Ohio Urban Legends

The Headless Ghost

The legend of the Elmore Rider is quite familiar to the residents of this town. Every year on March 21, the alleged anniversary of the motorcyclist's death, residents and visitors from outlying areas converge at one of several bridges hoping to catch a glimpse of the headless rider. The story is simple yet intriguing and has been around for at least forty years.

Our story begins during the war as a soldier dreams of returning to the arms of his sweetheart. As he serves his country his thoughts linger on his beautiful love waiting for him back home. Finally, the day comes when he receives his discharge papers. Soon he will kiss his beloved and together they will make plans for a family and live out the rest of their days in happiness. Alighting from his ship to the mainland he mounts his motorcycle and starts his drive home. On the way home his thoughts again turn to the woman waiting for him. Approaching her house he notices two people engaged in an intimate kiss. He smiles, knowing the love that the two must surely share for each other. But his smile quickly fades as he nears the couple, for he knows the female quite well. It is his betrothed! Unable to think or to speak he violently turns a corner on a dirt road leading away from the couple. His mind full of confusion and anger he races down the road at blinding speed oblivious to any danger. He does not know what is happening around him, he is lost in the torture of his betrayal. He hears an agonized scream and realizes it is coming from his own mouth. Rain starts to fall making the narrow road even more treacherous. Then suddenly there is a curve ahead and beyond that a narrow bridge. Speeding over the bridge our anguished rider loses control and is killed as his bike falls into the deep ravine below the bridge. Later the authorities find his mangled body lying lifeless. A short distance away they find something else.....his decapitated head.

While this story utilizes some dramatic poetic license, a search for other stories of the Elmore Rider turns up more or less similar tales with some differences. In one account our intrepid rider is decapitated by a wire strung across the bridge as a prank and returns to the scene every year looking for the person or persons responsible. Other accounts have him plunging over the side of the bridge to his death, minus a head of course. There seems to be no consensus as to the time period of this accident. Tales put the occurrence as either during World War I or World War II. Sightings of headless motorcycle riders are not limited to Elmore, Ohio though. Tulare, California also has its own headless rider. In this story, a cyclist is beheaded by a rope strung across a bridge as a practical joke. The pranksters apparently misjudged the height of the rope leading to the rider's demise and beheading. This incident allegedly took place in 1950's after which the ghost of the victim can be seen as well as heard driving down the road. This legend is also a subject of debate. Some of those among the living claim to have been closely associated with the victim and place its occurrence in the 1960s. There are also tales of a headless rider traveling the roads of Ojai, California on his vintage 1940s motorcycle. Stories relating to headless motorcycle riders are not culturally bound to the U.S. In the U.K. we have a poor soul who is beheaded while riding behind a lorry carrying a load of steel plates. As the rider attempts to pass the vehicle, one of the steel sheets falls from the lorry and decapitates the poor fellow. The forward momentum of the cycle carries it along with his headless body, past the lorry driver's window. Looking over, the driver sees the headless rider and has a heart attack. One of several things happens to the driver according to different accounts. He runs off the road and dies; he runs into a crowd of people; or he runs off the side of the road takes out a mother and her baby. The aforementioned tales have been passed down for years from person to person and have become part of local legend.

It is rare to have an actual firsthand account from someone who has actually witnessed one of these headless riders. However, here is a tale from India which is told by someone who actually claims to have experienced such a sighting. Kasara Ghat is a valley in India with narrow winding roads. This well-traveled area is well known as it is the route to the Shridi Temple. This holy temple was built for the revered saint "Sai Baba". Thousands of people visit this site every year. The narrow road leading to the temple is very dangerous and cars cannot pass each other safely so one must back down the road so that the other can pass safely. Two cars passing on the road can lead to disaster as one bad turn would find one crashing into the valley below. One early morning at about 1:00 am a driver noticed a cycle behind him honking so as to get him to move aside. The driver ignored the biker; only a fool would try to pass on so narrow a road. The honking continued and finally the frustrated driver slowed with the intent of cursing out the biker as he passed. Imagine his surprise as a headless rider sped by and disappeared into thin air in front of him and his passengers. Upon reaching the temple the astonished witnesses told a villager about their experience with the headless entity. The villager informed them that years ago a biker was killed while trying to overtake a truck. Since that day people who traveled that road often saw this headless biker. Legend has it that if you do not let him overtake you, you yourself will have a horrific accident.