Haunted Bridge

It is said if you wander at night near the old bridge over White Lick Creek, you may hear the screams and moans of the ghost of Avon's Haunted Bridge. And on hot summer days you can see the ghost's tears on the concrete of the bridge. Some people will tell you that there in no ghost, that the screams are just the product of wind, and that the tears are caused by condensation. But others will tell you that the ghost is real. Who exactly the ghost is supposed to be, no one can say. In one version of the tale, it was a black or Irish laborer involved with the bridge's construction. He fell into one of the unsealed supports and was killed almost instantly. The railroad didn't want to waste time or money to get him out, so the support was sealed with the worker still inside. In some versions of this tale, the worker's arm hung out of the support, and had to be cut off. Another theory has it that a passenger train jumped the track on the newly constructed bridge. The train crashed into the creek, but none of the passengers were harmed. Only the engineer was killed, and it is he who haunts the bridge. But there are claims that the ghost isn't a man's at all, but that of a young mother mourning her child. The infant was ill, and the mother walked along the railroad tracks to get a doctor. Midway across the bridge, she could her see a train coming in her direction. She tried to run to safety, but her foot got stuck between two ties. She was able to free herself, but she didn't have enough time to run to safety. She jumped from the bridge, and the baby slipped through her arms. Sick with grief from the loss of her child, the mother herself died in a matter of weeks.

The Haunted Bridge today.