A real-life version of the "killer in the backseat" urban legend has been reported. Folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand gives the following description of this classic tale in his
Encyclopedia of Urban Legends
:
"Would-be killer lurks in back, detected by motorist or gas-station attendant." In all versions, the intended victim is a woman. In the versions in which another motorist spots the assailant, the driver notices that the car or truck following her keeps blinking his lights or shifting them to the high beam. When she reaches home -- still followed by the blinking vehicle -- the other driver rushes to her car and pulls out the lurking stranger. In the gas-station versions, the driver is asked by the attendant to come into the office because of some problem with her credit card. The attendant then locks the office door, tells her about the threat from behind, and calls the police.
In the incident that was recently reported, a 23-year-old woman reported finding an intruder lurking in the back seat of her SUV as she drove home from a class at Calhoun Community College. From
The Decatur Daily News:
McNatt said she arrived for her 4:30 p.m. class at Calhoun, parked behind Harris Hall and locked her SUV.
She remained on campus until about 9 p.m. She used her secret code to unlock the SUV.
As she drove, she talked on her cell phone to her brother.
"When she got on the river bridge on Interstate 65, a white male sat up in the very back of her vehicle," McNatt said. "He said he wanted her to take him somewhere."
The woman's brother heard a scream and then lost the phone connection with his sister.
Nothing happened to the woman. She simply parked the car, got out, and the guy walked away. Police are investigating the incident. It seems harsh to be suspicious of someone who's been through a scary event like this, but it's hard not to be a little skeptical about whether this really happened, given how closely it parallels the urban legend.
Comments
swear to god this really happened) my uncle went hunting behind my house i didn't know , i was running to the car and was fixing to get in when i looked up and seen a green light and a males voice saying I SEE YOU! (my uncle thought it would be funny i guess or didn't think i would freak so bad) i started running and yelling for my husband of course by the time my husband opened to door i realized it was my uncle cause he was yelling it's me and yelling my name. he says he never said anything that he cut on his light and i started screaming that he didn't even see me but i think it was because he scared me and felt bad but maybe i was just hearing stuff because now i am a paranoid person, who knows but my family no longer tries to scare me and i do still have nightmares,i get scared when i see anyone that resembles tht man cause he still has not been caught
for the comment on haullucination ( i hope ) (i would much prefer that i would have just been seeing things then for a man to be out there doing stuff like that and that someone else will not be so lucky!) just thought i would comment because my friend told me she had read this on here (just so ya'll would know every thing that happened) and also about 3 weeks later a man tried close to the same thing on campus but wasn't caught