Driving on highways is usually linked with long, open roads, the constant hum of engines, and the regularity of travel. However, for some long-haul truck drivers, their journeys have turned into eerie tales that defy easy explanation. In this article, we share five of the scariest driver stories we've ever come across. These stories go beyond the usual challenges of the road, throwing drivers into encounters with the unexplained. From stumbling upon headless, skinless corpses in the pitch-dark night to confronting entities that defy logical explanation, these stories are chilling reminders that the darkness of the highway hides more than just the absence of light. As we jump into these stories, the ordinary road transforms into a space where the supernatural and the unexplained exist side by side, leaving a lasting impact on those navigating the open road.

The Suspicious Roadkill

I was driving through Montana headed east, and my company had miscalculated my mileage, so I requested an emergency fuel up. I got a response with the nearest gas station that I could get approved at. It wasn't exactly close. So I turned off the main highway and headed toward my stop. It's pitch black, there's no moon, no city light, and I haven't seen any headlights for about an hour. I'm cruising down the highway and I see something in the middle of the road at the furthest extent of my headlights, so I slow down, naturally, as I approach it. 

When I come to pass it, I get one good glance at it and slam on my breaks as I pass right in the middle of the highway. All I could think was what did I just see...so I back up looking in my mirror until I see it's red silhouette in my brake lights. I pull my breaks, put on my jacket and grab my flashlight and hop out. I walk to the back of my trailer and put my light on it, and there it was. A headless, skinless, mangled corpse. 

I froze and my jaw dropped. I didn't know what I was looking at. I just stood there, in the middle of the highway, in the cold, stagnant air, the only sound is the hum of my truck fifty feet back, watching the steam rise from this pile of meat. There was no fur, there was no clothing, just a fully intact ribcage with a mess of other miscellaneous bones attached by ligaments. 

I debated calling the police, as the ribcage looked big enough for someone my size, but I looked at my phone and had zero cell service, the nearest town was about 50 miles out. When I put my phone away I flashed my light around and standing at the end of the road we're a handful of coyotes staring at me. Then they started coming through the fence and trotting my direction. I figured this is the part where I get back in the truck before I get into a situation, so I did, and continued on my way. 

I still to this day do not know if it was human or not, whatever it was, and whatever had happened, I was almost a witness of. I convinced myself that it was more than likely a deer, and was hit by another truck like my own at highway speeds, that would definitely do significant damage. But in retrospect, I've never seen roadkill missing it's flesh before

-mysteryfirst

The Shapeshifter

Many years ago I was on a shift called “Meet and Turn”. This is where the truck driver that is domiciled out of the city will drive a load halfway to its destination, while the other driver that meets him halfway and brings the load where it needs to be delivered. I had been doing runs like these for several months and I found out that I had to meet on point an hour before the other driver arrived. It was a dark and empty lot around 3:00am, so since there was still some time to kill, I decided to close my eyes and take a short nap.

About 10 minutes into my nap, I was awakened by a barking dog. I tried to ignore it but the bark carried on for several minutes and it grew louder and closer. At this point, it became clear that he’s either trying to alert me of something or he’s just being a pain in the butt. So I sat up and looked out my window, and what I saw left me motionless. Standing there, inches on the other side of the glass, was a man around 35 years of age, he was a large fellow and he was barking at me, his eyes were crazy and he was even frothing a little from his mouth.

The sheer creepiness struck me and gently without making any sudden movements I reached down and started my truck and slowly started pulling away. As I was doing so, he was chasing after me, much like you would expect an angry dog and still barking as I kept pulling away. Needless to say, I don’t take naps on the job anymore.

-Digyo

After reading these stories it becomes clear that the road holds more than just the expected challenges of long-haul driving. It holds inexplicable and spine-tingling mysteries that linger long after a driver's journey on the road is over. These tales remind us that the darkness of the highway conceals more than just the absence of light—it conceals the unexpected and the uncanny. Keep reading for a few more of the scariest stories told by drivers. 

The (Maybe) Alien Encounter

I was driving through Kansas on I-70 at night once when I hit one of the craziest thunderstorms I’ve ever seen. It was so bad the road started flooding a bit and I had to pull into a service plaza and wait it out, when the creepy part happened. 

As I was sitting in the truck watching the storm, there is a series of lightning strikes followed by a blackout. Suddenly a massively bright light starts moving behind the clouds, too slowly to be an aircraft but too fast to be part of the storm system. It moves up over the hills/trees before crossing directly overhead then disappears a bit behind the service plaza. The transit from tree line to plaza took maybe 5-10 minutes tops, and while it was overhead it cast everything in an eerie blue glow and lit up the parking lot. I seriously thought aliens were invading. 

Anyway, within 10 minutes of the creepy light disappearing the rain completely stopped and the parking lot lights came back on, like someone flipped a switch. I got outta there while looking in my mirrors for spaceships or those alien walkers from war of the worlds.

-mrfuzzybagels

The Shoulder Walker

My most common run is Vancouver to San Francisco. It’s an easy trip most of the time with very little challenge involved. I tend to prefer driving into the night because there’s less traffic. Of course, driving around in the middle of nowhere during witching hour means I’ve seen my share of things. U.F.O’s, bigfoot... the works man. But none of that stuff has ever scared me nearly as bad as the people you see walking along the shoulder of the road far from civilization.

I noticed my first one on my junior run down south on the number 5. It was a lady in a blue summer dress, just strolling down the side of the highway underneath the full moon, not a care in the world. Now we were on a stretch that was miles and miles away from anything in either direction and I was the first vehicle on the road that she’d likely seen since dusk. She didn’t even look up to acknowledge me though, instead she just kept on walking with a sort of vacant smile. I chalked it up to some hippie from the Oregon trail hopped up on something from a nearby campsite and kept driving. But she was only the first.

It’s not every trip you spot them. But sometimes you see a few on a single go. It always struck me as strange because you never seem to see them during the day. Or maybe you do but they don’t stick out as much under the sun. Even so, once you know they’re there you’ll start noticing the hell outta them whenever you’re driving far from civilization in the dark. The other truckers call them moon wanders, but I prefer shoulder walkers; since that’s always where they are. 

Almost like trains on a track, they walk that little white line to wherever they’re going. They’re different shapes and sizes too. Men, women... tall, fat, ugly, pretty... just folks like you’d see anywhere. Sure they’re creepy, but for a long time I didn’t pay them any mind beyond noticing them on occasion in the split second that they were visible as I cruise past.

But one night a few months ago, I passed by what looked like an old lady. She was in a hospital gown and looked just like someone on death row. Sunken, given-up-on-life sort of eyes, frizzy white hair and pale skin. She was smiling just like her grandkids had called her name. Her pace was a slow shuffle along the shoulder and just looking at her I could imagine the sound of her hospital slippers running just overtop the gravelly road. I wanted to keep driving because... well to be honest she gave me the willies. But hell, she reminded me of my own sweet grandma; God rest her soul.

So I brought my rig to a slow stop and, collecting up the flashlight I keep in my glovebox, stepped out of the cab. I could hear her coming before I could see her as I’d driven a few meters ahead of her due to the long stop time. Scrape, scrape, scrape. I could visualize her wrinkly feet in those hospital slippers, shuffling ever onward. Quickly I checked the maps app on my phone and saw that the closest town to where we were was over fifty miles, no way this old lady was walking that. Putting my phone in my jeans I held up my flashlight and started walking towards the sound of her footfalls. “Uh, hello? Ma’am?” I called out, hoping that she would speak up. No such luck, just more scraping. My hairs were on edge now as I waited for her to enter into the dim light of my flashlight. I nearly cried out as the ghostly appearance came into view. Not because anything was different from before, just because she looked so much more... sickly up close. “Ma’am. Are you okay? You’re in the middle of nowhere... y’know?” She didn’t say nothing. Just kept smiling and moving steadily forward.

Now my heart was beating hard. “She’s just senile. Senile and she needs my help,” I thought out loud. But my feet were frozen in place. They were going back to the truck or they weren’t moving at all. She was getting closer though and as she reached within ten feet or so her wrinkled hands began to reach slowly up. Her fingers wiggled in my direction like a grandma reaching for her grandchild’s face. She opened her mouth but didn’t say anything, just grinned at me with pale gums. My legs gave out and as I fell onto my side she reached down for me with surprising speed and dexterity. 

Before I knew what was going on she had her boney fingers around my ankles and I was getting dragged down the road. Desperately I pulled back, but her grip was superhuman... and the addition of my weight didn’t seem to slow her walk in the least. She stared down at me with those beady, sunken eyes, mouth agape in a smile. I kicked at her with all the fight I had in me and luckily connected with her jaw. To my horror, it was like kicking solid concrete. But luckily she let go despite having no visible injury. I crawled backwards towards the middle of the road and she kept walking down the shoulder. Her hands fell back down to her side and her mouth closed into a tight lipped smile. But her gaze stayed locked on mine as she slowly shuffled out of my flashlight’s beam.

I waited as the scraping bit by bit faded from my ears and after what ended up being a half hour of stunned silence I worked up the nerve to get up and go back to my rig. No sign of the lady, but when I climbed into my cab and sped down the highway, it didn’t take long to catch up with her. Her eyes were still stuck on me, they probably had been the whole time as she walked away. The last I saw of her as I gunned it away was her thin, chapped, smirking lips.

According to some other guys I know, I’m the first to try and interact with a shoulder walker and if God is good I’ll be the last. Since then I’ve seen plenty more, strolling down the highway in the pitch dark... I even saw a kid once. But there ain’t no way I’m ever stopping again for them. And if you’re smart, you won’t neither.

Since that night, the shoulder walkers are always looking right at me when I drive pass, which they never used to do. Almost like since that old lady saw me, they all did. I’d hate to think what would have happened if I’d not managed to get free. But I can rest easy knowing I’ve put my warning out there in public. Maybe I’ll save a few folks with this story.

-Begeara

The Fog

I was driving for Costco a few years back. It was around this time of year. We usually took extra toy shipments to various locations due to the holiday season. We got a call that one of our locations in rural Kentucky needed to restock their giant Spiderman dolls. They knew I was a fast driver so I was giving the last minute late night duty. I loaded my truck and headed out on the 265.

It was around 3 AM when I started to have this eerie feeling. I chalked it up to just being tired and popped a couple of nodoze. About 15 min later the road started to fog up. I mean more so than any other time before or since. It got to the point where I had to pull off to the side and wait. There weren't any other cars on the road and I was ahead of time so I figured I could wait until it cleared up a bit. About 5 minutes of sitting still in silence my truck goes dead. No lights, no engine, nothing... I try my CB but cannot get anyone on. I check my cell phone and there is no signal. 

As I'm sitting there contemplating my next move I hear what sounds like a child crying. It slowly morphed into a woman crying. Or at least that what it sounded like to me. Now I'm a big man, 6'3, 250 pounds but I refused to exit my cab. I did [roll] down my window and asked if anybody needed help. At that point the crying stopped. Then I heard what sounded like a sinister laugh. At that point I felt like the laughter was directed at me. I [rolled] up my window and it seemed like the more scared I became, the louder the laugh went. Then as soon as it started it stopped. And just like that my truck started back up and the fog dissipated. 

I drove out of there like a bat out of hell. I get to the next truck stop and pull in. I run to the bathroom and pour water on my face and ask myself "did that really just happen?".

-hardspank916

In the world of long-haul trucking, where roads seem endless and the trips are often solitary, the scariest truck driver stories we've ever heard act as cautionary tales. These stories, rooted in the real experiences of those navigating highways, linger like ghostly imprints in drivers' minds. As the every day turns into the extraordinary and the unexplained becomes undeniably real, these stories underscore that the open road is not just a route for cargo but also a platform for mysterious encounters. Whether it's the fog-covered roads, the spooky figures on the roadside, or the otherworldly lights in the night sky, highways hold secrets that defy logic. As drivers press on, the echoes of these eerie stories create a haunting atmosphere, reminding us that the road is a space where the mysterious lurks.