Travel Journalist Ghost Stories 6 / A Driver Who Died at a Level Crossing, Still Holding His Post

ETtoday Eastday Travel Cloud specially collected accounts from multiple online travel journalists to reveal the ghostly experiences of travel reporters that readers never see before or after the reports. In fact, there’s another profession that often hears about terrifying ghost encounters—that’s drivers, too. The following real-life ghost story is a heartwarming one. Let’s continue reading...

By Chen Xiaodong

I’m a bus driver. The bus company I work for is located in a rather remote area of Taiwan. In 1987, there was a driver who was a very good colleague of mine. He died tragically when his bus was hit by a train while crossing a level crossing. We were all extremely, extremely saddened by it.

Just like the MRT carriages where Zheng Jie committed his murders—they still had to keep operating. After our company repaired the bus, it became my responsibility to drive that vehicle—the one that had taken my colleague’s life. Yes… what you’re thinking happened, did happen.

One night, I was chatting and having tea with some colleagues who had finished their shifts at the head office. Before heading home, I suddenly remembered that my house keys were left in the bus. So I rushed over to my assigned bus. As I approached the vehicle, I suddenly looked up—and there he was. I was absolutely certain I wasn’t seeing things, because for a few seconds, I couldn’t believe my eyes. He was sitting in the driver’s seat, leaning on the steering wheel, as if he were resting. But strangely, I wasn’t scared. My first thought was: “So he’s been here all along,” and “He’s still holding his post.” When I bent down to grab my keys and looked up again, he was gone from the driver’s seat...

Later, due to vehicle scheduling, the bus was assigned to several other drivers. The next two or three colleagues who drove it also claimed to have seen him. We all knew—he was watching over the bus for us… Brother, thank you.

Postscript: Actually, we often hear about other bus drivers encountering ghosts—like groups of people chatting near the bus, or someone suddenly shaking the bus when it’s parked by the roadside for a break… But we usually maintain a positive mindset, knowing they mean no harm and are just from a different world. So we choose to give them space out of respect.


▲ The most common ghost encounter for bus drivers is… feeling like someone is shaking the bus even though there’s no one inside or outside. (Photo is a stock image for illustration only and unrelated to the above story)