The Ghost of Uniondale

	The Ghost of Uniondale She is probably South Africa’s most well known highway ghost.  On our recent vacation, we passed through Uniondale and we were told the following story, the inhabitants swear it is true:  The story starts on the evening of 12th April 1968 when a recently engaged couple, Maria Roux and G.M. Pretorius were travelling from Graaf Reinet to Riversdal.  They however never made their destination , Pretorius lost control of the vehicle just outside Uniondale and they were involved in a horrible accident. Pretorius was injured and when the wreck was found by a local farmer the next morning Maria was dead.  A few years later, in 1976 motorists started seeing a woman in white alongside the road where the accident took place. Some motorists picked her up, minutes later they would hear a shrill laugh , the sound of a door closing and an icy chill would be felt inside the car. This became known as the ghost of Maria Roux.  It is also said that the local police department kept some sugar water available to calm tourists who came in to report seeing a ghost.  The story further goes that Pretorius got married a year after the tragic accident and that is why Maria became restless, the fact that her fiancé had found love in the arms of another woman.  When Pretorius himself died in a car accident in 1984, Maria stopped appearing, she was at peace at last.