Bridges,  Path to the Afterlife?

by Charla White  (charla@theshadowlands.net)

Frequently supernatural phenomena occur in certain locations.  These locations include houses where tragic deaths have been reported, factories that have exploded or burnt with employees trapped inside, lonely stretches of roads where individuals have been hit or their cars have
crashed and bridges to name only a few.  Bridges have become infamous for being haunted probably because they provide isolated locations and structures in which tragedies occur.  There are beliefs bridges have become haunted because they cover running water which acts as a magnet for supernatural occurrences.

All around the world there are bridges noted for their haunting.  Sachs Bridge, Gettysburg, PA is where 50,000 men died July 1863 during the Civil War.  Benton Jones in 1883 built the Roseman covered bridge in Iowa where two sheriff's posses trapped a county jail escapee in 1892.  The escapee uttered a wild cry, leapt straight up and disappeared.  It was agreed that the man had to have been innocent.  Nectar Bridge in Alabama is the 7th longest bridge in the world before it caught fire and burned.  However, it was reported that the a mail carrier that died within it's walls haunted
the bridge until it was destroyed. In Alabama there are thirteen ghostly bridges that have been placed back to back over small creeks and lakes in which weird things have happened.

In Indiana and Ohio, there are dozens of bridges that are reportedly haunted.  The number of construction workers falling into the wet concrete forming the abutment is amazing.  The expense of removing the poor luckless employee doomed him to remain buried within the structure thus
creating another reason for the haunting.  One such bridge is called White Lick Creek Bridge in Indiana.  An employee named Dad Jones, 6'5" known for his strength was always given the most dangerous jobs.  One day, waiting for the concrete to fill the abutment the platform Jones was
standing on fell.  He sank into the wet concrete.  Although the men wanted to save him, they were told the expense would be too great and he would be dead by the time they reached
him.  So, Dad Jones remains entombed in the bridge and is seen walking when the full moon is out.

Then there are incidents in which babies have been thrown free of the bridge because of car wrecks or conditions in which the mother lost her child over the side only to return to seek her child after death. These are bridges referred to as "cry-baby" bridges. One "cry-baby" bridge can be found in
Dublin, Indiana.  Dublin is a small town off US 40.  { NOTE: The road leading to the bridge is no longer there and the path is on private property.  The owner, fearing for the safety of visitors refuses to allow access to the bridge.}  It is reported that a woman driving into town during a horrendous rain storm, skidded across the bridge and lost control slamming into the railings.  As a result throwing
her infant from the seat of the car, through the window and into the creek below.  The baby was swept away and never found.

Each state and country has at least one haunted bridge.  Some like Indiana have dozens.  Whether they are urban legends or truths, one has to wonder why is there such a connection between bridges and the afterlife?

Is it because of the tragedies that have occurred or is there more to it?   Bridges serve as connections and paths in which to travel.  In folklore and mythology bridges are often associated with heavenly paths in which the dead travel the bridge to reach the afterlife.  These paths are
frequently referred to as "bridges of souls."   Myth and folklore are referring specifically to rainbows and the Milk Way but is it possible that those who died on these bridges are still searching for their path to the afterlife?


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