From horrifying hitch-hikers to phantom horsemen, America’s roads are rife with haunting stories. Here are five drives for wannabe Ghostbusters to seek out and the rest of us to avoid.

Haynesville Woods, Maine

“It's a stretch of road up north in Maine
That's never ever ever seen a smile
If they'd buried all them truckers lost in them woods
There'd be a tombstone every mile”

That’s just a few lines from A Tombstone Every Mile by country singer Dick Curless who warns truckers to steer clear of Route 2A through the Haynesville Woods of Maine. In the winter the road is extremely treacherous and, as result, it’s the setting for several ghost sightings.

One story has a woman pleading for assistance after car crash. Stop to help and you’ll feel a morbid chill before the woman disappears. Another tale has the road haunted by a small girl who was hit by a truck. Better listen to Dick and stay away.

Shades of Death Road, New Jersey

If ever there was a signpost to make you pull a U-turn it’s the one that reads “Shades of Death Road” in Warren County, New Jersey.

How the road got its name is up for debate. Some say it is because of the highwaymen who used to ply their trade, or lynchings that took place nearby. Others believe that it is the nearby swamps that led to regular malaria outbreaks, causing death and heartache.

The fact that three vicious murders took place during the 1920s and 1930s along the road, only increases the scare factor, as do a number of fatal car accidents. If that wasn’t enough local wildcats have been known to attack travellers. Paranormal activity has been witnessed at Lenape Lane with mysterious mists and unusual orbs of light appearing at night.

Archer Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

Archer Avenue tracks through one of Chicago’s most haunted areas. As it passes between Resurrection Cemetery and St James-Sag church the road cuts past forest, lakes and numerous graveyards.

Phantom monks are said to haunt the road by St James-Sag, a Gray Baby has been spotted at the Sacred Heart Cemetery and phantom apparently horsemen cross the road at 95th Street.

A mysterious hitch-hiker, known as Resurrection Mary, has been sighted on Archer Avenue since the 1930s. The story goes that Mary was on her way home from the Oh Henry Ballroom late one night and was killed in a hit-and-run. She was buried in the Resurrection Cemetery in the same dress she wore that fateful night. Ever since she has been said to wait for a ride by the side of the road. Drivers who stop to give her a ride find that she disappears the moment they reach the cemetery.

Clinton Road, New Jersey

Clinton Road in New Jersey was the subject of a 2019 movie in which a firefighter’s wife goes missing on this spooky stretch of asphalt. In the movie he hires a Haitian witch doctor to contact her spirit, but in the real world it’s apparently much easier to make contact with ‘the other side.’

On Ghost Boy Bridge it’s said that if you leave a quarter in the middle of the road it will be returned by the ghost of a boy who drowned in the water below. Ghost park rangers, a ghoulish Camaro and strange creatures from the abandoned Jungle Habitat zoo are also said to have been seen.

In 1983 the victim of a mob murder was found in the woods close to the road, further enshrining Clinton Road in folklore.

Kelly Road, Pennsylvania

The Mystery Mile of Kelly Road between Industry and Ohioville in Pennsylvania has a reputation for paranormal activity. Normally docile pets have been said to turn nasty and travellers have found their moods turn foul as they drive deep into the dark woods. There are reports movements in the shadows and strange sounds with no apparent origin.

Locals believe that the road has an evil aura, caused by Native Americans cursing the area when they were forced out. Today the region’s terrible reputation is further fuelled by rumours of cult rituals taking place in the woods.

Five of America's most haunted highways