be prepared. Not everyone is butterflies and sunshine like you, capiche?

Not to mention I am aware of what excessive force and justifiable force are. I wouldn't use a weapon unless the other person presented one. But go ahead, keep overreacting.

 

[venusinpisces]

The most dangerous thing about hitchhiking is the same dangerous thing that you'd have to worry about
while driving your own car... Deadly Traffic Accidents! They happen every day in America. Just being in a
moving car is dangerous but billions of people do it everyday.

Yeah, actually, that is a huge risk for hitchhikers because there are so many tweeker truck drivers that pick people up just to have someone to talk to in order to stay awake, since they get paid more for shorter delivery times. And after 4 consecutive days with no sleep their motor coordination is going to be off to say the least. I mentioned this elsewhere as well, but if you want to avoid driving with people who blindly swerve across 5 lanes of traffic (been there, done that:sos then hitchhike during the day. The night is ruled by tweekers and drunks. Also, see Alaska's story above. At least have a brief sobriety check conversation before getting in the car. If someone starts screaming at you the second the door opens this probably is not a good sign. :looney:

 

[venusinpisces]

Yes because thats an intelligent line of thought.... "gee I don't think I could prove it in court... I should just let this person take my last breath!"

It's nice to be a pacifist but not at the cost of your own well-being. I agree, the chances are slim. But that doesn't mean that it will never happen and that you shouldn't be prepared. Not everyone is butterflies and sunshine like you, capiche?

Not to mention I am aware of what excessive force and justifiable force are. I wouldn't use a weapon unless the other person presented one. But go ahead, keep overreacting.

Uh, who's overreacting? You might want to go back and read the post again. Nowhere did anyone say not to defend yourself.
All she was saying is that the law will not be on your side in that situation. This is more realism than pacifism. If you think that knowing the law is going to make some conservative hayseed judge see anything but a drunk scumbag when they look at a hitchhiker then you may be in for a rude awakening. I think several of the commenters here were just trying to help people avoid that situation.

 

[Traveler]

Uh, who's overreacting? You might want to go back and read the post again. Nowhere did anyone say not to defend yourself.
All she was saying is that the law will not be on your side in that situation. This is more realism than pacifism. If you think that knowing the law is going to make some conservative hayseed judge see anything but a drunk scumbag when they look at a hitchhiker then you may be in for a rude awakening. I think several of the commenters here were just trying to help people avoid that situation.

You should do some research on forensics. The police would be able to lay out what/how shit went down(if/when). Not to mention if you didn't try to run and hide; looks bad when you aren't there and they have to hunt you down(criminals run obv.).

 

[catingeorgia]

got picked up by a tow truck driver and rode for about thirty miles. he went out of his way to help me out and seemed like a very interesting and nice guy. we chatted the whole way and got along great. had just picked up a bag so i decided to help him out with a bud out of there. i figured...hey this guys a roughneck tow truck driver and seems very cool and "hip" dx. he kind of looked at me funny when i pulled the bag out and preceded to search for a healthy bud. he said...theres something i didnt mention. puzzled i asked him what he was reffering to and he preceded to tell me how he was an off duty sherrifs officer and worked in the county he dropped me off in he was cool about it though and told me that it was ok. i know its not really a horror story but it could have ended way different seeing that i had much over 28 grams on me. i couldnt imagine what went through his head when i pulled out that big ass sack

 

[venusinpisces]

Another thing to keep in mind is that it's not exactly a great idea to go talking about how you plan to kill people in explicit detail on the internet. Because, in the unfortunate event where this actually happened, it would appear to be a premeditated act which is legally about as far away from self defense as it gets. Police do know how to use computers, people.

 

[outskirts]

Another thing to keep in mind is that it's not exactly a great idea to go talking about how you plan to kill people in explicit detail on the internet. Because, in the unfortunate event where this actually happened, it would appear to be a premeditated act which is legally about as far away from self defense as it gets. Police do know how to use computers, people.

I'm sure there's at least one or two lurker cops on here. That's why I always think good and hard about what I'm gonna type.
And I do that with any and every thread. It's a matter of probability not paranoia.

 

[outskirts]

got picked up by a tow truck driver and rode for about thirty miles. he went out of his way to help me out and seemed like a very interesting and nice guy. we chatted the whole way and got along great. had just picked up a bag so i decided to help him out with a bud out of there. i figured...hey this guys a roughneck tow truck driver and seems very cool and "hip" dx. he kind of looked at me funny when i pulled the bag out and preceded to search for a healthy bud. he said...theres something i didnt mention. puzzled i asked him what he was reffering to and he preceded to tell me how he was an off duty sherrifs officer and worked in the county he dropped me off in he was cool about it though and told me that it was ok. i know its not really a horror story but it could have ended way different seeing that i had much over 28 grams on me. i couldnt imagine what went through his head when i pulled out that big ass sack

That's fucking great!

 

[ericafuckyea]

You should do some research on forensics. The police would be able to lay out what/how shit went down(if/when). Not to mention if you didn't try to run and hide; looks bad when you aren't there and they have to hunt you down(criminals run obv.).

Yeah because the police have no reason to lie or decieve, and because the courts are a system set in place to protect us, right? butterflies and fucking sunshine, lol.
I'm gonna do my forensics research, and you can do some research on legal cases involving traveling kids and their outcome. deal? forensics don't mean shit when you add media hysteria and predjudice into the mix, or when you have grieving families screaming for your blood. one unfortunate example is the 'panhandler murder' in canada, a girl just got given a life sentence with NO forensic evidence because the courts needed someone to blame for such a high profile and politically charged murder. go to freenyki.org to read about it. what makes you think a case involving a hitchhiker would be any different? if people wont even let us use their bathrooms, if they lock their doors when we're flying signs near their cars, treat us like we're less than human... they're not going to give us the benefit of the doubt in a courtroom. Poverty and homelessness are being increasingly criminalised in the US, gentrification and the shelter system are just some of the tools they use to punish that crime. it benefits the 'powers that be' to take another street person OFF of the street.
on another note in response to your previous comment, i am anything but a pacifist and i am certainly not an idealistic person. i'm really fucking cynical and i always expect the worst from people, this has taught me to protect myself and avoid potentially dangerous situations. preventing a situation from getting out of hand should be your focus, as opposed to being a reactionary and having to do something desperate once things have gotten out of hand. being assertive and making your boundaries clear, plus using your INSTINCTS, will go a long way to keep you safe. As a female who frequently hitchhikes by herself I know this from alot of experience.