There is a video going viral on WhatsApp for a few days. I have gotten the same video in a number of WhatsApp groups that I am in. It claims that a Hero Splendor+ is getting ridden by a ghost. The video is supposedly taken from a CCTV camera where it looks like the bike is moving without anyone doing so. I am here to tell you that it’s not being done by a ghost and explain how.
Watch the video again and you can see the wheels spin just before they fall on the ground. Just this fact is enough to squash any possibility of ghosts and figure out the actual reason. According to all the signs and my understanding of a motorcycle, the best explanation is this.
This Hero Splendor has faulty wiring, which makes it start on its own. All the bikes have an electric start now and sometimes due to water or short-circuiting they could start on their own. This bike seems to be starting in neutral due to faulty wiring. The bike is on a stand which means it can only revolve around the side stand. You could have seen rear tyres spinning slowly when a bike is started in neutral and is on a stand. This is because the engine transmission is not entirely frictionless. Spinning a gear on a shaft that is floating on a film of oil, the shaft gets dragged along by the friction between the gear and the oil film. This is even more pronounced if the grease has gotten thick over time due to dirt.
This seems to be the case with this Hero Splendor. The bike starts due to faulty wiring, tyres start to spin in neutral, the bike starts creeping forwards along with the side stand, the stand gets stuck on a bump, rear tyres spin and the bike falls over when it’s not able to clear the bump.
This is the best possible reason for this video. While mysteries are interesting its often simple reasons for things like this to happen. There are no ghosts, certainly none in this video.
