Chilling tales of ghostly passengers and unexplained encounters from an old Edinburgh bus driver hint at a world beyond our own, writes KERRIE POWELL
The night is dark, and the distant sound of traffic has ceased for the evening. The lights of cars in the distance are now long gone.
The bus stop sits cloaked in the night sky’s darkness, and nobody else is around. From a distance, lights appear and traverse the long and dark road.
It is the last evening bus, pulling over to take you home. You sigh with relief that you have managed to catch the final journey of the day.
But think twice, dear listener! You may not realise who or what may be joining you on board tonight.
I recently interviewed a man whose name I shall not disclose. But this gentleman is a bus driver with a difference.
He has worked for many years providing public transport to the people of Edinburgh and the Lothians. He has driven customers around the lengths and breadths of the city for many years.
Our witness commenced his career as a bus driver sometime in the mid-1980s. He recalls the ease of getting around the city, the absence of today’s road restrictions, and the abundance of traffic on the roads.
He states, “The city’s roads were a very different story back then.”
He soon fitted in and became accustomed to shift work. The job was the ideal one for him.
One day in the winter months, while driving towards the end of the route, he noticed a lone passenger on the upstairs deck of the vehicle.
He stopped at the terminus and switched off the engine. He called upstairs, “That’s the last stop,” but there was no reply.
He observed the bus periscope, which displayed the upstairs deck. The passenger was still seated halfway along the bus, silent and motionless.
He presumed the passenger was fast asleep and ascended the steps to wake him. As the driver reached the top steps of the bus, he turned.
A wave of revulsion engulfed the startled driver when he realised nobody was on the bus.
Where did the man go in such a short space of time? Was he hiding? Was he ever there to begin?
Some months later, while on the same route, the driver awaited the end of the shift and the welcome sight of the bus terminus.
A solitary couple remained upstairs on the bus and had argued and shouted from the moment they boarded.
The driver’s patience grew thinner by the minute. He pulled the bus over at the next stop.
The noise of the intoxicated couple grated at him as he activated the bus hazard lights. He called for the couple to calm down and was met by a reply of garbled abuse.
Incensed by the couple’s reaction, he quickly gazed into the upstairs viewer. The driver screamed aloud when the sight of a ghostly white face greeted him.
It was staring directly into the lens of the bus viewer.
With his startling scream, the couple ran downstairs and apologised for their commotion.
Still shocked by what confronted him, the driver barely acknowledged them as the couple hastily departed the vehicle.
Over the years, the same driver would encounter ghostly passengers on many journeys.
After a while, he did not become startled and would eventually come to terms with the strange phenomenon.
He now considers himself psychic and believes his abilities have been present for most of his adult life.
It would take him to become a bus driver to realise the potential of his powers.
This story, however, is not an isolated incident.
The book A Ghost Hunter’s Handbook by Peter Underwood reveals a similar story. The esteemed paranormal investigator recalls:
During the summer of 1977, a number of Manchester busmen claimed that their vehicles carried a ghost passenger.
One conductor felt a distinct chill as a lone passenger passed him to mount the stairs to the upper deck. When the conductor went upstairs a moment later to collect the man’s fare, there was no one on the upper deck and no one had alighted from the top storey.
Naturally, the conductor told his driver about the puzzling experience, and a few days later, the driver of the same bus saw in his periscope mirror the figure his conductor had described, sitting alone on the top deck.
He quickly relayed the information to his conductor, who dashed upstairs — but again, the upper deck was deserted.
The mysterious figure was never identified, although several of the older busmen recalled a heartbroken soldier who had returned to his house in Manchester during the Second World War to find that his wife had left him.
He threw himself to his death under a tram. The bus that was apparently frequented by a ghost now runs on the same route that the tram once used.
Strange appearances would commence in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami that devastated Bangkok.
A taxi driver from Phuket described the afternoon he picked up an unusual passenger. The man, who appeared to be of Western — possibly American — appearance, entered the cab to travel to the airport.
Upon reaching the airport, the shocked driver saw an empty back seat and nobody in the cab. The man sat silently throughout the journey, yet lucid and alive.
He was not the first to encounter apparitions such as this.
Many taxi drivers of the region have reported strange instances of passengers of Western appearance entering their cabs, only to vanish upon arriving at the airport.
Could it be the lost souls of the tsunami trying to return home?
Our retired Edinburgh bus driver happily finished his time on the buses.
I asked him if he had witnessed any unusual sightings since his retirement. He assured me that there had only been one instance of him boarding any creepy coaches.
It was a large black vehicle on Waterloo Place with his two grandchildren.
The famous Edinburgh Ghost Bus Tour.
Have you ever experienced a ghostly encounter on public transport? Share your spooky stories in the comments below!
