In a dark, dark house in a dark, dark forest...

It's 11pm, Johannesburg, you don't feel like going "out" so what do you do?

This past Saturday evening a few friends decided to take me to see the "Walkerville Ghost".
They turned out to be very good guides with testimonials that could make even the most staunch sceptics have second thoughts, complete with full moon and howling wind.
I was up for a laugh, so within 10 minuites we were on the R59 to Walkerville.

It was about a 20-minute drive from the south of Jo'burg. Not bad: Just goes to show - in Jo'burg you are always near to the activity - even activity from the OTHER SIDE.
As we approached Walkerville, the roads became narrower and the sky became darker. This ghost's marketing team had their heads screwed on... ironic as the ghost is supposedly headless.

We turned left into the haunted road. It is a very, very long quiet road with plots (smallholdings) on either side. Dark and queit. Any Jo'burger's nightmare. It all made sense to me - Walkerville: paranormal activity for paranoid people. If there was wind, it would have been howling. If the moon was full, it would have been tinted red. There were no howling dogs.

We reached the end of the road (and that's how it felt). Turned around, turned the lights out and waited.

Then the lights were flashed three times to "call" the ghost, which is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Nevertheless, to satisy the experiment I went along with the crowd. I flashed my lights three times - to call on a spectre from another realm, because as you know they are light-sensitive and only respond to the number 3. (Trinity, 3am ghosting hour, 3pm on Golgotha, everything happens in 3s - I wonder how that came about?)

Anyway, before long we were witnessing a red light in the distance that changed to a light green and then white and it appeared to be approaching very fast. I turned on my lights to prevent being crashed into by the oncomming car (that was my excuse anyway) only to see nothing when the lights were turned on. "You chased away the ghost!" people shouted at me. So we reset. Lights off, 3 flashes and low and behold the same thing, a red light that changed colour and appeared to be approaching until I turned my lights on again, and guess what... nothing! We drove up the road to make sure there was no one there and we went through the motions once more. Same result. The wind was still not howling.

I have no idea who created these lights, or how they did it, but it was quite spectacular.

But I can tell you this, I was terrified.

My skin was crawling and so I was happy to leave. Not because of the biker ghost, though.
But because I was stopped at the side of the road, at night, near to Johannesburg, and visions of hijackings and other ghastly (not ghostly) things were drowning my mind. I was checking my review mirror and had my car in gear, ready to flee. Even while wating for the dearly departed, I was ready to depart hastily.

I look forward to the day that I can sit at the side of the road and not look in my review mirror.
(Now President Mbeki, whether this fear is perception- as you call it - or not, it is real and tangible to the average citizen)

I fear though, in the medium term, I have more chance of seeing a headless biker whizz past.