Chances are if you live in America, you have encountered the homeless. Most cities have their regular homeless, and then you have the ones like the person I am going to write about today. Homeless people, that by either their look or mysteriousness, become legend. Your town probably even has one. That one homeless person who really stands out amongst all the others. Maybe they dress differently (or not at all). Maybe their psychopathic babbling is a bit louder than the rest. Or maybe so many rumors and stories have been told about them that they transcend the realm of being a mere normal homeless person. Whatever the case may be, it turns out we have one such person in my town (Actually we have two but I can’t find pictures of the other). So for your consideration, I give you…

The Bike Lady of Winston Salem!

I remember seeing this woman when I was a child, roughly two decades ago. She looked pretty much the exact same as she does now, which I thought was strange. Even stranger, there are some older folks in town who remember seeing her as long ago as 40 years ago, and insist that she hasn’t aged a single day since then. Of course these are old people we are talking about. The same age group that thinks it is okay to shit themselves, and who always mistake you for their own grandchild when you show up at the old folks home to visit your own relatives. Known as “Whoopi” to the masses (I am told because of her hair, which I have never seen due to her 9 times out of 10 wearing a hood), it was only recently discovered that her real name is Esther. She is pretty much just known for pedaling her pink bike all over the city nearly 24 hours a day, and generally inciting hushed whispering and low-brow snickering upon being seen. Now, while that alone doesn’t seem too impressive (Homeless people do this extensively), when we dip into her origins – or rumored ones at least – things get a bit more interesting.

Tragic Beginnings

Now, I sincerely hope what I hear about her early life is not true. If so, it’s a very sad story, and I guess I can see how it would drive someone completely insane. I don’t mind the Bike Lady, she doesn’t bother anyone and just goes about her business. I’m not even making fun of her so much with this article. Instead, I’m just spreading the word of a local legend in hopes that one day my story will be quoted on one of those weird Travel Channel countdowns. Perhaps The Worlds Top Ten Most Extreme Homeless People. Anyway, there are several rumors, but a lot of details remain the same through most of them. It is generally agreed upon that she was born to a rich family and had money throughout her life. Most agree that her parents died in a fire when she was young (There IS apparently confirmation that a burned down house used to be in the area where her childhood home supposedly was), and she then inherited their money. Supposedly later on she would go on to marry someone, and live a fairly normal life. This is where our story branches off to two popular directions though:

1. The man she married was only after her money. After being briefly married he left her, taking a good portion of her cash. She would then go on to give the rest away and begin living her life on the street.

2. She was happily married with a child, but the husband and baby both passed away. The cause of death is never explained, but it is said that this pushed her over the edge. Sorta understandable. She then gave away her money, and began riding a bike around town.

One of the few pictures of the bike lady

It is pretty much agreed upon that she gave away all of her money, though nobody knows whether it was to an individual, a charity, or something else. She is commonly considered homeless, but one person popped up a year or so back and had some information that turned that theory on its head. Apparently via a conversation with the Bike Lady (On rare occasion does shop at local stores), it was learned that Esther does still own a home on the wealthy side of town, but that she does not venture there for fear that her windows will be broke via rocks and bricks, which has apparently happened to the home in the past. The few people who have interacted with her have stated that she is very intelligent, and is actually very interesting to carry on conversation with. HMMM!

I do support the theory that she gave away most of her money, but considering the fact that she never looks filthy, claims to have a house, and has been seen in local businesses shopping…I think she may have held on to some. Some claim that she stashes money all over town, and have seen her reach into nearby bushes to pick up a little cash and then be on her way. I’m not so sure about that, since if I was going to stash my secret money around town I’d probably pick a slightly better hiding place than a damned bush. It is also said that oftentimes she keeps money in between the spokes of her bike if it needs drying from getting too wet, creating a more expensive version of that thing you did as a kid with putting playing cards in your spokes to try and make your bike sound like the most annoying motorcycle of all time. I also tend to think people say she once had a small child, because she carries a baby doll around now. Apparently she will actually talk to it, and even buys baby-food when in the grocery store. This however clashes greatly with the claim that she is intelligent, and not to be feared.

The Bike…less Lady?

This is something I remember, but very few others seem to; The Bike Lady had her bike stolen in the early-to-mid 2000’s. I don’t know the details of the theft, only that it was non-violent and happened late at night. I wager that she either returned to her home or it was snatched up when she stopped to sleep…wherever she does so. I recall hearing that she never went to the police about it, but instead people started to talk when they saw that the Bike Lady was now just walking around. The city of Winston Salem, being kind and generous, decided that they would help the Bike Lady out. So they agreed to give her…a new bike. Yes, another bike to ride around town. I used to be confused as to why they didn’t do something like find her a place to stay, or offer her some other sort of help. It leads me to further believe that she does already have a home, and isn’t hurting for money. The gift of a bike was a good-will gesture and something to lift the community’s spirits, and maybe stave off some sort of imminent bike lady violence. So far, so good.

Sometimes I think she might be better off without a bike, since it is becoming apparent that she is not that great at being a safe biker. A good friend of mine has almost struck her with a car on three occasions, two of those on one day. I have also heard of several other near-misses with vehicles. Were the drivers to blame? Did Whoopi fail to give the proper turn signals? Does Whoopi even know these signals, and if so does she even give a shit about them? I mean really, you should know that if you are driving and you see the Bike Lady chugging down that road, you need to give her a wide berth for when the homeless brain disease kicks in, causing her to randomly zig-zag over to the other side of the street. If you do almost hit her with your car, I am told that you should never, EVER apologize or make eye contact. If you even lock eyes with her she will transfer all of the sorrow and pain she has felt over the years to you, driving most to suicide. Okay, I made that last part up…but I am thinking about spreading it around and seeing how long it takes for it to get all over town, gripping the city with fear.

Ghastly Rumors

I don’t know when it happened, but at some point in time it hit a lot of people; We’ve seen this woman all around, some have even spoken to her, but there is absolutely no record of someone making physical contact with her. Take that, plus the fact that some claim no such person exists, and her apparent lack of aging over 40 years…and you have yourself a nice little ghost story. Yes, more than one person has questioned whether the Bike Lady is in fact amongst the living, and is simply living out the afterlife as the most uneventful homeless ghost ever. I was shocked to find that there is even a Facebook group for it. I’m not one to jump on this bandwagon, as the number of sightings and encounters are just too great in number. Also I am not that hard up for a ghost story, as local drunks will make up ones ten times more interesting. Such as that Saturday night they got piss drunk and saw a squirrel, mistook it for a ghost and/or UFO, and thus created some new ghost legend around town. Plus as you can see in photographs she looks like a normal human being. By now I’m sure we have all watched enough Ghost Hunters to know that ghosts show up in photos as little balls of light, or sheets with two holes for eyes cut out (And maybe another one elsewhere if they are THAT kind ghost).

You can clearly see this is no ghost. Ghosts do not wear hoodies.

Whatever the case may be, I welcome something even as ridiculous as this rumor. It’s just the sort of thing that makes this legend even greater, and adds another layer of – albeit ridiculous – depth. There are several things that have been proven wrong or debunked over time with her anyway. Just a few of those include:

- The Bike Lady only rides at night (debunked when everyone saw her ride during the day).
- The Bike Lady only rides during the day (debunked when everyone also saw her ride at night).
- She steals babies, and her doll she carries is actually a real baby. I assume that local celebrity or not, the police would have broken that up by now.
- She can not speak (somebody talked to her).
- She does not stop pedaling, ever (she can be spotted sleeping ALL OVER town at any given point in time).

It took a long time for me to really form my opinions of what her story is. I do tend to believe that she has had some loss in her life, and perhaps gave away a lot of her money, knowing she didn’t need it. I have heard too many people mention her cash-hiding spots around town and her owning a house to discredit those two rumors. I do not tend to believe she is a ghost, because of the pictures that exist, and also because she has feet (I read somewhere that ghosts don’t have feet). I do think she is a reasonable, mostly sane, and possibly intelligent person. The sad truth is that she is just a poor, homeless woman, and people are too bored to accept the normal, everyday explanations for such. It’s just way more fun to say she’s a baby-stealing ghost from outer space. Especially when she doesn’t seem she’s in too big of a hurry to debunk these claims herself.

Honestly, if there was one 100% true story that explained everything about Whoopi…I’d be let down. I think a lot of people would. That’s the best part about a local legend, the speculation and the trying to figure it out for yourself. I’ve heard things ranging from the ridiculous to the reasonable, and I have spent probably more time than I should weighing each. It’s little things like Whoopi that makes a town fun. I do classify her as homeless, mainly because if she wasn’t around then our homeless population would be pretty unremarkable (They don’t even have very creative signs for Christ sake).  Whether she goes by Whoopi, Esther, or just the Bike Lady…I salute her for adding some much needed mystery to the town, and putting out notice to all the other homeless that they need to step up their game if they want us to give a shit.