Malaysia's Ghost Stories

The Mysterious Taxi Passenger (Urban Legend)

The story is often told of a taxi driver who was working the night shift. As he drove through the quiet city roads, the dashboard clock slowly counted down to midnight. Suddenly, he saw a beautiful young woman standing at the corner of a traffic light junction. She had long black hair and was dressed in a flowing white dress.

He stopped his cab to ask if she needed a ride. The young lady turned slowly to stare at him. Then she got into the cab without a word. As soon as she entered the car, the taxi driver was hit with a strong scent of jasmine flowers. When he asked where she wanted to go, the girl simply handed him a piece of paper. On it was written a number and the name of a road.

The taxi driver was not familiar with the location and asked the girl if she could help direct him. She nodded silently. However, the young lady did not say a single word throughout the ride, only nodding her head to indicate when the taxi driver had taken the correct course.

At last, they found the road, which was situated well away from the city center. It was narrow - just enough for one car to pass - and dark, as there were no working streetlights. It was now almost midnight and a light mist had formed, making it difficult to see along the road. As the taxi driver inched forward carefully, he tried to make out the addresses on the houses on his left and right. To his growing horror, there were no houses in sight – just endless rows of grave stones!

He broke out in a cold sweat and the back of his neck prickled. Not daring to look into his rear view mirror now, he nervously asked the young lady if this was really where she wanted to go. There was no answer from the back seat. As he slowly guided his cab through the darkness, he desperately hoped that there was a house somewhere ahead where the girl lived.

At last, he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He dared not turn around but simply stopped the car. He heard the rustle of money and felt the girl hand him the cash. He took the money in his shaking hand and stuck it in the ashtray compartment without counting it. He heard the rear door open and close. Then he sped off down the dark, winding road and headed straight home without a glance behind.

The next morning, curiosity got the better of him and he returned to the place where he had dropped the young lady. It was indeed a vast cemetery, sliced through by the narrow road he had driven along the night before. He found the lot number that the girl had given him. Chills seeped into his bones when he saw the woman’s picture staring back at him from a fresh gravestone. As he got back into the cab, he remembered the money in the ashtray. To his horror, it was all Chinese hell notes! He threw it out of the cab and sped away.

Later, he found out that that a girl had died the week before in a horrible accident at the very junction he had picked her up from. It was a hit and run, and it happened at around midnight. The driver was never caught.

By Lai Chee Seng October 7, 2014 / 14:09 MYT on Coconuts KL