Phantom of Rte. 40 (and 30 and 45 Etc.)

Sometimes the best news is really out of date weird news.  Modern reality is a bit depressing and an old relic of an urban folktale can hit the spot like an ice cold lemonade on a hot summer day.

So it was fun to be recently reminded of an obscure bit of Ohio folklore, the Phantom of Route 40 (video link provided by NBC4 of Columbus, Ohio).  A nice half-scary tale from the early 1950s with a dash of hot rods and a splash of rational explanation.  It plays like a drive-in movie with fun for the whole family.

The story is pretty simple.  In the early spring of 1952, a mysterious person roamed late at night up and down a stretch of Route 40 (aka the National Road) near Dayton, Ohio in a high-speed jalopy.  The driver would whiz past various lonely truckers, switching on a mysterious system of greenish lights which accentuated the skeleton costume and skull like mask worn by the driver.  Once the trucker was thoroughly spooked, the car shot on down the road and would vanish out of sight.

The numerous reports from various frightened truckers kept both the state highway patrol and the local police busy for part of that spring.  It even inspired a song (though I have not been able to confirm some of the details contained in the third verse) and a variety of campfire tales.  It also added to the extremely rich body of folklore found in the Dayton area (not all of which has to do with Wright-Patterson Air Base).  If you watch the TV presentation, there is even a faint suggestion that some one in the area even knows (or at least suspects) who the prankster might be, leaving the tale with a nice sense of possible closure.

To be bad there are a couple of oddities about this tale.  We can vouchsafe from the newspaper accounts that this was happening during the period of March through April of 1952.  There are strong rumors (though I am having problems confirming them) of other reports that came later (possibly as late as 1953).  This suggests that you had one really dedicated prankster.

The eyewitness reports (all from rattled truckers) suggests that the hot rod was rigged with a variety of special lights (interior and exterior).  Some of the reports also hints at some kind of fog effect producing a halo around the car's roof.  Technically, a car could have been rigged with the equipment needed back in the early 1950s.  However, it would have taken a lot of equipment back then.  I also doubt if the car could have handled a fog machine.  It would have required a prankster who was not only a hot rod enthusiast, but also a reasonably gifted electrician and lighting designer. 

All of which is possible but this guy is now becoming a very versatile chap.  He might also have been on the thin side since he would be losing space inside the car due to all of the equipment he must have been hauling around.  But this is all still possible.

He also had a lot of free time on his hands.  The Phantom of Route 40 was also making appearances on parts of Route 30 and Route 45 near the town of Wellsville, Ohio.  These incidents were all taking place during the month of March as well.  The Phantom of Route 40 was operating near the Indiana border.  Wellsville is midway between Pittsburgh, PA and Youngstown, Ohio, over 200 miles on the other side of the state.  Today, it would take about 4 hours to drive from the one spot to the other (mostly by interstate).  In 1952, the trip would have easily taken about 7 to 8 hours.

So this was one incredibly dedicated prankster.  Guess the guy was pretty tired from sitting behind the wheel by the time he got to Wellsville.  Some of those reports claim that the driver was standing on the car's running board while high balling the vehicle along a bumpy road.  Was this cool cat good or what!

The thin details of the story makes it almost impossible for any kind of assessment.  Most likely, some one was having a blast.  But the news reports have just enough odd details with widely divergent locations that you have to wonder.  Especially in 1952, when lots of people were looking upward at a major UFO flap.  Add in the many tales of ghosts roaming highways and byways and well...who knows.