The Ghost of Uniondale

The Ghost of Uniondale - Myth Legend and The True Story 

The ghost of Uniondale is a staple when it comes to South African ghost stories and urban legends. It has inspired movies, tv series, and a song, made famous by Anton Goosen. It has also made the little town of Uniondale a tourist hotspot.
It’s a tale as old as time, a cliché by today’s standards. A man picks up a hitchhiker on a deserted stretch of highway, only for her to disappear without a trace a few minutes later. Though, what makes this story just a bit more believable, is that there is a true story tied to this event. Even though many people will argue that this has nothing to do with the ghost, and the legend is exactly that, just a legend. 

Who was the 'ghost of Uniondale?'

Maria ‘Ria’ Charlotte Roux was born in Krugersdorp in 1946. She was the second youngest of four children and by all means came out of very normal family. Her mother was a housewife and her father was a principal for a local school in Riversdale. While details about her tragically short life are scant, by 1968, she was working as an administrative assistant in Pretoria, where she would eventually meet her fiancé, Michiel 'Giel' Oberholzer.

Maria Charlotte Roux 

The Accident 

Good Friday in 1968 was by all means set to be a cold and rainy night. The newly engaged couple were on a road trip from Pretoria to Riverdale, to discuss plans for the upcoming wedding, with Maria's parents. 

On the long drive, Ria had fallen asleep in the backseat of their Volkswagen Beetle. Sometime during the night however, Giel unfortunately veered off the road. He lost control and the car overturned just 20 kilometers outside of Uniondale. Ria died instantly, being flung from out the door and ending up in a ditch along the road. 
Giel survived, though he was severely injured and confused. Luckily a passing motorist picked him up and took him to a nearby hospital. Due to his confusion and the darkness, they unfortunately couldn’t find Ria at first. Another passing motorist would find her later on though and would inform the family. She was quickly buried in a cemetery in Riversdale. She was barely 22 years old at the time.

The first encounter

In 1973 a man named Leonard Fraser and his wife, Catharina were driving along the N9 highway late at night. This is the same stretch of road the accident occurred on. 
As they were travelling, they described seeing a beautiful woman in a long white dress, standing next to the road. Worried, they stopped to pick her up but as the car came to a standstill, she disappeared right in front of them. But this would only be the first of many supposed encounters with the ghost of Uniondale. 

More to come 

The most notable account would occur on the evening of May 1st, 1976, also over an Easter Weekend. A man by the name of Anton La Grange was driving on the Uniondale-Willowmore Road when he spotted a young woman standing by the side of the road. 

Unlike the other description, she was wearing a dark coat and slacks. She had dark hair, and was very, very pale. He stopped to pick her up, and asked her where she wanted to go. She answered, No. 2, Porter Street, De Lange. 

After driving for a little while, the man turned to ask her another question, only to find she had disappeared from the backseat. 

Terrified, he sped to the local police station in Uniondale and reported the incident to the officer on duty. The police officer, obviously skeptical of his story, decided to drive behind Anton so he could take him to the place where it happened. While the policeman was driving behind him, he witnessed the passenger side door of Anton’s car open slightly and close again. Like someone was getting out mid drive. 

They immediately stopped, confirming with Anton that he too saw the door opening and closing on its own. Later on, when he was shown a photograph of Maria Le Roux, he identified her as the hitchhiker.

On yet another Easter weekend in 1978, an army corporal by the name of Dawie Van Jaarsveld was on his way to spend the holiday weekend with his girlfriend. While he was driving his motorcycle along the N9, he reached an intersection and saw a young woman standing by the side of the road. She again was dressed in dark clothing with pale skin and dark hair. He stopped to offer the young woman a ride, offering her the spare helmet strapped to his luggage rack. She climbed on, wrapping her arms around his waist. 

But only after a few minutes, the woman's grip loosened and he suddenly felt a bump before realizing the woman was no longer on the back of his motorcycle. Fearing she had fallen off he went back to see if he could find her, but found no evidence of her even ever being there. 

The spare helmet was strapped neatly back on his luggage rack, like it hadn't been used at all. Shaken, he moved on, unsure if he had actually picked someone up or imagined it.

The next encounter would occur in 1980, again on good Friday. when another motorcyclist was driving along the N9. Andre Coetzee was searching for a friend who he thought might have been stranded next to the road. When suddenly he felt hands wrap around his waist, and the feeling of something heavy on the back of his motorcycle. In fear, he accelerated, trying to get away from the stretch of road.

He suddenly felt something hit him on the back of the head three times before the supposed spirit dissipated. He drove back to a local café in Uniondale, where he told everyone what had happened. 

Uniondale’s phantom hitchhiker became so well know, the tale started spreading outside of South African newspapers. It was written about in an American Newspaper in April of 1980, though some details were incorrect, describing her as a blonde woman. 

The ghost of Uniondale became such a popular legend that the British paranormal show, Strange but True? Ran an episode about the sighting of the Phantom hitchhiker of Uniondale. 

You can watch the episode in the video below: 

Almost as if by fate, Giel tragically died in a car accident in 1984. Sightings of Ria would also stop around this time as well. 

Theories:

There have been a few theories around the ghost and why she might still be lingering next to the roadside. 

Many think that Maria might be trying to find her way home, as many of these sightings occurred over Easter weekend and around the time she passed away.

Some have also suggested, that because she died while she was sleeping, she might not even know that she died at all. Another suggests that she might be looking for Giel, who remarried in 1969, barely a year after she passed. This would also explain why she seemingly stopped showing up around the time of his passing as well.

The Family

The story of the hitchhiker of Uniondale is a somewhat sensitive topic for the Roux family. They have hotly debated the existence of the ghost and its ties to Ria. They have even asked the public to refrain from speaking about the ghostly hitchhiker, as it had become a reminder of their tragic loss. 

Her older brother, Frans Roux was interviewed by News24 in 2006. He described how the family had become tired of hearing about the legend and that it was simply a made-up tale to attract more tourists. The organizers of the Klein Karoo art festival have even used the story as advertising and people camp out near the scene of the accident around Easter weekend to catch a glimpse of her. 

The family believes there has never been a ghost and even if there was, that it simply couldn’t be his sister. “Ria would never get on a motorcycle; she was too conservative for that.” He recounted in his interview. 

Do you believe in the ghost of Uniondale? Comment your thoughts below.