The Miner and the Phantom Hitchhiker

In 1983 a huge gold vein was discovered near the village of Guachinango in Jalisco state, 2 hours east of Guadalajara by road. The Barqueno mine soon opened up, providing hundreds of jobs for the people living in the western part of the state.

One cold night in December 1983 a mine worker who lived in the city of Ameca, an hr from El Barqueno was driving on the lonely dark dirt road that leads from the main highway to the village of Guachinango. Locals would tell tales of apparitions and ghosts on the dirt road late at night but most dismissed them as tall tales. That night in December among the fog in the night, the tales would prove reality.

As the worker was driving, nearing midnight he saw a man on the side of the road. Feeling bad at that the man was walking at this late hour he stopped and offered him a ride. The man came in his pick up and sat and buckled up and they drove off. Further down the road his radio became static and shut off. Then his truck lights shut off. Then the truck shut off completely.

This frightened the miner who asked his passenger what could possibly have happened and in the darkness he couldnt see the mysterious man anymore. The seatbelt was buckled but NOBODY was sitting next to him anymore. At the moment he realized in horror that he was all alone in his truck, the truck lit up, radio came back on and it started again.

The miner in fear, accelerated his truck and didnt stop until he reaching Guachinango's main square where he ran into city hall and told police what had happened. The man, in shock, fainted and had to be taken by ambulance to Guadalajara.

Before the land was cleared to make the dirt road connecting Guachinango to the Guadalajara-Ameca-Mascota highway, the strip of land was the site of a massive battle in 1914 during the Mexican revolution. Hundreds died in the battle between revolutionaries and the Mexican Federales. Again in the late 1920's there was another bloody battle, this time between Catholic guerrillas and government troops during the Cristero War that ravaged central Mexico. Dozens more died there during that skirmish. Some bodies were said to have been buried near the road, and in the 1950's 8 skeletons were found, presumibly victims of either the 1914 or 1928 battles.

To this day, the miner, who still lives in Ameca will not discuss the incident as to not attract spirits, benign or evil, for he doesnt want another ghost to get into his vehicle ever again. El Barqueno mine is now closed and reports of ghosts on the isolated dirt road to Guachinango still come up time and time again.