The World’s Best Known Haunted Bridges
The World’s Best Known Haunted Bridges
In the dark world of urban legends and folklore, bridges are often depicted as places of mystery, evil or both.
We have haunted houses, haunted cemeteries, haunted castles, haunted dolls and many more things that are prone to have a curse.
Bridges are not spared either, and in urban legends and folklore, they used to be shown as mysterious places where they often harboured evil.
Unsurprisingly, gefirofobia deals with the fear of bridges or at least crossing them.
Some of the most famous haunted bridges are in the United States because they take the subject of haunted things very seriously.
These bridges have a story behind them that has given them their fame.
The “Old Alton” Bridge In Texas
It was built many years ago with the idea of transporting people and livestock and took its name from a town in the county that is now totally abandoned.
The bridge was in service until about fifteen years ago when it was closed to traffic.
So although the bridge is officially known as Alton, it also has the name Goatman Bridge.
As the story goes, a prosperous farmer who raised mostly goats began calling himself the “goatman.”
To improve his business, he put a sign on the bridge telling him how to get to his farm over this bridge.
However, there were Ku Klux Klan members present in the county, and they were not very happy with the success of the farmer, who, by the way, was black.
For this reason, they caught him and hanged him on that very bridge.
After a while, when the KKK men looked over the edge of the bridge to see if he was dead, they did not see the body.
That enraged them even more, so they went to the farm and killed the rest of his family.
Since then, many claims to have seen strange lights on the bridge, abandoned cars, and even apparitions of a man leading his herd of goats.
It was said that driving by with your car with the lights off caused the goat man to appear.
A variation of this says he will also appear if you go to the bridge and honk your horn twice.
Hell’s Bridge in Michigan
The history of this bridge has a darker legend.
In the mid-19th century, there was a wave of child abductions in the area.
To remedy this, the community hired Elias Friske.
Many people were shocked when Friske lit a bonfire and began a ritual blaming demons for all the disappearances.
Despite these strange incantations, the people trusted him to protect the remaining children.
At the same time, they searched the nearby woods to see if they could find those who had disappeared.
The problem was that Friske was the kidnapper and the one who had murdered the children.
Being in charge of the remaining children, he took advantage of the situation to skin them alive one by one and then throw the bodies into the river.
The people found all the bodies under the bridge.
They caught Friske and lynched him by hanging him from the same bridge where the children had been found.
He claimed the demons had made him do it, but they showed no mercy.
The reality is that Hell’s Bridge is nothing more than a narrow metal footbridge that passes over one side of the Rouge River and does not even cross it.
However, that has not stopped the legends from continuing, and it is said that strange things happen on this bridge.
For example, fog often appears and disappears for no reason, and it is said that a hangman’s noose can occasionally be seen floating in the air.
The Peckforton Haunted Bridge
It was constructed in the late 19th century and is a small bridge that helped access Peckforton Castle.
Like several castles in England, Peckforton Castle is supposedly haunted. But, admittedly, it is a strange place.
About the same time the bridge was made, a sculptor named John Watson was hired to sculpt a considerable elephant nearly four meters tall to serve as a beehive.
Today it serves to attract tourists.
One of the stories about the bridge is that if you pass under it and look straight ahead, the ghost of a former maid of the castle appears.
Other stories say you can hear the maid’s footsteps passing over the bridge while standing underneath.
But, most disturbing is that anyone seeing the maid’s ghost will die within a year.
Poinsett’s Bridge
This bridge is located in South Carolina and is made entirely of stone.
It is thought to be haunted by the ghost of a young man who died in a traffic accident in the 1950s.
Another story says that the spirit of a lynched enslaved person on the bridge is the one that appears at night.
The Poinsett Bridge is among the oldest links in the southern United States, and it’s no wonder it has these kinds of urban legends.
The Egypt Bridge in Salem
It is prevalent in the United States to hear of bridges where the cries of children can be heard during the night.
It is thought that these bridges are a point where children who have died are brought closer to our dimension for a brief period.
The Egypt Bridge is one such bridge.
It is currently closed, where a simple rusty bar prevents passage to the bridge.
Ghost hunters must leave the car far away and continue on foot across this dilapidated bridge.
As in other legends of this type, there are several stories to choose from.
In one, a couple quarrelled and didn’t realize their young son had fallen off the bridge.
In another version, a mother jumps off the bridge to save her son from drowning, and they both die.
In this case, the apparitions and cries can occur day and night.
Although paranormal investigators have not been able to confirm the stories about the bridge, the place is inevitably linked to a horrible event that occurred a few years ago.
The body of a burned person was found in a van parked near the bridge.
It was ruled a murder, but the case remains open without resolution.
Sources:
https://rolloid.net
https://listamaze.com
https://www.esquire.com
Thanks for reading!
Rocio Becerra