Just in time for Halloween, this hitchhiker is actually a ghost story!

http://www.ship-of-fools.com/Myths/01Myth.html

There are many variations of the story, but my favorite is:

On a cold and rainy night, a young man is on his way to a party at a
local dance hall and on his way there, he happens to offer a ride to
an attractive young woman who agrees to go with him to the dance.
Everyone at the party found her to be very charming and after the
dance was over, the young man offered to drive her home as the night
had turned quite chilly. She accepted and because it was so cold out,
he gave her his coat to wear.

He asked for her address and she gave it to him and a short time
later, they pulled into the driveway of the house where the girl said
that she lived and the driver turned to tell her that they had
arrived. To his astonishment, she was gone! The passenger seat of the
car was empty, although the door had never opened - the girl had
simply vanished.

Not knowing what else to do, the man went up to the door and knocked.
An elderly woman answered the door and he explained to her what had
happened. Right away, she seemed to know exactly what he was talking
about. The young girl he had taken to the dance was her daughter -
but she had died ten years before in an auto accident.

The horrified young man didn't believe her, even though the name of
the girl he had taken to the dance and the woman's daughter were the
same. In order to convince him, the old woman even told him where to
find the grave of the dead girl in the local cemetery. The young man
quickly drove there and following the directions he had been given,
found the stone with the girl's name on it. Folded neatly over the
top of the marker was the coat that the girl had borrowed to ward off
the night chill!

So look for the Vanishing Hitchhiker in a letterbox near you! But do
not be surprised if it disappears before your very eyes!

-Amanda from Seattle