Sooke, BC

Although this is a fairly well known story [at least to those from the Victoria area] the accounts of this highway spectre are so consistent; the circumstances behind their death so tragic, that no collection of BC ghost stories would be complete without it.

Highway 14 [also known as Sooke Road] runs west from Victoria to the community of Sooke, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, an area that’s no stranger to the paranormal. It’s along this winding stretch that many motorists through the years have reported seeing the apparition of a man suddenly leap out in front of their cars. For those unable to swerve out of the way in time, it appears as if they’ve hit the man. However, when horrified drivers emerge from their vehicles expecting the worst, there is no sign anyone was ever there.

The story behind the ghost’s appearance is a sad one. As relayed in Robert C. Belyk‘s Ghosts: True Tales of Eerie Encounters, in the early-1940’s a Chinese farmer had gone seeking urgent medical assistance for his wife, who had suddenly become very ill. Because the elderly couple didn’t have a car, the man ran out to nearby Sooke Road to flag down a motorist to take him to a doctor. Whether just poor luck or the widespread racism that existed at the time against many Asian Canadians, nobody stopped for the poor farmer. Out of desperation, he decided his only choice was to leap directly in front of a moving vehicle. That way the driver would have no choice but to pull over. That decision, however, would prove fatal. Unable to stop in time, the driver struck the man, killing him instantly. Later, when police returned to the couple’s farm to inform his spouse, they found she had succumbed to her illness.

Since then there has been numerous reports of drivers seemingly “hitting” the spectral man. He appears on a stretch of highway roughly halfway between the two communities in an area known locally as “China Flats.” Some accounts take it a step further, with motorists reporting being suddenly overcome with the feeling that something unseen has joined them in their cars. One account, relayed on a radio call in show many years ago, was from a couple who felt that unmistakable sensation. Though they couldn’t see anyone, they were convinced that an invisible third party had joined them in the backseat of their car as they drove through that section of highway. What makes this especially convincing is that neither was aware of the story at the time. After sharing this story on the show, the switchboards at the station lit up with callers wishing to share their own run ins with the phantom “hitchhiker” of China Flats. Many described similar sensations of feeling a presence in their backseats and being too afraid to turn and look.

Recently, while seeking out encounters on a Vancouver Island online forum, one user relayed to me an experience their sister-in-law had many years ago with the ghost. Back when their in-law was a teenager she was driving on Sooke Road when the ghost appeared in front of her. Unable to stop in time, the young woman allegedly “drove through it,” before quickly stopping and exiting the car. Upon inspection, of course, there was nobody there.

I always find it especially interesting when real people relay experiences like this. It helps to blur that line between legend and real life, further bolstering the fact that most legends exist for a reason.

Sources:

Ghosts: True Tales of Eerie Encounters, Robert C. Belyk, Horsdal & Schubart Publishers Ltd. 1990

Ghost Stories and Mysterious Creatures of British Columbia, Barbara Smith, Lone Pine Publishing, 1999

Ghost Stories of British Columbia, Jo-Anne Christensen, Housnslow Press, 1996