# Halloween Car Stories **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [October 29, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611 "2023-10-29T00:16:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 12:16am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/1 "2023-10-29T00:16:47Z")
Very near to where my oft-mentioned Corolla was built, and where Tesla’s are built now, in the San Jose CA area, is a place called “Niles Canyon”. It’s also where [some of] the first movie studios were located in the silent film era. Charlie Chaplin’s _The Tramp_ was filmed there. The Halloween aspect, there’s supposedly a ghost who inhabits the area. I’ve driven there numerous times, all hours of the day & night, and never saw any ghosts. But what with the stories, one does have to wonder … > **[Niles Canyon ghost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niles_Canyon_ghost)** > > The Niles Canyon ghost is an urban legend within the vanishing hitchhiker archetype, about the ghost of a girl who had died in a car accident. The accident is said to have taken place on February 28, with the year varying, and the ghost is said to walk the road on that day every year, looking to hitch a ride to San Francisco. > One variation of the story has the hiker's backstory being that she died in a car crash on Niles Canyon road (off the 680 freeway in Sunol, California) on the way back from... Anybody else have a good car-related Halloween story? ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 6:55am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/2 "2023-10-29T06:55:50Z")
Never having ever experienced any aborations myself, my only Halloween story is how a half dozen eggs ended up on the front of a police car. Quite inadvertently but the case was never solved due to us running like heck through the woods. Now a former mayor and his teacher wife, who were quite sane, often talked about their house being haunted. By friendlies I suspect since they lived there quite a while. In a nearby town there is the story of a man appearing on the railroad tracks with a lantern from time to time. Researchers. Concluded it was a guy killed by a train and warning others. No proof ever found. Then the story of the kids parked in the quarry. One made it out and one didn’t. Don’t remember which one but never solved. A lady wrote a book of strange deaths in the county. Got some typos but a good read. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 2:24pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/3 "2023-10-29T14:24:21Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > It’s also where the first movie studios were located in the silent film era No, those were _all_ located in Northern NJ and in NYC. The migration to CA began in 1908, chiefly because Edison claimed that any movie company other than his was guilty of patent infringement because he had supposedly invented the movie camera (he didn’t…), and the federal courts in CA were less inclined to take-on patent infringement cases than courts in the Northeast were. After that migration began, it accelerated once the film makers realized that CA’s climate allowed for year-round outdoor filming, unlike the Northeast. > **[Thomas Edison Drove the Film Industry to California](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/51722/thomas-edison-drove-film-industry-california)** > > Thomas Edison helped bring the film industry to Hollywood—and here's how. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/4 "2023-10-29T18:09:27Z")
I’ve been to the Edison ford museum a number of times and knew he was a shrewd business person but didn’t know the Hollywood connection. On the other hand these folks weren’t born rich and had to work on it. Maybe this is the reason the Las Vegas field office was opened, to be closer to the movie industry. I saw an interview with a former mobster though discussing how safe the new York neighborhoods were under mob control compared to now. Maybe Los Angeles could use the help. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 6:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/5 "2023-10-29T18:38:51Z")
> [@bing](#): > > knew he was a shrewd business person … or not… I’m currently reading Edmund Morris’s biography of Edison, and he made an incredibly large number of mistakes, which frequently left his companies chronically short of cash. Some of the more prominent goofs were his clinging to the production & sale of his Amberola cylindrical record players even after Victor, Columbia (and others) gained market dominance with their disks. Then, as radio began to become more popular, he ignored his son’s pleas to enter the radio field, and he doubled-down even more on his outmoded record players. Probably the most bone-headed move on his part was to refuse a $15 million lump sum payment from an English company for some of his patent rights, and instead chose a fairly puny annual payment, because he “needed the cash flow”. Ironicallly, that annual payment was exactly equal to what he could have earned in bank interest by simply taking the $15 million lump sum instead of the annual trickle of cash from overseas. There is no doubt that he was ruthless in his business practices (especially in regard to wages and the overall treatment of loyal, long-term employees), but–overall–I think that “shrewd” is not an accurate description. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/6 "2023-10-29T20:15:10Z")
This is what Wikipedia says … _ **The Tramp** _ is Charlie\_Chaplin’s sixth film for Essanay Studios and was released in 1915. Directed by Chaplin, it was the fifth and last film he **made at Essanay’s Niles, California studio.** If your point is that there were film studios in other places earlier, no dispute. Corrected above. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 8:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/7 "2023-10-29T20:41:38Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > If your point is that there were film studios in other places earlier, no dispute Of course that was my point. > **[How New Jersey Became the Birthplace of the U.S. Movie Industry](https://variety.com/2021/film/spotlight/new-jersey-history-film-1235128815/)** > > New Jersey-based Thomas Edison's innovations and like-minded entrepreneurs helped to build the U.S. movie industry. As but one example, the iconic cliffhangers of the _Perils of Pauline_ series were all shot on or near NJ’s towering Palisades, in and around Fort Lee, NJ. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 8:44pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/8 "2023-10-29T20:44:10Z")
> [@bing](#): > > I saw an interview with a former mobster though discussing how safe the new York neighborhoods were under mob control compared to now. As long as you paid your mob “taxes” and showed unwavering loyalty to them, you might be safe. But note that there were competing gangsters and being affiliated with them was often fatal. Gangland is the same as it ever was, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![PintoKid](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/pintokid/32/45996_2.png) [@PintoKid](https://community.cartalk.com/u/PintoKid)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 8:47pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/9 "2023-10-29T20:47:47Z")
Not exactly a Halloween story, but my future wife and I were driving on RT 112 on Long Island just north of Granny Rd. heading north. In the air in front of us was something that resembled a UFO. We pulled to the side of the road as did several other drivers. When it didn’t move we got back in and continued to see what it was. It was some sort of helium balloon on a 7-Eleven. Scared the heck out of us when we first saw it. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/10 "2023-10-29T21:02:56Z")
I was driving my Corolla in the Calif desert, Mohave area where some scenes of the Terminator films were made, pretty remote, when I looked up into the sky and saw a huge flying pig! Further investigation – a person has to stop to investigate a huge flying pig, right? — turned out a film crew was filming a tv commercial … lol … ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 9:15pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/11 "2023-10-29T21:15:56Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > Gangland is the same as it ever was, isn’t it? Yup! Whether one is referring to the gangsters of yesteryear, or the gangsters of the present day, it’s prudent to NOT get involved with any of them. One of my ancestors, who had an iconic Hudson Valley brewery, decided to ally himself with Legs Diamond, who was one of the prominent gangsters of the '30s. The feds took “Diamond” down, and shortly afterward, our family’s brewery ceased to be, and is now remembered with just a few street signs. > **[Bootlegging Was a Big Business in the Hudson Valley During Prohibition](https://hvmag.com/life-style/prohibition-legs-diamond/)** > > When Prohibition began in January 1920, bootlegger and gangster Legs Diamond made a name for himself in the Hudson Valley. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 9:57pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/12 "2023-10-29T21:57:32Z")
“The Feds found that local plumbers, on the take from Diamond, had snaked a half-mile long rubber hose through tunnels they had dug under the brewery, into the city sewer lines and finally to those warehouses on Bruyn Avenue. That effectively moved his shipping department far from the manufacturing plant, which helped keep Diamond’s operations, literally, underground.” Folks will definitely go to great lengths for a sip of alcohol … lol … Some years ago I stopped at a Walmart in another state to pick up a 6-pack of beer. I didn’t notice the sign saying “no beer sales on Sunday”. Ooops! When I got to the check out and put the 6-pack on the counter, everyone was looking at me like I just flew down from Mars! The cashier very politely informed me she couldn’t sell beer on Sundays, so I took it back to the cold-drink area. On the way out of the Walmart a fellow comes up to me, says he saw the encounter, and I could still purchase a 6 pack very easily if I wanted. I thought maybe all I had to do was say I had a disability or something, claim. No, not that. He said they sell beer in the adjacent county, 40 miles away … To buy a 6-pack I’d have to drive 80 miles round trip … lol … I said I’d just wait until Monday. ---
**Author:** ![bing](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bing/32/4619_2.png) [@bing](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bing)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 11:04pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/13 "2023-10-29T23:04:18Z")
In South Dakota from what I have heard folks were kind of small time and brewing a little extra for cash money. I suppose depending but the elected sheriffs kind of looked th3 other way. St. Paul had a gangster history though. The gangsters would do wat they did across the river in Minneapolis, and then return to St. Paul fir safety. They had a deal with the police that they would leave them alone as long as they behaved themselves in st paul. I’m sure a little money and other products helped seal the deal. ---
**Author:** ![wolyrobb](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/wolyrobb/32/45497_2.png) [@wolyrobb](https://community.cartalk.com/u/wolyrobb)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 1:58am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/14 "2023-10-30T01:58:53Z")
Lake Lanier in Georgia has a complicated history including a car wreck in 1958 where one of the victims has possibly been seen wondering the shoreline in a blue dress, Known as the Lady of the Lake. Maybe flooding all those graveyards to build the lake wasn’t such a hot idea. One of Lake Lanier’s most popular urban legends involves a car wreck. According to the story, [a Ford sedan carrying two women](https://www.gainesvilletimes.com/life/life-top-stories/history-center-recounts-tales-about-ghosts-of-gainesville/) careened off a bridge in April 1958 and tumbled into the lake. Some say the ghost of one of the women, dubbed the “[Lady of the Lake](https://gwinnettcitizen.com/46-secrets-and-legend-all-a-part-of-the-lake-lanier-folklore),” wanders the bridge at night in a blue dress, lost and restless. ---
**Author:** ![Barkydog](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/barkydog/32/2470_2.png) [@Barkydog](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Barkydog)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 2:15am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/15 "2023-10-30T02:15:38Z")
I was in high school driving into a blinding early morning sum. Had a big thump, got to work and there was a large clump of hair hanging from my bumper. OMG I thought. Ended up being some hair someone cut off because there was a giant clump of gum stuck in it. Must have been a pothole I did not see. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 12:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/16 "2023-10-30T12:16:32Z")
> [@George\_San\_Jose1](#): > > no beer sales on Sunday Maryland also has blue laws by county. I used to live in Baltimore County and there are no alcohol sales on Sundays so I drove about 5 miles west to Howard County and could buy anything on Sunday. I grew up in Montgomery County MD and they have the strictest laws. When I was young all sales were age 21 and at county stores. I found out later that most of the rest of MD had beer and wine sales at 18 and liquor at 21. I was close to DC and just drove the 5 miles or so after turning 18 to get alcohol. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/17 "2023-10-30T12:54:10Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > Maryland also has blue laws by county. Many years ago, NJ had statewide Blue Laws, so you might go into a Walmart-type store, and find that virtually every type of merchandise–other than food and health & beauty products–was roped-off and unavailable for purchase. Finally, that statewide regulation was dropped (late '70s, perhaps?), but one county (Bergen) still has that regulation in place. In that county, you can’t buy things like hardware on a Sunday, and even the largest shopping mall in the state is closed on Sundays because it is located in Bergen County. That county also has terrible traffic congestion on any given day, but it is absolutely horrendous on Saturdays, because so many people are rushing to do their weekend shopping on their only available day off. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/18 "2023-10-30T13:11:05Z")
When I was in college in Eastern PA I used to go to Phillipsburg NJ for drinks on Friday or Saturday since the age was 18. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 1:16pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/19 "2023-10-30T13:16:02Z")
> [@jtsanders](#): > > I used to go to Phillipsburg NJ for drinks on Friday or Saturday since the age was 18. You must be a lot younger than I am. When I lived in Bayonne, NJ during my HS and college years, a lot of teens used to drive over the bridge to Staten Island (NY) because NY state’s drinking age was 18, while NJ’s minimum drinking age was 21. The result of that weekend migration to Staten Island was a LOT of crashes on the exit from the Bayonne Bridge, when drunken kids used to crash on a sharp curve. I used to take the PATH train over to Manhattan with my friends in order to drink before we were 21. Much, much safer. ---
**Author:** ![George\_San\_Jose1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e5b9ba/32.png) [@George\_San\_Jose1](https://community.cartalk.com/u/George_San_Jose1)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2023, 9:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611/20 "2023-10-30T21:21:04Z")
> [@wolyrobb](#): > > Some say [Lake Lanier’s] ghost… wanders the bridge at night in a blue dress, lost and restless. I did a Google-drive-by over the bridge to Legacy Lodge, but didn’t see any ghosts .. lol … Beautiful country though. I think the tv show “America’s Truck Night” is filmed in Georgia. Another beautiful area. One curiosity, there seems to be a smoke mist of unexplained origin wafting above the trees in the truck-night area. Anybody have an idea what’s causing that smoke? [Next page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/halloween-car-stories/193611.md?page=2)