Hello Internet - and welcome back to Top 5 Scary Videos.
Now, the kindness of strangers is a magical thing - the aid and assistance of someone
that you have no ties or obligations to, but are willing to lend a helping hand when in
need.
Shared preservation is what has made us so successful as a species, but in some cases
- that’s exactly where predators look to take advantage.
Be warned, horror fans - when you’re left out in the open, you never know who’ll come
knocking.
Today we’re taking a look at some terrifying tales from the road, as always, I’ll be
your host Jack Finch - as we take a look at 5 Scary Hitchhiker Encounters.
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Kicking off at Number 5 - A Ride to Joy House.
On August 16th, 1982, two sisters - Yvette and Marie Bauhaud - were hitchhiking on their
trip through the South of Iceland.
Now - it was a different time, and - particularly in Iceland, which is generally a very small,
safe country - hitchhiking was the preferred method of transport for young people.
On that morning - on the side of the road, the sisters were picked up by a man in his
mid 40s.
His name was Gretar Arnason.
He told them both that his job was to protect the area - and help local tourists whose cars
had broken down.
The girls got the impression that he was a sheriff of some kind - he spoke English incredibly
well - and he took them to a small cabin in the countryside - called a Saeluhus - or a
Joy House.
By the next morning though, Yvette would be missing - and Marie would be rushed to hospital.
In the events that transpired, Arnason arrived back at the cabin after midnight with a rifle
and a spool of wire in hand.
He accused the girls of smoking weed, and claimed that he was taking them to the police.
He knocked Marie unconscious with his rifle, while Yvette ran into the woods - where she
was hunted by Arnason and shot dead.
Marie survived the incident - and lived to tell the tale.
Coming in next at Number 4 - Keith Jesperson
In the 1990’s, hitchhiking in North America was a dangerous feat if you ever crossed the
path of Keith Hunter Jesperson.
Born in 1955 - Jesperson was a Canadian-American serial killer, who found that his occupation
as a truck-driver offered him the perfect guise to carry out his sadistic life-long
murder spree.
It is believed that he went on to murder at least eight women - although he has personally
claimed to have killed as many as 185 people.
Also known as the Happy Face Killer - Jesperson’s prefered method of murder was strangulation
- the same method that he used to kill animals as a child.
Nearly all of his victims were hitchhikers on the road - young women and transients on
the road, who had zero connection to him - and were, for the majority - looking to run away
from their pasts.
After the body of his first victim was found, the crime remained unsolved, which angered
him - Jesperson began writing letters to police and the media, taunting them with his involvement
and a hand drawn smiley face - which led to him being dubbed as the Happy Face Killer.
Jesperson was eventually caught, and eventually sentenced to four consecutive life sentences
- and he remains imprisoned at the Oregon State Penitentiary.
Coming in at Number 3 - we’re going to break this up with a good-old tale from Reddit.
Reddit user thebestjeans tells a horrific hitchhiking tale that her family friend Nicki
told her growing up.
There’s a lot to be learnt in this story - so make sure to pay attention.
It was the early 80s - and Nicki was a young woman in her mid 20s.
She was a real free spirit - a kind hearted soul who saw the best in everyone, and was
always willing to lend a hand.
Nicki was driving, about an hour or two from the nearest town - when she saw a man walking
down the side of the road.
He was hitchhiking, so she picked him up - and asked if he needed any help.
He was a polite man.
Shy, if a bit unassuming - and asked for a lift into the city.
Of course, Nicki was always there to lend a hand.
Along the way, the conversation was pleasant enough.
General small talk - about friends, the weather and the news.
Nicki even bought him dinner at a little pit stop on the halfway point - which he became
embarrassed and flustered at - but it was fine, Nicki was helping the guy out.
As soon as they got to the city, the man couldn’t thank her enough.
Before he left, he asked for Nicki’s number so he could contact her and thank her - eventually
pay her back for her kindness.
Now - here’s the rub.
A week or so later, Nicki got a phone call.
It was the man.
As he spoke, he didn’t let her get a word in edgewise.
He said that she should thank god that she was raised so nice, because his first thought
when he got in the car was that he wouldn’t kidnap and murder her once they got to that
first pit stop.
He’d steal the car and dump the body in a ditch and be on his merry little way.
But after she was so kind - he couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He couldn’t live with himself after murdering such a nice lady like Nicki.
He warned her - please Nicki.
Never.
Ever.
Pick up another hitchhiker.
Then he hung up the phone.
Well - you’d be a fool to not take that advice, wouldn’t you?
And next at Number 2 - The Highway of Death.
If you’ve ever seen the film Wolf Creek - this one will give you chills.
Ominously dubbed the highway of death - an 800 kilometer stretch of road in pure isolation
of the Australian Outback - is the site of 14 unsolved cold cases - the majority of which,
young hitchhikers trying to make their way across the unforgiving country.
Well - I say unsolved for pure effect - because in 2014, the killer came forward in all their
grisly reality.
The 32 year-long investigation was blown wide open by abattoir worker Andy Albury, dubbed
Australia’s Hannibal Lecter - who was already serving life in prison for the 1984 murder
of Aboriginal woman Gloria Pindan.
He’d toyed with the facts though, throughout the years - leading investigations to dead
ends and then retracting his statements.
Detective Sergeant Les Chapman, the first to arrest Albury in 1983 - claimed that he’d
boasted to him of killing 14 other people while he moved across the Australian Outback,
making him one of the youngest serial killers in history.
Scary stuff.
Even scarier, though - that the truth of the matter hasn’t been officially concluded
- with some believing that another killer is still at large.
And finally, at our Number 1 spot, Ben Rhoades.
Now - if this whole list hasn’t been fuel enough for avoiding hitchhiking, then this
final spot definitely will.
Robert Ben Rhoades - AKA the Truck Stop Killer - is a prevalent American serial killer who
is suspected of torturing and murdering more than 50 women between 1975 and 1990.
As far as police are away, the Truck Stop Killer was at large for over 15 years - with
his modus operandi being the mobility and transient nature of a long-distance truck
driver.
So much so, that Rhoades was discovered to have converted the sleeper cab of his truck
into a personal torture chamber - where he kept his victims, sometimes for weeks, before
murdering them.
Through the 80s and early 90s, the Truck Stop Killer would prey on teenagers - young people
who had runaway from home, looking to get from place to place in the massive sprawl
of rural America.
It wasn’t until April 1990, when an Arizona police officer found a truck on the side of
the road with its hazard lights on.
When he investigated, he found a woman - handcuffed and screaming - and Rhoades, who attempted
to talk himself out of the situation.
Thankfully - justice was served, and Rhoades was imprisoned.
Although he has only been convicted of three murders, he is imprisoned for life without
parole.
Well - that’s the end of that, and good riddance - too.
I don’t know about you, but if I ever find myself walking down a lonely highway at night
- I think I’ll just walk.
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As always, I’ve been your host Jack Finch - you’ve been watching Top 5 Scary Videos
- and until next time, you take it easy.