Chicago's Resurrection Mary is America's most famous iteration of the Haunted Hitchhiker tale.

There is hardly one among us who hasn't heard a version of the haunted hitchhiker story.  You know the one: a driver on a dark, foggy road late at night comes upon a woman in a beautiful dress.  Against his better judgment, the driver gives her a ride home.  Eventually, the ghostly rider disappears, leaving the driver wondering who…or what, he just had in his car.

A lot of urban legends are clearly meant to scare, or warn of impending danger.  Maybe the story of Resurrection Mary began as a warning not to pick up hitchhikers in the new era of widespread automobile use.  But perhaps…there’s something more to the story.