The following legend, which I heard first on Midnight Broadcast, comes courtesy of Fringe Paranormal.
The legend of the Elmore Rider is quite familiar to the residents of this town. Every year on March 21, the alleged anniversary of the motorcyclist’s death, residents and visitors from outlying areas converge at one of several bridges hoping to catch a glimpse of the headless rider. The story is simple yet intriguing and has been around for at least forty years.
Our story begins during the war as a soldier dreams of returning to the arms of his sweetheart. As he serves his country his thoughts linger on his beautiful love waiting for him back home. Finally, the day comes when he receives his discharge papers. Soon he will kiss his beloved and together they will make plans for a family and live out the rest of their days in happiness. Alighting from his ship to the mainland he mounts his motorcycle and starts his drive home. On the way home his thoughts again turn to the woman waiting for him. Approaching her house he notices two people engaged in an intimate kiss. He smiles, knowing the love that the two must surely share for each other. But his smile quickly fades as he nears the couple, for he knows the female quite well. It is his betrothed! Unable to think or to speak he violently turns a corner on a dirt road leading away from the couple. His mind full of confusion and anger he races down the road at blinding speed oblivious to any danger. He does not know what is happening around him, he is lost in the torture of his betrayal. He hears an agonized scream and realizes it is coming from his own mouth. Rain starts to fall making the narrow road even more treacherous. Then suddenly there is a curve ahead and beyond that a narrow bridge. Speeding over the bridge our anguished rider loses control and is killed as his bike falls into the deep ravine below the bridge. Later the authorities find his mangled body lying lifeless. A short distance away they find something else…..his decapitated head.
Whatever the truth of that story, local lore has it that driving to the spot and flashing one’s headlights and sounding the horn in a certain sequence can make a ghost light appear and cross the bridge.
This spectral legend’s regularity would seem to make it a perfect test case for paranormal investigation. And we know of one bold – or foolhardy, depending on your perspective – ghost hunter who took up the challenge.
Perhaps one of the most well-known local stories relating to Elmore’s headless rider involved Richard Gill. A former teacher, Mr. Gill had heard the legend of the ghost rider and decided to investigate for himself. On the evening of March 21, 1969 he and a friend drove out to what is suspected to be THE bridge.
Don’t try this at home, kids.
You’ll see why in a minute.
Mr. Gill and his cohort performed the ritual and allegedly found success; the single headlight appeared and passed them by. They attempted the ritual a second time but this time had a string tied across the road. Again the headlight appeared and passed them by, seeming to pass through the string leaving it unbroken. Excited, the pair decided on a third attempt to summon the rider. This time Gill’s friend would stand in the middle of the bridge as Mr. Gill performed the procedure yet again from a distance away. As Gill did his part the headlight appeared. When Gill went back to see his friend he noticed that he had disappeared. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending upon how you look at it, he found his partner lying in a nearby ditch semi-conscious. His friend could not remember what had happened to bring him to such a state.
This source doesn’t mention it, but according to the local anon whose account was featured on Midnight Broadcast, Gill managed to talk his manhandled friend into trying the ritual yet again. This time, after summoning the light they sped away from it, aiming a movie camera, a still camera, and a mic out the rear window. The ghost light pursued, caught up to, and passed right through their car.
When developed, the film was blank. The photograph caught a single light source. And the audio tape contained an unidentified shrill noise.
Listen to the segment here:
Full disclosure: I usually find tales of phantom orbs dull. But any ghost light that can beat up a grown man is clearly an entity to be reckoned with.
You, on the other hand, will find this harrowing epic of space pirates voyaging through Hell anything but dull.
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