“There’s this intersection in New Jersey in the back roads so it’s not in a busy area.  It’s completely deserted but people say that if you put powder- like baby powder or something- on your windows and you drive through the intersection, handprints of spirits will appear on the windows.”

Amy heard about his ghost story in high school from her friends.  The intersection that is supposedly haunted is far from her hometown so she has never been there to test it out.  But she said she would not even do it if she could.  Even though she is scared to do it, she does not think that there are actual spirits there.  However, she says that that is a very popular ghost story that people all over New Jersey like to share.

I was thinking about this ghost story.  Since so many people in New Jersey know about this story, as Amy claims, I feel like handprints may show up, but from other causes.  Perhaps the handprints the people claim to see are their own from before; in other words, they touched their windows beforehand but forgot about it and now think they belong to the spirits.

Amy also told me another ghost story but since it is similar to the previous piece, I decided to put them together.

“In another part of New Jersey, there’s an uphill road.  People say that if you put your car in neutral on that road, spirits start to pull your car up the incline.”

Amy heard this story from her friends as well.  She added by saying that there was an actual accident on that road many years ago.  Now, the spirits who have stayed there pull the cars up, preventing them from getting into any accidents.  Amy said that she was fairly sure that the accident did actually happen.  The fact that there is an actual event in the background of this ghost story gives it more substance and meaning.

Amy told me she never personally tried this, but that she feels that it is an optical illusion.  I am personally torn in this situation; I cannot make up my mind about whether or not I believe it.  This story is the only one that I have heard of its kind; I have not heard any other versions of it.  Perhaps because it was told to me with a background story of an actual even rather than in the form of an “urban legend”, I think it could possibly have some sort of merit.  Nonetheless, this ghost story, like the previous one, is widely known throughout New Jersey and many people do attest to its validity.  For Amy and her friends, these ghost stories were a form of entertainment and in middle school and high school, they would share these and other stories in order to set a mood and scare the other girls.

Also seen in: Moran, Mark and Mark Sceurman.  Weird U.S. Your Travel Guide to America’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2005.