Haunted vehicles, also known as ghost vehicles or cursed vehicles are vehicles which are believed to be supernaturally afflicted, potentially holding curses or being inhabitated by spirits.
Haunted vehicles can be based on real life vehicles, or urban legends detailing them. The use of haunted vehicles is a common trope in horror media.
Following the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, reported sightings of deceased crew members sitting aboard other L-1011s, with speculation around the refitting of salvaged parts of the flight onto other planes causing these apparitions.;[1][2][3] A 1976 book and 1978 television film, both named The Ghost of Flight 401, were released.
The TV series Ghost Whisperer had a two-part episode featuring ghosts that died on board an airplane.
Automobiles
James Dean's car, a Porsche 550 known as "Little Bastard" is a well known case of a "haunted car". James Dean himself died in the vehicle, and it is said to have caught fire years after his death, and it is claimed that parts taken from the car have caused crashes and accidents. The transaxle was salvaged from the car and bought by Zak Bagans in May 2021. He spent $382,000 on the item, which he planned to showcase at his Haunted Museum in Las Vegas.[4][5][6]
The Black Volga is an urban legend originating in Eastern Europe, detailing a black GAZ-21 Volga used to abduct and murder people.[6][9]
Other notable urban legends include a double-decker in London[6][10] and a phantom car wreck in Surrey.[11] A 1964 Dodge 330 dubbed "The Golden Eagle" has been rumoured to be the inspiration behind Stephen King's 1983 novel Christine, and to have been the cause of a number of deaths.[6]
Spaceships
In Warhammer 40k there are space hulks, ancient and giant drifting spaceships, with life having evolved on them, sometimes forming own ecosystems.
The original alien spaceship from Alien was a crashlanded spaceship harbouring the eggs of the Xenomorph.
Another popular culture haunted spaceship is Elysium from Pandorum.
In popular culture
The concept of haunted vehicles have been used in different forms of media, being classified as techno-horror. Stephen King's first wrote about a haunted vehicle in the 1973 short story Trucks. Following this was his most notable work on the subject, the 1983 novel Christine, and the 1983 film of the same name. He revisited this concept with his 1986 film Maximum Overdrive, 1997 film Trucks, and 2002 novel From a Buick 8.[12][13]
↑Weinstock, Jeffrey Andrew; Findley, Mary (2004). Spectral America: phantoms and the national imagination. Madison London: University of Wisconsin Press/Popular Press. p.207. ISBN0299199541.
