While poking around the dark recesses of the internet for other versions of The Ghostly Bus Driver, I stumbled on this appearance by Kojak star, Telly Savalas, on an Australian show about the unexplained.

In it, Telly recounts a mysterious encounter with a helpful motorist late one night when he had run out of gas. I won’t say anything more, since that would steal Telly’s thunder.

Reader Devin P sent in the following email:

I apologize in advance for the vague details; couldn’t find them. Here goes. Supposedly transit riders of (area unknown) have reported that after having missed a late night bus, a friendly little old man in an "old fashioned bus in need of repairs" has suddenly arrived to take them where they are going. The old man is reported to make warm, friendly conversation, as he takes the rider to their stop. Later it is inevitably discovered that such a driver and bus are not running any route on (line unknown). This seems to be an inversion of the "Ghostly Hitchhiker" legend, with the "spirit" offering a ride to the living.

No need to apologise, Devin! I very much like this re-imagining of a classic scare-lore tale, and like you I believe it has grown out of a version of “The Ghostly Hitchhiker” [1].

Having said that, I can’t remember coming across a version like this in any of my source books, and Google doesn’t return a match when you search for terms like “ghost bus driver”.

Can I ask roughly where and when you heard this story, if you remember?

And to any others who drop by; have any of you heard a similar tale involving a helpful, ghostly bus driver?

Footnotes:

1.	Sometimes also known as “The Vanishing Hitchhiker”.
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Happy Australia Day from Murray By Moonlight and ULblog!

Today, in Australia, is a day to spend with friends and family, to fire up the BBQ, to play backyard cricket, to swim in the pool and to visit the beach.

I hope all my Australian readers [1] have a wonderful day, and for any non-Australians, today’s a great day to practise how to say “G’day!”

Footnotes:

1.	Yes, both of you.
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Don’t stop for any reason. Whatever you do… DON’T STOP FOR ANY REASON!!

That’s the frantic advice being given by a chain email that made its way into my inbox today [1].

Your life depends on it.

You are not safe.

If you pull your car over, if you stop, you are going to become a victim of a gang robbery, rape or perhaps even murder.

Footnotes:

1.	Thanks to Darren K
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This is probably old news for some, but I thought I’d mention it as a friend on Facebook shared this video as being true.

It isn’t.

This video was produced by French marketing company, LastFools, for mobile accessory manufacturer, Cardo Systems, who make headset systems.

The video, of course, went viral, and while there are a lot of demonstrations on sites like YouTube that you can’t pop popcorn with mobile / cell phones (my favourite one demonstrates that you can ‘do’ the same thing with bananas), there are obviously people who are still encountering the original viral marketing campaign for the first time.

Further reading: Videos of ‘popcorn’ mobile phones faked