Room for One More?

 

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This month in 1906 the E.F. Benson story The Bus-Conductor was published in Pall Mall Magazine. It’s one of the earliest appearances of the urban legend Room For One More?

The story goes like this: a traveler is staying the night at a friend’s house. Shortly after midnight, a sound from outside brings them to the window. On the driveway below, the traveler sees a hearse pull up. There is no coffin inside, but instead a group of living people. The hearse driver, a man with a sinister appearance, looks up at the traveler in the window and says, “There’s room for one more.”

Shaken, the traveler returns to bed, and in the morning, dismisses the creepy encounter as a dream. But later that day the traveler goes to board a bus, and finds the driver looks exactly like the hearse-driver from the night before. And he repeats his invitation— “There’s room for one more.” 

Terrified, the traveler backs away from the bus, letting it leave without them. A moment later, a truck slams into the bus, killing everyone on board.

Read all about it on my blog, and get writing prompts, such as:

Destination unknown. The story always ends with a crash. But there are other potentially horrifying fates. Perhaps the bus is hijacked, or takes a wrong turn down a foggy road and never arrives at its next stop. Maybe the elevator reaches the first floor unscathed, but with all its passengers vanished. Could it have opened at floor 13, which everyone thinks does not exist?

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