Ghost train (folklore)

This article is about paranormal phenomena involving locomotives and trains. For other uses, see Ghost train (disambiguation).

Ghost train refers to a phantom vehicle in the form of a locomotive or train.

Folklore

• Silverpilen (Silver Arrow) is a Stockholm Metro train which features in several urban legends alleging sightings of the train's "ghost".
• The St. Louis Ghost Train, better known as the St. Louis Light, is visible at night along an old abandoned rail line inbetween Prince Albert and St. Louis, Saskatchewan. Two local students won an award for investigating and eventually duplicating the phenomenon, which they determined to be caused by the diffraction of distant vehicle lights.
• A phantom funeral train is said to run regularly from Washington, D.C. to Springfield, Illinois, around the time of the annual anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's death, stopping watches and clocks in surrounding areas as it passes.

Popular culture

Ghost Train is the name of numerous plays, films, TV series and episodes, albums, songs, and other creative works. Notable examples are listed at Ghost train (disambiguation).

• In Enid Blyton's 1948 Famous Five book Five Go Off to Camp, mysterious "spook trains" are exposed as a cover used by criminals. The story was subsequently adapted for television and radio.
• The beginning of the 1997 direct-to-video comedy-drama fantasy film Casper: A Spirited Beginning is set on a "death train" bound for Ghost Central Station.
• In the 1996 Hey Arnold! episode "Haunted Train", the protagonists hear of the "legend of the haunted train" and head for the abandoned train station where it's said to appear - and the train that pulls up to the station at midnight matches the description.
• In the 1989 film Ghostbusters II, Egon, Winston and Ray, while exploring the underground tunnels of New York City, encounter the ghostly apparition of an NYC Central locomotive that derailed in the 1920s, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of people.
• The video game Final Fantasy VI features a ghost train that transports the spirits of the dead to the afterlife.