Lydia, the phantom hichhicker

On certain rainy nights, where US 70-A twists around a sweeping curve that passes by an old, overgrown underpass, drivers will see a young woman in a white evening dress standing by the side of the road. She will be desperately trying to flag down any passing car. If anyone pulls over to help the young lady, she climbs meekly into the back seat of the car and says that her name is Lydia. She will tell the driver that she's just been to a dance and now she's trying to get home. She gives the driver an address not too far away, and he kindly agrees to take her there. The driver may try to engage Lydia in conversation, but she seems distracted and in a world of her own, so he just leaves her in a respectful silence and concentrates on the road ahead.

When the car pulls in to the address that the young woman gave, the chivalrous driver invariably hops out to open the door for her — only to discover that she has vanished.

Perplexed, the man goes to the door and rings the bell. An old woman answers. The man explains that he's picked up a young lady named Lydia by the overpass who asked to be brought to this address, but she's no longer in the car. He wonders if she may have run out before he could open the door, and he just wants to know if she's safe and if everything is as it should be.

A faint, pained smile of recognition passes over the old woman's face, as she reaches for a picture in a silver frame sitting on a table by the door. It's a photograph of the young woman the man drove to the house.

"Lydia was my daughter," the old woman says, "She died in a car wreck by that overpass in 1923. You're not the first one, and I suppose you won't be the last. Every so often, her spirit flags down a passing driver. I suppose she still doesn't understand what happened to her. I suppose she's still trying to get home."

That's why the overgrown underpass near Jamestown is called Lydia's Bridge. Drive past it on a rainy night and you may see Lydia, too.

How to get there
Lydia's Bridge is an on US-70 A or High Point Road, just south of Jamestown.

From I-85 South/Highway 70, take exit 118, which is also business 70.

From this road, takefirst exit you come for Jamestown / Sedgefield, and turn right at the top of the exit on to Vickery Chapel Road.

Go about half a mile to the traffic light where Vickery Chapel Road veers off to the left. Take that left, go another mile, and you'll come to High Point Road. Take a left on to High Point Road, the road curves around and goes under a railway underpass near the "Welcome to Jamestown" sign.

There's a turn-out spot on your right where you can park. Lydia's Bridge is the old underpass there on the right, just through some trees.