Hitchhiker

A man was standing by the side of the road, hoping for a ride. His car had broken down on a desolate stretch with no cellphone service, and he had walked a mile or so without seeing another vehicle.

It had just started to pour rain when he saw the faint haze of headlights appear in the distance. He stuck out his thumb. The car slowed as it approached him and he didn't even wait for it to come to a complete stop before he grabbed the door handle and hopped in the back seat.

"Thanks for stopping, I've been out there for an hour," he started to say. That's when he noticed he was alone in the car. Though the car was still moving slowly forward, no one was behind the wheel.

There was no noise coming from the engine, and he could hear an occasional groan from the rear of the car that sounded almost human.

Paralyzed with fear, the hitchhiker watched as the car inched past signs warning of a 10% downhill grade, a series of switchbacks and something called "Dead Man's Curve." Realizing it was now or never, he opened the door and flung himself onto the pavement. He got up and ran down the hill as fast as he could.

At the bottom of the hill, he found a local bar still open. He went inside, and told everyone who would listen his story of the ghost car. A hush came over the bar as the patrons realized he was telling the truth about what he had seen.

A few minutes later, two men entered the silent bar. They were soaked to the skin and looked like they had been through an ordeal. The bargoers leaned in, hoping to hear about another brush with a supernatural car.

"Does anybody know if there's a gas station near by?" one asked, while the other one interrupted, "Hey, there's that idiot who jumped into our car while we were pushing it up the hill!"