The first encounter took place on a damp October evening. The driver in question reported seeing a girl with 'dark shoulder-length hair, olive skin and a gypsy-like appearance' who flagged him down and climbed into the passenger seat without speaking.

The driver noticed that the girl was not just damp but wet to the skin, and made a comment about getting her home before she became ill when the girl suddenly said 'It's too late, he's gone' and disappeared.

The second encounter happened on an afternoon in March. A driver was driving through Asthall on her way to Burford to collect her son from school when she was flagged down by a girl with a similar appearance to the previous encounter.

As before, she was described as being soaking wet and looking distressed but greeted the driver by saying 'You got my message then?' before climbing into the passenger seat. The confused driver asked the girl what she meant, but the girl responded 'The water, the river - he's gone,' before vanishing into thin air.

It's unusual that nobody has suggested an explanation for these two very similar encounters. The girl's wet appearance and references to the river suggest some tragedy in the nearly Evenlode river, but as far as I'm aware nobody has managed to connect Asthall's 'phantom hitch-hiker' to any real-world events.