Nobber is a small village on the northern edge of County Meath, sitting at what was once the boundary of the medieval Pale – the limit of English control in Ireland. It has been a settlement since Mesolithic times, its name coming from the Irish An Obair, meaning “the work,” a reference to the Norman motte that still rises at the north end of the village.

The surrounding countryside is quiet farming land, threaded with country lanes, and it was on one of these very isolated roads that two people had a highly unusual encounter. It is said that they spotted a man standing at the roadside. They slowed down, assuming he was a hitchhiker in need of a lift. But as the car drew closer, the passenger noticed something wrong. The man was not standing on the ground. He was hovering above it.

Needless to say, they did not stop. They drove away as fast as the road would allow.

No identity has been attached to the figure and no specific lane has been named. The account rests on a single community submission, with no further documentation. Given the wider folklore tradition of the Nobber area — which includes fairy fort legends, stray sod accounts, and Will O’Wisp sightings recorded in the Meath Field Names Project – a hovering figure on a country lane fits the landscape rather well.