Spooky Vehicles You Wouldn’t Want to Own...

Halloween may be just around the corner, but many have a penchant for learning about strange and unexplainable moments from history all year round.

If you’re looking for some scary car stories to tell your friends, you’ve come to the right place.

So, grab a warm drink and get cosy, you’re about to take a journey with some of the spookiest vehicles of all time…

James Dean’s Porsche 500 Spyder ‘Little Bastard’

“You’ll be dead within a week if you get into that thing,” said Alec Guinness to James Dean, upon seeing the brand-new car the Hollywood starlet had bought.

Exactly seven days later Dean and his mechanic, Rolf Wütherich, ploughed into the back of the Ford Tudor in front of them. 

Not only was Guinness’ comment scarily prophetic, but Dean and Wütherich also weren’t the only victims of ‘Little Bastard’.

After George Barris, a famous Hollywood car customiser sold the engine and drivetrain to William Eschrich and Dr McHenry, respectively. McHenry was killed and Eschrich injured in the same Californian race.

The shell of ‘Little Bastard’ then continued to wreak havoc as it injured and killed several people while on display in various schools and in transit on the back of lorries.

There are two things which make ‘Little Bastard’ stand out on this list.

Whilst it was on display in California as an illustration of the disastrous consequences of careless driving, the garage burned down.

Everything was destroyed, except this malevolent car, which came out of the fire without so much as a scratch.

Then, in 1960, five years after Dean’s death, ‘Little Bastard’ allegedly disappeared off the back of the truck which was transporting it.

Without an engine.

To this day, it hasn’t been found.

The Jumping Car of Cape Town

One quiet night in Cape Town South Africa, in 2004, a family is asleep after hosting a dinner party for some friends.

They are awoken in the dead of night to the sound of a car engine roaring to life.

Fearing that their Renault Megane is being stolen, the family rush to the driveway to find no intruders, but something much more intimidating – the car jumping whilst turned off and completely empty.

After inspecting the vehicle and finding no keys in the ignition and the handbrake engaged, the family phoned the police.

Upon their arrival, they believe the claim is just an elaborate joke – until the car roars to life again and jumps back into a tree.

Nine people, including two police officers, witnessed the car start and jump, but Renault remains certain that it was a faulty starter motor that caused the spooky spectacle, however, there are few guesses as to what caused the revving.

It was almost as if someone - or something - had a foot on the accelerator...

President Lincoln’s Funeral Ghost Train

Whilst driving down the highway in New York State at night, you notice a cloud of thick, black fog swirling down beside you.

A ghostly train emerges from the fog, overtaking you.

It makes no noise, but you catch a glimpse of skeletal soldiers in Union uniform flanking a coffin - before the train disappears into the distance.

There are no railway tracks and no other sign of the train.

You’ve just seen President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral procession, more than 150 years after he was assassinated.

Allegedly, President Lincoln’s funeral train recreates his final journey between Washington and Springfield, Illinois every April.

The train causes clocks and watches to stop in its presence, leaving them around 5 minutes behind.

You may even hear sad music or a ghostly whistle.

It is said that the train never reaches its destination - could it still be making its journey because his body never found rest?

Franz Ferdinand’s Gräf & Stift Limousine

The bad luck associated with Franz Ferdinand’s limousine started on the fateful day he was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, thus sparking the First World War.

Having narrowly avoided death earlier in the day, Ferdinand’s limousine inexplicably stalled outside the café Princip was just stepping out of and both the Archduke and his wife were shot dead.

Over the next twelve years, thirteen deaths were allegedly caused by this haunted car.

An Austrian General who drove it ended his days in an asylum for the insane.

Two peasants and a German military officer were all killed in the same crash.

A Swiss racing driver rolled the car, and a Romanian owner on his way to a wedding lost control of the vehicle, resulting in the death of his five passengers and himself.

The car is now on display in the War History Museum of Vienna where it sits worryingly unscathed for a vehicle involved in so many fatal accidents.

Has some malevolent force kept it in such good shape over all these years?

Whilst some of the ghost stories surrounding the car may ultimately be urban legend, the car’s number plate has been interpreted as predicting the date of Armistice Day…

Bonnie and Clyde’s Haunted Car

Two of the most infamous villains of the 20th Century, famous for a string of robberies, murders, and kidnappings in the 1930s, continue to strike fear into people’s hearts nearly 80 years later.

On the night of May 23rd, 1934, police ambushed their 1932 Ford Model 18 near Sailes in Louisiana and delivered swift justice for Bonnie and Clyde’s crimes in the form of over 100 bullets, which killed them both instantly.

But that wasn't the end of these notorious criminals.

That same car now sits in Whiskey Pete’s Casino in Nevada - still in its bullet-ridden state.

Seeing such an eerie sight would be enough for a place on this list but many visitors have reported an uneasy sense of not feeling alone whilst around it, and some photos of the car show mysterious objects nearby.

There’s nothing definitive, but could the ghosts of Bonnie and Clyde be forever tied to the vehicle in which they were killed? 

Golden Eagle

Possibly the closest real-life vehicle to the killer car in the Stephen King novel, Christine, this next blood-thirsty car has killed over fourteen people - and it’s possible that number is much, much higher.

Introducing the ‘most evil car in America’, a 1964 Dodge 330 Limited Edition.

All three police officers who drove this car during its years as a cruiser brutally murdered their families and then killed themselves.

After it was sold, doors would open on the highway, the engine would stall without reason, the steering would jam, the brakes would give out - the car seemed hell-bent on killing as many people as possible. 

And it didn’t like people trying to steal or joy-ride it either - a series of would-be vandals in the 1980s and ’90s were all killed in gruesome ways.

At least two children were killed near the Golden Eagle.

An entire family died in a house fire two weeks after a child was dared to touch the scary car.

Even though the Golden Eagle was dismantled in 2010, prompted by the belief of local churches that the car was possessed by a demon, enough parts have been found to reconstruct the shell of the car - but some of those who helped break the car up didn’t survive long enough to see it, killed shortly after vandalising the Golden Eagle.

Now that you're familiar with some of the strangest unexplained events involving spooky vehicles, what do you think?

Just urban legend or was some supernatural force involved? Have you seen anything spooky on a late-night drive yourself?

Drive safe and keep your wits about you. We'd love to hear your stories in the comments...