I can't remember the exact month of this story, but I remember it was a really nice dark evening, clear weather, and not cold. My witness (friend) which was with me during this bizarre occurrence was freaked out as much as I was. I had challenged this very legend with a group of high school friends (2 cars) 20 some years ago and we all had the "ride" of our lives. Why did I return to challenge it again?
My friend Theresa and I were doing some random daytime adventure one Saturday telling stories and enjoying each others company. We got onto the ghost and spirit topics. One of my stories I told her was of a haunted road in Baltimore County along the Gunpowder River. Notchcliff Road has been long known for a legend of a spectral truck that randomly races up and down the very winding, narrow road at night with blinding yellowish, round headlights. It is infamous for causing minor and serious accidents and even deaths.
My first challenge of this legend was in 1990. A bunch of my high school friends of mine packed into my car and my buddies car. My buddy led the way on the road well after midnight. As true as true is, we had encountered this phantom truck. It came speeding up the winding road towards us. I slowed down to an almost stop. My friend continued driving towards the racing truck almost like playing chicken with it. As my friend made a sharp turn as the road goes behind a huge mound, things got dark and quiet. I proceeded to speed up around the blind turn. My friend had drove off into a 10 ft. ditch and the truck was non-existent (gone). We put our hazards on and ran down to help out. Everyone was ok, and they all said the headlights of the truck became blinding and he steered off the road and instantly the lights were gone. $30 dollars and a tow truck later his car was pulled from the ditch with luckily minor damage. We all agreed that we would never return to challenge that again.
Here we are in 2010 and I am telling the story again and ready to return. (Yes, I have been through this road tons of times over the years during the day; but nighttime is different.) So we decided to take a drive up the road at night. We turned off the radio and opened the windows and drove slow. As soon as we hit that second sharp turn on a hill my truck stalled. Theresa looked at me and told me to stop messing around and I told her it was not me at all. I put the emergency brake and tried to restart my truck; wouldn't even turn over. I tried a second time and no start but my headlights turned off and hazards wouldn't work. We started to really panic. A third time it would not start. So I waited about 30 seconds and bravo my truck started. The headlights instantly lit up and my hazards starting flashing. I quickly put it in gear an took off.
Within 15 seconds after restarting and moving forward, I saw faint yellowish headlights come flying around the sharp turn at full speed behind me. Theresa looked back and was shocked as much as I was. I sped up and within seconds he was right on my bumper. The lights were so close and bright that I could make nothing out about the vehicle. I could see no one driving or the hood or the sides. It seemed as I sped up he sped up just as much. After 1 mile of winding downhill turns we came to the end of the road where it opens up and get wide and straightaway along the Big Gunpowder River. As soon as I made the final sharp left turn onto the straightaway I pulled over on the shoulder.
The truck went speeding past us heading down the road as we intently observed it. It was a red, well used, 1940ish pickup truck, with round yellowish headlights. There were no tail lights lit and no license plate. The creepy thing was we both looked into the cabin of the truck and we noticed no people inside (maybe the driver was pressed all the way in the seat to not be seen, who knows). This tale is exactly what many, many people have experienced on that small ~2 mile strip of road late at night. I experienced it twice!
Since this encounter I have driven many times on that road during the day. I noticed that there are two RIP signs along the road by the sharp turns of people whom have died there recently. When I was in high school rumor was that a few kids from our school had died there in the 1970's and early 80's. Beware if venturing late at night on that old road looking for the phantom, not joking either!
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