Ghost appears along Juba – Nimule Road. Is it true?
A photo of a mysterious-looking woman with hooves wandering a highway at night is taking South Sudanese cyberspace by storm.
On Saturday this week, Juba Eye, a South Sudanese-owned Facebook page picked up the photo and shared it with more than 190,000 of its fans.
The page posted the photo and captioned it “Be careful when you travel along the Juba – Nimule Highway. Whenever you see something of this hit it without mercy”. This message was directed to motorists who ply the highway.
The post ignited emotion and garnered over 600 reactions, 25 shares, and 178 comments at the time of writing with some followers saying “God, please help us”.
However, a Yandex reverse search results showed that the photo was neither taken from along Juba – Nimule Highway nor anywhere in South Sudan.
The photo, which has been published on 12 different websites and blogs, first appeared on the internet in September 2016. A collection of articles on which the photo was featured claim that it was taken from one of the highways in Kenya.
Kenyan drivers, according to one particular blog post by Sir Gitau, have complained of a woman stopping them and asking for a lift. One particular article gives a hint that the highway could be Thika Road, an eight-lane controlled-access highway with 12 lanes in some sections.
According to Google Maps, Thika Road links the capital city of Nairobi with the industrial town of Thika. However, we could not verify and ascertain the exact name of the highway roamed by the ghost.
On 23 September 2016, a Ugandan Twitter user posted the image and captioned it with an inquiry. “The ghost that causes accidents at Buwama on Masaka Road caught on camera. Is this true information?” he tweeted.
In response, NTV Uganda confirmed that it was in Ruai in Kasarani, Nairobi County.
Conclusion
There have been no reported cases of ghosts or a ghost appearing to travellers along the Juba – Nimule Highway and the highway has no reflectors as seen in the photo circulating. Hence, the post by Juba Eye is false and misleading.