The Rose Valley Incident: I Picked Up a Passenger That Wasn’t Real

So this is the most creepy experience of my life from where I somehow saved myself and escaped. This happened when I was 22 and I had just got a new job as a cab driver. My shift was from 9 PM to 5 AM. I was actually happy because at night there are fewer people looking for taxis and the owner was paying extra because of night charges, so it felt like easy money. The first few days were normal, like on the first day I only got 2–3 customers and everything was going fine. But on the 4th day, something happened that I still can’t explain.

Around 12:30 AM I got a call from the station to pick up a customer from a bus stand near Rose Valley Café, which is a local place in my area. It was around 5 km from where I was, and the drop location was another 6 km in the opposite direction. I even asked them if there was no other cab nearby because it was pretty far, but they said no one else was available. So I agreed. The guy at the station told me, “This will be your last ride of the day.” I actually felt good hearing that because it meant I could go home early.

I started driving, listening to some low jazz music, roads were empty, everything felt normal. After driving about 2 km, I saw a person walking on the side of the road. He looked at my cab and raised his hand. I stopped and told him the cab was already booked, but he said, “Actually, I booked the cab.” He stepped into the headlights and I could see his face properly. He looked… pale. Not sick, just unnaturally pale, like all the color was drained from his face.

I asked him for the OTP, but he just froze. Completely still. His eyes went wide and he didn’t blink for a few seconds. It honestly made me uncomfortable, but then suddenly he acted normal again and gave me the OTP. It was correct. So I unlocked the door and he sat in the back seat and said, “Please move.”

When I started driving again, I realized something strange. I had picked him up right near a graveyard. I don’t know how I didn’t notice that before. Still, I ignored it and kept driving. He didn’t say a single word. I know most passengers stay quiet at night, but even then they at least say something small. This guy was completely silent.

After around 20 minutes of driving, I started noticing something weird. The road, the fields, everything felt the same. I saw this one tall tree on the side of the road… again. Then again. Then again. At first I thought I was imagining things, but when I saw the same exact tree for the 6th time, I got scared. Like properly scared.

I asked him, “Sir, do you feel like we are in the same place for a long time?” No response. I checked the rear-view mirror. He was just sitting there, staring straight, not reacting to anything.

Then suddenly the surroundings changed. The open road was gone and we were inside a forest. That made no sense because there is no forest on that route. I started trying to calm myself down thinking maybe I took a wrong turn or maybe I was just tired.

Then suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I literally froze. My hands started shaking. I looked and it was him. I somehow controlled myself and asked, “Yes sir?” He said in a very low voice, “Are you ready?” I didn’t understand and asked, “For what?” He just smiled. That smile… it didn’t feel normal at all.

After a few minutes, my phone rang. It was the station. I picked it up and said, “Cab 21, I picked up the customer from Rose Valley bus stand and I’m on the way.”

There was a pause.

Not a normal pause… the kind where you can hear someone processing something.

Then he said, slowly,

“Repeat that… from where did you pick him?”

I felt a little confused and said,

“Near the bus stand… Rose Valley side.”

Another pause.

This time longer.

I could hear some background noise, like he was asking someone else.

Then he came back on the call, but his voice had changed.

“Where exactly are you right now?”

I looked around. Trees. Darkness. No signboards. No lights.

“I… I don’t know exactly. Somewhere on the route. Why?”

Then he said something that made my chest go tight.

“The customer is still here.”

For a second, I thought I heard it wrong.

I even laughed nervously and said,

“What? No, he’s sitting in my cab right now. I took the OTP and—”

He cut me off.

“No. Listen to me carefully. The customer is standing right here at the bus stand. He’s been calling us for the last 10 minutes asking where you are.”

My grip on the steering wheel tightened.

My eyes slowly moved to the rear-view mirror… but I didn’t fully look yet.

I whispered,

“Then… who is in my car?”

There was no response for 2–3 seconds.

Only static.

Then suddenly his voice came back—low, serious, and fast.

“Don’t react. Don’t look at it directly.”

My heart started pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.

“Just tell me… did he approach you first?”

I didn’t answer immediately.

Because I already knew the answer.

“…yes.”

Dead silence.

Then he said, almost under his breath,

“Shit…”

I could hear movement on his side, like chairs shifting, someone else asking what happened.

Then he came back on the call, louder this time—

“Listen to me very carefully. You need to leave the car. Right now.”

I froze.

“What? Are you serious? I’m in the middle of nowhere—”

“LEAVE. THE. CAR.”

His voice was no longer calm. He was almost shouting now.

“Open the door and run. Don’t argue. Don’t wait. Don’t look back. Just run as far as you can.”

My throat went dry.

I slowly said,

“What is that thing…?”

He didn’t answer directly.

Instead he said something that made my blood go cold—

“If it spoke to you… you don’t have much time.”

At that exact moment…

I felt something shift behind me

I slowly looked into the rear-view mirror.

And what I saw… was not the same person anymore.

Its face looked stretched, its smile was too wide, its body looked distorted, smaller than before, and it had long white hair covering parts of its face. Then I noticed something that I will never forget… its legs were bent backwards.

I didn’t think twice. I slammed the brakes, opened the door and ran.

Behind me, it screamed. Not like a human. It was something else.

I ran into the forest and hid behind a big tree. I could hear it walking, searching for me. The footsteps were slow but clear. I peeked slightly and saw it. It had long sharp nails and its body kept moving in a strange unnatural way like it couldn’t stay still in one shape.

The footsteps got closer. I crouched down in the bushes, barely breathing. It was so close I thought it would find me.

Then suddenly it moved away.

That was my chance. I ran back to the car as fast as I could, jumped inside, locked all doors, and started the engine.

It saw me.

It started running towards the car and slammed into the window again and again until the glass cracked and broke. But I didn’t stop. I drove as fast as I could. I could still see it in the rear-view mirror chasing me for a few seconds before it disappeared into the darkness.

I somehow made it out.

The next day I went back to that same road with two other drivers.

There was no forest.

No graveyard.

Nothing.

Just a normal empty road.

I quit that job the same day.