Is Niles Canyon Road Really Haunted by a ‘White Witch’?

For decades now, there have been rumors that strange specters and ghostly goings-on haunt Niles Canyon Road. The winding, seven-mile stretch of highway, which runs alongside Alameda Creek to the northeast of Fremont, has been the subject of paranormal speculation for almost the entire century that cars have been using it. But why?

One major incident happened in 1950 with a man named Fred Rogers (not to be confused with the cardigan-clad hero of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood ). Rogers reported that, late one night, he saw a girl wearing a white gown and combing her long black hair next to the creek. Concerned for her safety, Rogers drove towards the rock where she sat, only to have her suddenly disappear.

“She was gone,” he told the Oakland Tribune in 1960. “She vanished the way a roc