Haunted cars ......from the grave to life.

Oh sure take all the fun out of it!

 

Sounds to me like the dude driving Elvis' last ride had a pinhole in a fuel line. Damn dry rot.

 

Dude, there is always time to talk about Scooters, especially those that ran out of altitude.

I have another one that isnt really haunted, but a "WTF" kind of thing.

My dad, sometime back in the late 50s, bought a car that someone had drove out into the desert, and committed suicide in, and wasnt found for a few months. I dont remember what kind of car it was, but even though my dad was a bit superstitous, he wanted the car. (Im thinking it was an early 50s Caddy, since that was pretty much all he drove)

Anyways, he pulled the interior, sanded down the interior floor pan paint, sealed it, re painted, and put in a new interior. Twice. But he just couldnt get the smell of death out of the car. According to him, it seemed to get worse each time. Finally, he parted the car out and cut up the body. He said that as soon as the body was quartered out, you couldnt smell "that smell" any more. Dont know if the smell aged out, or was burned up by the gas axe or what. He hated to do it because apparently other than the smell, the car was near pristine...

 

The Dude wrote: "When I am working on a car that has sat for a long time. They seem to all have a bad attitude. When this happens I just talk to it and let it know that I'm just gonna fix it up and I'm not gonna hurt it. Most of the time after I let the car know what I'm up to it all goes smooth. But some cars fight ya all the way. I've owned a ton of cars, all of them with a bit of personality. One or two that I sat in and jumped the heck back out of and walked away from . I never feel alone in an old car."

GREAT post, man. I've always felt about old cars just like you said. No, never afraid for any reason. Instead, I felt a real connection to those who'd owned and drvien them in everyday life in the first place! Haunted? If so, only in a good way!
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Wouldn't say that,considering that during that time in the area they were in,hearses were routinely maintained and made to last as long as possible,and were also usually low mileage vehicles that didn't see very much abuse or hard miles.Mind you,the body style from '77 to '84 didn't change much,so this one would have been maintained especially since it was the hearse that carried Elvis.But it could have been,who knows.Don't pull a four-thirteen.

 

One time my girlfriend and I were making out on an old deserted road in my 67 Mustang when we heard a noise and she got spooked and asked me to take her home. When I got to her place and walked around the car, there was a bloody hook hanging from the door handle. The next day we heard that a one armed man with a hook for a hand had escaped from the local prison where he was locked up for murder.......

C'mon man !!! Ghosts ????? This is excellant.

 

A highschool friend and neighbor of mine , Art Trailor, started a small body shop in the Dallas area after we had graduated. He did a few limos, and a few hot rods back then. His shop truck was a 46 Ford panel truck with Art's Body Shop painted on each side. Some years later, he was married to a girl from Oklahoma, and everything seemed to be going his way. Soon they had some troubles, and he chased after her back to her home state. Obviously they had more than just regular troubles, because Art hung himself over the breakup. His parents later sold the panel truck to a plumbing company and the new owners had it repainted white. Within a few weeks, the old lettering became more and more visible, almost as if somone had washed the new paint away from that logo. The company took the truck back to the paint shop, and had the sides stripped to the metal, and repainted to finally get rid of the previous owner's artwork. Or so they thought, about a month later, the lettering mysteriously appeared once again. It appeared to look as if it was rust stained, or that the pigment in the white paint had just changed color in the lettered areas. I talked to the two plumbers that used the truck, and they said they were always freaked out when weird stuff would continually happen for no apparent reason. One Friday they were sitting on the hood eating a burger and drinking a few beers at Keller's, when unexplicably the truck started up on its own. Other times, tools and personal items would come up missing, only to be found later in some obscure location. The Plumbing company ended up getting rid of the truck as most of the hands had either heard the stories, or had personal experiences with the mischievious antics surrounding the ghost ride. Last time I ever saw it, it was parked in a wrecking yard outside of Wylie. You could still see tha lettering 'ol Art had painted on the sides...

 

When my favorite uncle unexpectedly passed away I was asked to be one of the pall bearers at his funeral. After the church ceremony we loaded his casket in the hearse and somehow there wasn't enough room for me in the funeral car. So the driver of the hearse said he had a seat open in his car. I rode from the church to the cemetary with my favorite uncle. Somehow the driver asked about my uncle and I told him about my uncle's life story and about how great a guy he truely was, while teary eyed the whole trip. Months later I recieved an un-expected inheritance from my uncle's estate. I think he was listening the whole trip from the church to the cemetary. Still miss him.

 

I don't know if it's HAUNTED, but my '85 Elky definately does not want to be a driver.

I bought the car in Georgia, from a father whose son had abused it. The drivers door would not open, the car would move in reverse only, broken windshield, several small dents, etc. I bought it as a parts car for the '78 I was building. Turns out the body was nicer than the '78 so I sold that one and worked on the '85.

It has soundly resisted all efforts to run:
1. The tale of the windshield
I went to swap out the windshield between the 85 and the '78. It has a crack in it about 6" long. Useable for a driver so I was gonna swap it with the one in the '78.
As I lifted the windshield out the crack zinged across the window and treed out making it unusable. So I bought a new one. The new one was stored in our sun room where no one EVER went. My wife went out there to see what a noise was and tripped over it, falling directly on it and shattering it. Windshield #3 was installed the day it arrived. HOWEVER, it is sunken in too far to allow the trim to be put on, so it will need to come back out again and re-set.

2. The tail of the tailgates
I took out all the dents in the rear quarter and the tailgate. Cleaned up real nicely. I went to retreive my car trailer from storace with it and it popped the hitch off the ball. The chains held, butit beat the snot out of the tailgate. I bought a nice tailgate
at a local swap to replace it. After fitting i find tha the second tailgate is now splitting its welds. Alergic reaction, perhaps?

3. The tale of the motor
I took the very tired 305 out of the car and as part of the exchange in getting rid of the '78 the guy was going to rebuild a 350 for m. My parts his labor. That motor ran for 1280 miles and was knocking. We pulled the motor and swapped it for another I was planning to put in my '50 PU. In the final assembly, the oil pump rod was not put in. We caught the mistake when the engine would not pump oil with a modified distributor was turned with a drill. OK, no worries. We open the pan, pull the oil pump, and insert rod, button everything up. Oil Pressure occurs. Engine starts. I drive to inspection place and oil is pouring out froom wherethe front oil pan gasket should have been. Go home and pull pan. Front gasket is inside the pan. Install ONE PIECE gasket to prevent re-occurance. Attempt restart. Car makes a scrhill wistle when starting up. Loud and high pitched. Like pulling a rusty nail from a 2x4. After much looking and checking we found the Carb was loose and the whistle was the gaskets and the sealing plate vibrating.
4. The tale of the doors
The driver door would not open. Not for love nor money or force. With 3 people we were able to lift, unlatch and push all at the same time and open the door. The door hindge was shot the latch was worn thru so that the door was impossible to open. I have changed the hindge pins twice, replaced the latch with an NOS one and the door still sags after opening 3-4 times.
The door handle has broken and been replaced 4 times.
The electric windows won't work without a seperate ground strap.
5. And last if not least the tail of the wiring.
The electricals in the car refuse to cooperate. I have swapped dash pods, dash curciut boards, senders, and done hard wiring of the guages and they still do not operate. When hooked up the speedo sings like an Italian tenor. The tach refuses to budge. The clock ticks loudly but the hands don't move (2 different ones!)

Oh, and I rattle canned the dings a bit with white paint to stop n further rust till I can get it painted properly. The "new" paint is now a dull yellow puke color.

I am coming to the opinion tha the car DOESN'T want to move and would prefer to saty home and rest..

 

Shame you forgot about the UFO and the Aliens which took you off for a few hours! That is very frightening.

 

I'm with the Germans on this one...It's all in your head!

 

I could give a shit less whether its real or not...these are still cool stories, keep em coming!

 

Best...thread...EVAR.

 

So I can't say I don't believe in ghosts but as far as haunted cars go I'm not so sure. I do have a couple fun coincidence stories though.

Story 1: Not so much a haunted car as a jealous one.

When my girl and I first got together I told her flat out that she was gonna have to get used to being the other woman because Dorothy (My 53 Mercury) is always the first in my heart. She pouted a little but laughed it off.

So we're driving home from a local show one day a few months back and she slides across the bench up next to me and kisses me on the cheek. So I look over and get a cutesy little "I love you" out of her and VOILA both my strombergs flood out and my engine dies. I end up stranded in the middle of a very busy road for about half an hour of tinkering and yelling at my engine and then apoligizing and telling her that the girlfriend means nothing and she is the one for me.

To this day she sits far away on the other side of the bench and tends to give my dashboard angry looks.

Story 2: A haunted shop.
This is one of a lot of stories about weird things that happen in my shop back home every now and then. We've had rolls of tape fly across the room and all kinds of seeing things "just out of the corner of your eye" in there. This would be a story about how my brother has learned to use our haunted shop to his advantage.

I've been doing the blessing of the cars up here in Seattle for quite a few years now and this story starts as I'm getting ready to leave the first time. I pull out of my spot and drop the clutch a lot more violently than I mean to and burn a little bit off my rear tires. Hit a speed bump and instantly my shocks drop and lock down and the spiders in my rear end more or less explode.
So we get her home and Marty and I are working on taking the rear end apart. Now I've never done this before so I'm poking around and making sure I understand whats going on.
Well we're listening to the local AM rockabilly station which is always a little fuzzy (it's AM, but I like it) and we're both wedged under the car and we're trying to break loose the pumpkin after we've taken the bolts out. We jiggle it, nothing. We bang on it with our hands, nothing. So Marty decides to go at it like a cave man and start smacking it with things.
First he picks up a tack hammer, swings back and the radio statics out so bad it hurts your ears. He looks at me and laughs saying "Guess thats the wrong hammer."
Second he goes for a pry bar, wedges it in and reams on it, no movement, he picks up the hammer again to hit the bar and again the radio fuzzes out. This goes on about 4 different times until I go grab the rubber mallet and it and as Marty lifts it up the radio reception gets clearer, he smacks the housing and it falls off like it was never stuck.

Now I know you can say that it may have been just bad radio reception, or you can say that the metal tools were doing something to screw with the signal.
You can say that all the different things we were using loosened up the rear end but I can tell you the two of us know different.

 

2ndChance, your story is very touching. I very much believe in the human spirit, and I don't think the spirit "dies" with the mortal body. So, every dear relative I have lost -- sure -- I MISS them, but I still feel they are with me in spirit. And I feel I'll see them again. Really, as long as osmebody is fondly REMEMBERED, do they ever really die? I don't think so. Enjoyed your post!

 

I am still enjoying this thread... Whether or not you choose to believe in haunted cars, ghosts, spirits from beyond, or UFOs, there's no denying that this is subject matter that makes for an enjoyable read... I once did an extensive interview with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits where he went in depth with me regarding his strong belief in UFOs, so there's no shame in being a gearhead with an open mind... Cars have their own personalities, they can be fickle and temperamental just like people, so who's to deny them the right to also possess a bit of spirit as well?... I will continue to follow this thread when my schedule permits, it's fun to entertain the idea that our vehicles have some kind of "paranormal" capabilities, isn't it?-- I guess Stephen King sure thought so when he wrote his blockbuster novel titled "Christine"... "The Doc" (Celebrity Drag Racing Authority & Visionary)...

 

I can't tolerate closed minds,,because I had a Black Triangle come to within 300 feet of me in 2002. It was Candy Corn shaped and was anti gravity. I was so shook up I filed a report after seeing it.Look up "Slow moving ufo over bigelow".We saw it several more times I got it for a few seconds on Sony Hi8. It would stop turn like your neck turns and travel as slow as you jog.Look up TR 3B. Youtube also.

 

I have one about an AIR CLEANER that was going through a group of friends of mine. I bought it off the 'auction' site, a really rare piece that I had been looking for for quite some time. At the same time I was building a pretty mean street engine and it was running phenomenal. I got the cleaner to my house and put it on the car, 2 weeks later while cruising down the highway, one of the intake valve stems let go, vent through the pistons and killed the engine.

I sold the cleaner to a friend of mine who was finishing up a restoration on his car, he installed it and 2 weeks later he was run off the road and sideswiped a guard rail, creating enough damage to total the car, nothing of it to worry about still...

He GAVE it to another friend of ours, as he was driving his car in the winter, he hit some sand they used to treat icy roads with and flipped end over end off a 10ft embankment and DESTROYED his car, NOTHING was salvageable, but somehow the air cleaner was intact and untouched even though the impact was so hard the engine was split...again the cleaner was sold off to another friend...

He put it in his car and one night while driving some backroads, his brakes went out and he went head on into a guard rail and totaled the car... now the air cleaner was sold out of state and we have no idea where it is today

None of these problems ever happened to any of us prior to installing that damn air cleaner and to this day every one of us believe it was cursed

 

Diana de Doc, I surely have enjoyed your posts on the HAMB-net. I agree with you. Whether people want to believe in the paranormal, heck, it's still entertaining!

Life was so mundane in the Dark Ages & the Middle Ages, people dreamed up stimulating stuff (werewoves, vampires, zombies?) 'cause there was no TV, television or a movie screen. Of course, I am being a little facetious and humorous. THIS is the stuff of Lovecraft to Stephen King -- it's entertainment, and the inclination is timeless! That's what human beings are about: Life can be hum-drum, SO it's enticing to go along with some old wives tales OR see your own UFO phenomena, etc.

Still, I'm part Cherokee, and I believe in the spirits innate in wild animals, sky, water, even rocks -- so WHY NOT things that man/woman themselves have created (cars), especially if removed by a few generations? Hard to resist that feeling when you walk into an old, abandoned house OR sit in a dusty old car seat, isn't it? Scully & Muldar!

Do I myself think HAUNTING is possible? Well, only from the standpoint that human beings have IMAGINATION and, seemingly, always want to make something strange out of ordinary things.

Nevertheless, when I walk into and old house or sit in the dusty car seat, I feel I am in the company of those who were THERE before. And AS "The Dude" said in this thread, some poor old cars are SO far gone into the earth that it just FEELS right to leave them right where they are, being reclaimed, year by year, by Mother Nature.

 

Although not haunted, after high school I bought a 71 Satellite Sebring. Did the usual tune up stuff as it had beed sitting for sometime (this was late 90's). First time I drove that thing to work I had the weirdest de-ja-vue going all the way there. I had that feeling before but never that strong. Apparently I have been here before.

 

I should preface this by saying I'm a fairly logical guy, but I saw a ghost when I was about six years old, and no one will ever be able to convince me otherwise. It walked in through one wall of my bedroom, turned and looked at me, and continued walking through the closed doors of my closet. It was just too real.

I bought a 1940 Dodge Coupe project car months ago, it must have been some previous hot rodder's car that he had gotten in over his head, it sat for years and years until I saw it advertised as "parts" on Craigslist. I knew I could bring it back to life, as it had 95% of the sheetmetal and all the glass, and was a neat looking car to boot, so I bought the whole thing.

Well, I'm one of those guys who likes to mock stuff up. After I got it I was extracting broken bolts and tapping threads, then bolting parts back onto it. I've done this kind of work, and this time it just felt "too easy", like someone else was helping me or guiding my hands as I worked.

Later, while out of the garage somewhere that my girlfriend told me she got some kind of vibe or uneasy feeling from the car. She even asked me not to mention what she said around the car.

I also don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but one time about a month into own the car a Model A cowl band randomly fell off the garage wall, would have hit her if I wasn't there to catch it. It wasn't something I'd recently moved or touched either, it had been hanging there for months.

I'll have to see if anything else happens as I continue to put it back together.

There's been evenings too where I've been 100% sober out in the garage and you get those black shadows that dart around in your peripheral vision. You know you see it, you see it dart behind the Model A or underneath the engine stand, but when you look at it directly, there is nothing. It has bizarre timing, too, because for weeks and weeks there are none, and then occasionally there are random nights were there are many.

My garage is full of old artifacts and cars, so I wouldn't be surprised if there was some energy still attached to some of this stuff.

 

that gave me goose bumps. I finally got some lights up in my garage and have been out working on my 56 the last few nights. I know what you mean about those dark shadows you see. I keep seeing something and look up expecting to see my wife or one of my neighbors and no one is there.

 

ok here is one from my sister...nothing to do with the car but it happened in a car..

my sister was driving home alone late after work, shes coming down a gravel road just a few miles from home when she hears a quiet voice from the back seat say "Penny slow down" she's thinks she is hearing things and keeps driving when it happens again...only a little louder "Penny slow down"...Now she's freaked out but keeps driving when the voice yells "Penny stop the car"....She pulls to the side of the road just as a couple cars come flying over the hill side by side apparently racing eachother. If she hadnt pulled over there would have been a head on collision. Sounds like a bullshit story...but she swears to it...

 

Not much of a ghost story but it gave me the chills.
my 1954 belair didnt have a radio when i bought it so i was looking for a stock radio to cover up the holw in my dash. i was in mexico going to visit my grandparents and drove by a junkyard. i noticed a 1955 buick special that had a been in a real bad wreck sitting in the junkyard. it looked like a fairly new restoration too. so i went to see if i could get any parts off it. the junk yard ower said that they got the car a few days ago and i could take what ever i wanted off it. the front end was completly trashed fram damage and all. in mexico the cars that go to the junkyard dont get cleaned out so there was still bloodstains in the seat and hair on the steering wheel from the person that wreaked it. it had the original radio so i took it to put in my 54 chevy. when i opened the glove box this was a picture that was dated 6 months old of a man in front of an auto bodyshop with the freshly painted buick i was sitting in. it gave me chills.

 

I could tell 3 or 4 weird stories.
About 7 years ago I was grinding clean a donor patch panel in my small shop. I started from one side and was working it evenly to the other side when I felt a few pats on my back to get my attention and then just a hand resting on my shoulder like my wife or kids would do.
I said out loud "Just a minute, I'm almost done",,when I got it all shiney seconds later there was no one there. I'll never forget that,,it really scared me. I walked to the house and was wondering what it was. Other times I would plainly hear my name and answer,,but no one's there and the doors are locked.

 

My older brother was a true car guy. Among other things he raced a 30's Ford on dirt tracks in the early 1960's in central Pa. He was a body man and very good at it. In the late 70's he changed careers and got started in construction. Eventually he leveraged all he owned to buy a farm to develop it into single family home lots. On July 4, 1981 he was using a tractor with a front bucket to move a large tree limb that had broken off in a storm near the farmhouse I had helped him rebuild into his home. He was backing up a slight hill with the bucket raised with a chain around the tree limb, and the tractor tipped and it fell on him and killed him. He was only 35 and he was such a great brother, it pains me even now to think about how hard our family hurt when we lost him. In 2006, I took my wife and daughter back to central Pa. to visit and show them around. On July 4 we made a trip to the very rural cemetery where he’s buried. It’s a long ride up a winding country road. As we began to make the final turn before we saw the cemetery, a small bear ran across the road and back into the tree line. First live bear I've ever seen. My name’s Barry and my brother sometimes called me “Bear”. Coincidence or not, I like to think he was saying hi…

 

in 2006 I bought a 1987 S10 short bed reg cab No options at all..spent 400 bucks on the truck from a guy watching the ravens game in a local bar..Needed a windshield and muffler..Replaced them and drove the crap out of the little truck for about a year. I could Tell the Iron duke and 4spd were getting tired, however it never gave me shit. I sold the truck to a buddy of mine for 400 bucks, A week later the tailgate fell off, Not a big deal, almost 4 days later the rear brakes gave out. Then the front caliper locked up. Besides small cosmetic issues (cracked grill,busted side window smashed drivers door) he hadnt had any issues. about 3 months later the motor mount snapps smashing the distributor and killing the motor. We spent hours upon hours rebuilding the whole truck (sbc,fuel cell,body work,rims&tires, suspension,wiring,gauges) We spent a good 2 years rebuilding this truck. He drove the truck maybe 10 times in the period of 3 months after that with minor issues. June 26th Joey(owner) rolled his daily driver and was killed at the age of 20. His birthday was September 15th so i decided to drive it to the cemetary to see him. A normally 15 min drive took me atleast an hour and 45 mins.Serp belt popped off 3 times. truck died 6 times. I got there to see the Weld pro stars on the rear had 2 lugs holding them on. Now it refuses to start. My buddy joey was really secretive about what all was done to the motor and would never let anyone drive the truck. I sware he was pissed off i was driving it thats why the truck gave me so much shit.

 

i have a story not a scary one but i could say i had a jelous car i use to have a 1965 ford custom 500 was my first car other then having old trucks when i first got her she was sitting in a body shop she belong to an oldman who never really payed much attention to it i got it drove it home no problems it was almost as if the car wanted to just die i gave it a good tune up new tires brakes started do body work and painted her satin black droped her the works the car ran perfect never over heated or nothing then my wife would ride with me and for some reason everytime me and her would get in a fight its almost as if the car could sense it she would get out of the car and the door would hit her or scratch her or other parts of the car would end up hurting her some how or when i would act dumb with the car(leave it out in the rain) she would act up on me the alternator would die the starter would act weird just random things but once i started sweet talking the car it was as if i had a brand spanking new motor lol its wierd how cars are and trucks

 

Dudes & dudettes, I will never make fun of this stuff. Yeah, some stories may seem far-fetched. OK. Yeah.

But as regards old houses, cars, etc., I honestly feel a kinship with the previous owners of the "item" (as they would say on eBay! LOL). I really don't give a hoot in hell whether anybody thinks I am nuts. I have walked through old junk yards in the later '60s and early '70s that were still full of a few '20s cars, plus plenty of '30s to early '60s cars.

I felt the presence (and a reverence) for those who built and owned/drove the cars -- not to mention, those split windshields always seemed to be LOOKING outward, as if asking for -- what? -- a break? just to be remembered? I don't know. Sort of reminded me of those monoliths on Easter Island, just staring at the sky.

I'm not Rod Serling, and I am NOT into modern DRAMA!!!!!!!!!!! All I do know is that they served their owners well. And I walked through auto junkyards the same way I still walk TODAY through a human "grave yard."

I am not a spiritualist (like Doyle & thta crowd after World War I), no. But I am spiritual, yes.

 

Y'all got me started... so I have to tell the story of Christang... Christang was a black 68 Mustang Fastback w/ red interior. My favorite color combo... but she was possessed. No doubt about it. I bought it through the original owner's family. She had given it to her grandson who in turn pryed the horse out of the steering wheel in liue of a marijauna leaf button... Grandma loved this ... and after junior got into someone who visited the Stang w/ a baseball bat, she took the car back and had the father sell her. This is where I came in... Car had all the windows knocked out and a hefty battle scar across the trunk lid, but all easily fixed. I got a great deal on her... but the first queue to the troubles that were about to come was when the water pump failed and she spit the fan blade eerily through the hood... no warning... just a quick squeal and a bang... followed by that always endearing plume of steam to let you know you no longer have a radiator as well... Kind-a wild seeing the fan blades sticking through the hood... So repair it again and off and running... Next neat event is replacing the front turn signal bulb. I am laying across the driveway in front of the car... Keys in my pocket... I push the new bulb in and turn it... and the car starts up... All I could visualize was Christine putting herself in gear and my @$$ getting flat Stanley'd in the driveway! My neighbor who witnessed this is laughing hysterically, until I pulled the keys out of my pocket and Christang was still running... Next up... the Toyota truck purchase. It was winter and I bought a Toyota 4X4 from a friend to run through the winter so Christang wouldn't have to do salt duty. I went to my buddy's house to pick up the Toyota. He has 5 acres and a horse barn etc, so I asked if Christang could stay for a few days 'til I could get back to get her... My buddy agrees and we put Christang in the barn. 2 nights later I get a phone call at 2:00 in the a.m. to come get Christang and get her out of there NOW! She started herself again, and w/ no keys in it. Freaked my buddy out bad... He almost shot her LOL! Christang has been passed on to a couple more owners and I have now lost track of her... but she freaked me out a few times. She would run fine... go to pull onto the highway and be merging and she would die... But only when a semi was barrelling down on you at breakneck speed... She would always re-fire and run like a stripe @$$ed ape... Never could find the problems though I know they were electrical and probably ground related... but it would only do this stuff at the most in-opportune times!

I firmly believe that cars have personalities. This is good stuff