Sussex named amongst spookiest counties for haunted highways - 'ghosts in front of drivers'

Sussex has been named one of the UK’s most haunted counties for spooky road sightings, thanks to a string of eerie encounters.

According to new research by car lease specialists Select Car Leasing, Sussexjoins the ranks of Britain’s most ghost-ridden regions, with the infamous A23 being home to multiple chilling sightings reported since the 1970s.

The analysis draws on data from The Paranormal Database, a long-running online archive that has been documenting ghost stories across the UK since 2003. Of more than 15,000 records in the database, around 8 percent relate specifically to haunted roads.

Among the reports from Sussex are accounts of ghostly figures appearing suddenly in front of drivers before vanishing on impact, as well as shadowy pedestrians dressed in pale clothing spotted along the stretch between London and Brighton.

While Sussex makes the list, the UK’s spookiest county overall is Wiltshire, followed by Dorset, Essex, Suffolk and Somerset.

The findings are backed up by a survey of 1,000 UK drivers, which revealed that 9 percent claimed to have seen a ghost on the road. That number jumps to 20 percent among younger drivers aged 18 to 24.

Graham Conway, Managing Director at Select Car Leasing, said: “If you think potholes and middle-lane hoggers are scary, look away now, because there might be something even more frightening lurking on Britain’s roads."

Darren Mann, author and founder of The Paranormal Database, added: “It’s unsurprising roads attract so many paranormal experiences. Some of our routes have been used for thousands of years by travellers experiencing fear, joy, or even death. Maybe a few of those emotions have left psychic scars that drivers encounter today.”

Other eerie incidents logged by The Paranormal Database over the last two decades include reports from across the country. In Wiltshire, a ghostly woman was seen skipping across the A36 before vanishing as a car passed through her..

In Suffolk, a phantom teenager appeared in the backseat of a car only to disappear moments later. In Devon, two witnesses reported hearing a motorbike overtaking their car without ever seeing it. And in Norfolk, a driver swerved to avoid three 18th-century figures in the road, one cloaked in red.