Crybaby Bridge

Crybaby Bridge is a nickname given to some bridges in the United States. The name often reflects an urban legend that the sound of a baby can be, or has been, heard from the bridge. Many are also accompanied by an urban legend relating to a baby or young child/children.

Virginia

There is an alleged "Crybaby" bridge in Blackstone, Virginia. The story goes that some children died around the bridge (accounts vary as to whether their death was accidental or intentional), and that at night their cries can be heard and a woman can be seen walking along the edge of the woods.^[1] Other phenomena reported include footsteps and the feeling of an 'evil presence.' It is also alleged that if a car is stopped on the bridge and baby powder is poured on the hood, baby footprints may appear in the powder.^[2]

Illinois

Illinois is home to several crybaby bridges, most notably one outside of Monmouth, Illinois. Many stories surrounding this bridge are similar to the folklore motif, although one tale particular to this location involves a speeding car full of impetuous youths who struck and killed a fisherman as he cast a line into the creek.The kids were from the small town of Alpha IL. Another popular story is that an elementary school bus plunged off the side of this bridge during a flood, which was subsequently saved by a young Clark Kent.^[3]

Indiana

Multiple crybaby bridges exist in Anderson, Columbus, Pendleton, and Bargersville. Many follow the path of Route 40.

The Airport Road Crybaby Bridge, located near Blue Clay Falls close to Richmond and Centerville, has been home to many strange happenings such as a knocking coming from either side of the bridge, foul odors, hand prints on cars, lights in the woods, and even the cry of a baby and the call of her mother.

Ohio

Rogue's Hollow

One of many purported crybaby bridges is located near Doylestown, Ohio, in an area known as Rogue's Hollow. This bridge is located on Galehouse Road, between Rogue Hollow Road and Hametown Road. The bridge spans Silver Creek. Deep in Rogue's Hollow, this road previously led from the bottom of the hollow (Hametown Rd.) to the top (Rogue Hollow Rd.). The bridge is only approachable from Hametown Rd. from October to May, as the steeper portion of the road is seasonally closed to prevent accidents. The bridge is property of the Rogue's Hollow historical society, which also owns the adjacent Chidester Mill.^[4]

Rogue's Hollow Historical Society "Map to the Mill" link refers to the bridge; road and creek are visible in "Chidester Hill" photo.

Map: 40°56′28″N 81°40′31″W / 40.94111°N 81.67528°W / 40.94111; -81.67528

The Screaming Bridge of Maud Hughes Road

Maud Hughes Road is located in Liberty Township, Butler County, Ohio. It is reputed to have been the site of many terrible accidents and suicides. Railroad tracks lie 25 feet below the bridge, and at least 36 people are said to have been reported dead on or around the Maud Hughes Road Bridge. Ghostly figures, mists, and lights have been reported, as well as black hooded figures and a phantom train. The legend says that a car carrying a man and a woman stalled on top of the bridge. The man got out to get help while the girl stayed. When the man returned, the girl was hanging on the bridge above the tracks. The man then supposedly perished with unexplained causes. To this day, many people have reported hearing the ghosts' conversations, then a woman's scream followed by a man's scream. A second story is that a woman was being chased down the road and when she got to the bridge she did not know the area and thought that there was a river underneath, so she jumped over the bridge and when she saw the train tracks screamed all the way down to her death. They say that to this day on certain nights you can still hear her screaming. Another popular and typical Crybaby Bridge story says that a woman once threw her baby off the bridge and hanged herself afterwards.^[5] Map: 39°23′40″N 84°24′38″W / 39.394551°N 84.410427°W / 39.394551; -84.410427

Egypt Road, Salem

Crybaby Bridge off Egypt Road

Although the bridge is off of Egypt Road near Salem, Ohio, it is actually on what used to be West Pine Lake Rd., which now dead-ends to the east of the bridge. Legends attribute the crying baby to one that fell in and accidentally drowned. There is also a rumor that there is a cult of some sort in the woods surrounding the bridge. In 2010, there was a murder of an elderly woman that was found, strangled to death and burned just off the bridge.^[6] The closed road remains as an access way to high-voltage utility lines.^[4] The "baby cries" can be heard at night or during the day.

Map: 40°55′47″N 80°49′48″W / 40.929744°N 80.829978°W / 40.929744; -80.829978

Wisner Road

This crybaby bridge is in the area of the melon heads. The bridge is on Wisner Road in Chardon Township, Geauga County, Ohio, just north of Kirtland Chardon Rd. A large section of the road is permanently closed; the bridge lies just before the south end of the closed section.^[4]

The bridge as well as the melon head homestead is torn down now, as of 2013 in an attempt to keep the melon heads from leaving the area. . The ancient sandstone bridge abutments still remain and local residents report the howling has only become louder in recent years.

Oklahoma

In Alderson, near McAlester, the bridge is located at the end of Alderson Road and has been known to legends of a woman who was raped by her father several times and would throw her unwanted infants off the bridge. Local residents have reported sounds of babies crying underneath the bridge late at night and the appearance of a glowing woman floating over the rocky bed of North Boggy Creek.

In Moore, approximately 2 miles east of Sooner Rd. on 134th St. there is a collapsed and abandoned bridge. Legend of a woman and infant in their vehicle falling through the wood of the bridge during late-night hours, a few days later the vehicle and remains were discovered by law enforcement patrolling the area. The bridge was never repaired and the road was deemed unsafe and was closed off to vehicles. The cry of the baby is said to be heard at night.

Between Moore and Norman, on S. Douglas Blvd just south of 149th Street is a wooden bridge. It is at least as old as the school house sitting next to it. Strange moving objects have been reported there late at night.

In Kellyville, approximately 1.63 miles east of the Slick/Kellyville Road on West 181st Street on the north side, there is the original bridge abutments off of the new road. There is a local legend about a woman and her infant child driving down the road trying to escape her husband, only for the woman's car to run off the bridge. Legend has it that the baby was never found, and that if the bridge is visited at midnight the baby's cry can be heard and sometimes accompanied by a strange blue light.

In Oklahoma City at Lake Overholser, the metal bridge by Route 66 is known for sightings of a woman in all white with a baby on the bridge or on the side. At night her shadow allegedly appears if cars turn their lights off, and, additionally, walkers on the bridge have also allegedly reported feeling her presence and hearing a baby cry.

Maryland

There is a purported "Crybaby Bridge" off Beaver Dam Road in Beltsville, near the Department of Agriculture's Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. It is in or near the areas where the legendary goatman has reported to have been seen.

There is another on Governor's Bridge Road, in Bowie. This bridge is a late-19th- to early-20th-century steel truss bridge; legend states that a woman and her baby were murdered in the 1930s. It is also said that in the early 20th century, a young woman was impregnated, but not married. In order to avoid judgment by family and peers, she drowned her baby in the river. Purportedly, if one parks one's car at or near this bridge, a baby can be heard crying; sometimes a ghost car will creep up from behind, but disappear when the driver or passenger turns around to see it.^[7]

In Weird Maryland: Your Travel Guide to Maryland's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets, authors Matt Lake, Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman include three first-person narratives of crybaby bridge experiences in Maryland. The locations mentioned are the Governor's Bridge Road bridge discussed above, one on Lottsford Vista Road and a third unspecified, but possibly described the Lottsford Vista Road bridge as well. The latter narratives make mention of purported Satanic churches near the bridge and appearance of the Goatman.^[8]

Another Crybaby Bridge is located in Westminster, MD on Adams Mill Rd. The local legends attributed to this particular bridge range from a young woman who became pregnant and was afraid to tell her family to the location being used by the KKK to drown black babies in the 1800s.

There is also a Crybaby Bridge in Millington, Maryland on Walnut Tree Road. Many travelers mistakenly refer to this bridge as the "Smyrna Crybaby Bridge", due to its proximity to Smyrna, Delaware.^[9] Another is located in Gaithersburg off Game Preserve Rd under a one lane bridge.

South Carolina

There is a "Crybaby Bridge" on High Shoals Rd, just south of Anderson, South Carolina. The bridge in South Carolina was built in Virginia in 1919, brought to Charleston, South Carolina to connect two counties together. In 1952 it was brought to Anderson, South Carolina. replaced the older bridge that had been there. It is about 194 feet long and about 17 feet wide. Shortly later locals called it Cry Baby Bridge.

An old Grist mill sat below the bridge along the Rocky River in 1840, and ran until about 1900s.

In 1894 an electrical plant was built there by W. C. Whitner. It gave the Anderson County the nickname The Electric City. One of the generators from the electric mill is still on display in Anderson County.

The bridge has many changes through the times, from no bridge, to wooden bridge, to the well known Iron Railed Bridge called Cry Baby Bridge to now modern cement bridge that now runs beside Cry Baby Bridge, it still remains a part of Anderson County's history and a famous landmark.

A popular destination for paranormal enthusiasts just south of Pageland, South Carolina is one of the oldest "cry baby" bridges. Locally known as "Cry Baby Creek", the bridge spanning Flat Creek has been closed off to auto traffic since the late 50's, but is accessible by foot via a short walk through what is now a nature reserve. The story of Cry Baby Creek tells of a young mother who loses her baby in the slow moving waters after a late night accident on the bridge. Unlike the most other crybaby legends, the sounds coming from the creek are not limited to hearing a baby cry while standing on the bridge; many legends refer to witnesses actually seeing the mother search for her baby up and down the creek.

Map: 34°39′12″N 80°31′10″W / 34.653275°N 80.519501°W / 34.653275; -80.519501

Texas

De Kalb

"Crybaby Bridge", or "Spook Bridge" is located over Anderson Creek which runs across county road 4230, located 3 miles south of De Kalb, Texas. The old legend says that a woman and her triplets were rushing home late one night to prepare dinner for her husband that was soon to be home. As they approached the bridge the woman lost control of the car, causing it to ramp off the side of the old wooden bridge, killing the mother and her triplets. There are many stories of encounters with the spirits of the victims. Locals claim that late at night if you shut your vehicle engine off, kill your lights, and honk 3 times you will be able to hear the cries of the long dead triplets. There have been a few claims to have captured photographs of the disturbed spirit of the mother or as some call her the clay lady (due to the amount of clay under the bridge at one point of time), while others claim to have captured orb like lights that were not there before the photographs were taken. There are also claims of a strange white light that lingers around the area of the bridge, which unexpectedly comes out of nowhere and is gone in a blink of an eye. The witnesses of these events range from young teenagers to elderly men and women. If you ask a long time resident of De Kalb, Texas about cry baby bridge you are almost guaranteed a scary story. Some of these stories are not quite popular and are hard to find on the internet, mainly because they are not openly shared due to peoples' belief that they will be mocked for sharing their experiences at the bridge.^[10]

Lufkin

Jack Creek, a stream west of Lufkin, Texas, has for years been known as Cry Baby Creek, supposedly because a woman and a baby died when their auto veered off a wooden bridge and fell into the steep creek. Annette Sawyer of Lufkin said visitors who come to the site at night claim they have heard sounds resembling a baby crying. One visitor supposedly found the imprint of a baby’s hand on her auto window after returning from the bridge.^[11]

Port Neches

"Sarah Jane Bridge" on East Port Neches Avenue in Port Neches, Texas is said to be the bridge from which a baby of the same name was thrown into the alligator-infested water by a man who had murdered the child's mother. It is said Sarah Jane can be heard crying from the water when one stands on the bridge on hot summer nights. The child's mother, a headless ghost wandering the woods nearby, can also be heard whispering "Sarah Jane" as she searches the forest with a lantern. The legendary Sarah Jane is Sarah Jane Block, who lost no children and lived to the age of 99.^[12][13]

Utah

Locals from the small town of Bear River City, Utah claim that many years ago a mother drove off the bridge with her two children in the car, killing all three of them. It is said that honking the horn three times will elicit a response from the ghostly children. Some claim to have heard a child's voice saying "Don't do it, Mother!"^[14]

Controversy

In 1999, Maryland folklorist Jesse Glass presented a case against several crybaby bridges being genuine folklore, contending that they were instead fakelore that was knowingly being propagated through the internet.^[15]

According to Glass, nearly identical stories of crybaby bridges in Maryland and Ohio began to appear online in 1999, but they could not be confirmed through local oral history or the media.

Among Glass' examples was the story of a bridge located in Westminister, Maryland, which concerned the murder of escaped slaves and African American children. It's located specifically on Rockland Road, just off of Uniontown Road outside of Westminster's city limits past Rt. 31. In the 1800s the story held, unwanted black babies were drowned by being thrown off this bridge. Regional newspapers, such as the American Sentinel and the Democratic Advocate, which usually covered racially motivated murders of the period, make no mention of the events described online.

However, in their book Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets, authors Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman relate the story of a purported crybaby bridge on Lottsford Vista Road between Bowie and Upper Marlboro, asserting that this bridge has "made believers out of many skeptics."^[16] The text included from their informant makes no mention of escaped slaves but does repeat a familiar component of such legends: an out-of-wedlock birth.

See also

• Fakelore
• Urban legend
• Infanticide
• La Llorona
• Ode to Billy Joe (film)
• Westminster, Maryland
• Limbo of Infants
• Overtoun Bridge

References

Sources

• Mark Moran and Mark Scuerman (2004). Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. Barnes & Noble. ISBN 0-7607-5043-2.