By Yogas Nair
A Chatsworth couple returning home in the early hours of Saturday morning are still reeling from shock after their hair-raising experience with a "mysterious Indian woman dressed in black" in Havenside Drive, off Bayview.
According to Nirvana Rupnarain, 30, of Moorton, they were on their way to Havenside to drop off a friend at about 2.30am when "sheeee" appeared out of the blue.
Rupnarain said they were passing Protea Secondary when they spotted a tall woman, dressed in black pants and shirt, standing in the middle of the road.
| 'They reveal themselves in an attempt to communicate with the living world and are not harmful' |
"My first thought was that we were going to be hijacked. She was just standing there and looked frightening with her long black hair hanging on her shoulders and her arms outstretched, almost beckoning for us to stop."
She said that as the car approached the woman, she stepped out into their path of travel and looked straight at them with her "wild, glowing, almost spooky eyes".
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"By this time I was hysterical and screaming. My husband Niresh swerved the car to avoid her but she jumped out of the way."
Rupnarain said they stopped the car and looked back but the woman had disappeared.
"My hair was literally standing on end and I was terrified but still wanted to know what we had seen."
| 'Unless she changed her dress code from white to black, I'm not convinced she's back' |
She said they drove back on the same road but there was no sign of "Sheila".
"I don't believe in ghosts but I said a prayer and have vowed never again to go out late at night."
But her husband Niresh said he was convinced it was either a prostitute or a hijacker.
"I was driving at top speed and this woman just jumped to one side to avoid being hit. I have heard stories about Highway Sheila in the past and unless she changed her dress code from white to black, I'm not convinced she's back."
Legend has it that Highway Sheila was a ghost who roamed on Higginson Highway and was often seen standing in the middle of the road, pleading for motorists to stop, or hitching a lift.
According to one legend, a Chatsworth grandfather fell prey to Highway Sheila when he stopped to give her a lift.
He apparently lent her his jacket and forgot to take it back from her when he dropped her off at home.
The next day, when he went to collect it from the house where he'd dropped her, the woman who was living there told him that the young woman had died many years before.
It seems he went to her graveside to verify the story and found his jacket lying on her tombstone... but then this could be just an urban legend.
According to psychic and spiritual healer Elma Duclou, spirits, otherwise known as poltergeists, really do exist.
She said some people who had died in traumatic circumstances (murder or suicide) often manifested themselves as spirits during the festive season or at certain phases of the moon.
"They reveal themselves in an attempt to communicate with the living world and are not harmful in any way."
She suggested that anyone who encountered such spirits should pray and seek protection from God.
"This creates a good energy and washes away any evil."
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Post on December 08, 2004
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