There could be more to Blackwall Tunnel than meets the eye (Picture: Nico Hogg/Flickr)
If ghost hunters and true crime enthusiasts are to be believed, the Blackwall Tunnel is home to a phantom hitchhiker.
Whether or not you believe in ghost stories, the dark underground tunnels of London would be a perfect place for a tormented soul.
One of the rumoured haunted routes is the Blackwall Tunnel in east London taking drivers under the murky River Thames.
But the tunnel’s mystery dates back to before it became the notorious traffic hotspot it is today.
Queueing traffic is a familiar sight at Blackwall Tunnel (Picture: Vickie Flores/Lnp/REX/Shutterstock)
Folklore and urban legend enthusiasts claim there have been sightings of a hitchhiker in the tunnel since the early 1970s.
According to one by folklore podcaster Icy Sedgwick, the ghost prefers motorcyclists to drivers as one biker claimed after stopping to pick up a hitchhiker who wanted to go to Leigh-on-Sea in Essex.
When the biker reached the end of the tunnel, the passengers had disappeared.
View of the Blackwall Tunnel in 1967 (Picture: John Downing/Getty Images)
The shocked rider decided to visit the address the hitchhiker had given where he was greeted by a woman who told how a young man had lost his life in a motorcycle crash years earlier.
But what could be the origin behind the ghost tale?
Blackwall Tunnel
Workers in the Blackwall Tunnel before it opened fully in 1897 (Picture: Science & Society Picture Library/Getty Images)
The tunnel opened officially on May 22, 1897, after construction which cost £1,400,000.
When it opened, it was the longest underwater tunnel in the world at 6,200 ft.
But the excavation was difficult as tunneling went through sand which at times ran less than 6 ft beneath the river bed.
The tunnel connects Tower Hamlets and Greenwich, and it is part of the A102.
A second parallel tunnel opened in 1967 to help ease congestion.
It has been free to use, but TfL has announced plans for a new toll for drivers starting next year.
The transport authority is currently running a consultation about the new charges which would come into force next spring when the Silvertown tunnel opens.
If approved, motorists would face a fee from 6am until 10pm seven daysa week.
The off-peak rate would be £1.50, while peak charge would be £2.50 for cars, motorbikes and small vans.
Sedgwick cites a letter that appeared in Fortean Times in 1994, describing a fatal accident in 1960 which allegedly killed a motorcyclist.
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A week later exactly at 2am when the crash is thought to have happened, a similar sound could be heard ringing through the tunnel.
Driving through Blackwall Tunnel any time of day can feel eerie (Picture: mira66/Flickr)
If you believe in supernatural phenomena, places of historical tragedy could be hotspots for ghosts.
And a tragedy has struck in the tunnel – seven men reportedly died during the construction which saw 800 workers carry out the effort at the end of the Victorian period.
Today, the hitchhiker’s story has become an urban legend across Isle of Dogs and north Greenwich.
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