The Haunted Cars Of History

Can cars be haunted? Here are three extraordinary alleged examples.

The Graf & Stift Death Limo

Franz Ferdinand the archduke of Austria- Hungary was assassinated on the 28th of June 1914, a pivotal event in the beginning of the First World War. Earlier on the day of his death he had bizarrely survived another assassination attempt, where the bomb had simply bounced off the hood of the limo, instead exploding underneath the car behind. It was Ferdinand visiting the injured members of his entourage later in the day that sealed his fate, this was something his assassins never could have predicted. The chauffeur was unsure of his route and ended up pulling up some six feet from the gunman.

Stranger still, the Arch Duke (a keen huntsman) had shot dead a rare white stag, tradition states that whoever kills a white stag, will die within the year. Just before his passing, Ferdinand had premonitions of his death becoming increasingly depressed. “I know I shall soon be murdered” he had said to friends.

The car in question, a Gräf and Stift double phaeton, was lent to the Duke a day before his death. There are many stories regarding the cursed car, such as that it was painted blood red, or that all subsequent owners before it passed away before it was put on display in a Vienna museum. Unfortunately, there is no…