BRIDGES
Collapsed bridges. Burning bridges. Haunted bridges. Add to those suicide bridges, where ghosts filled with despair haunt the very place they took their own lives. Crybaby bridges, where people report the crying of ghostly infants thrown off the bridge by their own mothers. Just as there are haunted railways, tunnels, and stations, there are many bridges with a reputation for being a ghostly stomping ground. There is a word for fear of bridges—gephyrophobia. Being on or even under a bridge brings about anxiety and a sense of helplessness and dread to people with the fear. When the bridge is haunted, that fear is doubled.
TEXAS BRIDGES
Texas is home to three creepy bridges with historical connections. The Old Alton Bridge is listed in the National Register of Historical Places. But to locals, it will forever be known as Goatman’s Bridge. Situated between Denton and Copper Canyon, this bridge was originally built by a manufacturing company as a means of moving both people and cattle. Named for the abandoned town of Alton, the haunted aspect comes from a local legend of a goat breeder named Oscar Washburn, who called himself the Goatman. Washburn was abducted by members of the KKK after he hung a sign out on his bridge to drum up business that said, “This Way to the Goatman.” The Klansmen hanged Washburn from the bridge, but when they checked to make sure he was dead, they didn’t see his body hanging below, so in an act of anger, they killed Washburn’s family.
Witnesses report strange lights and the apparitions of a man herding his spectral goats over the bridge, and legend has it if you drive across with your lights off, you will see him there. His wife’s ghost also haunts the bridge, according to some locals.
The Donkey Lady Bridge near San Antonio, Texas, crosses Elm Creek. Local folklore suggests this otherwise normal little bridge is home to the ghost of a woman who was almost burned to death. The story dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, when a wealthy merchant’s son had an altercation with the donkey of a Texas family. The son beat the donkey but was stopped when the family threw rocks at the man. The man vowed revenge and later returned to the Texas family’s farm with an armed posse. They burned the family’s home and shot the husband dead when he tried to get away.
The wife was badly burned but did escape, and legend has it she hid out at Elm Creek, never to be seen again except as a ghost who appears as a horrific human–donkey hybrid to those who park in the dead of night on the bridge and turn their car lights off.
The Devil’s Bridge is also located in San Antonio, Texas, near the San Juan Mission on Ashley Road. This is one of many “devil’s bridges” located all over the world that may date back to medieval times. All have a reputation for being places where evil lurks at night, thanks to legends that suggest these bridges were built by the Devil himself or were crossroads where one could make a deal with the Devil. The legends are similar all over the world, but this particular bridge, being located near a holy mission, may have been built to conquer the Devil instead. There were numerous accidents during the construction, which many believe the Devil created to keep the bridge from being completed. But it was completed and is now home to paranormal activity such as the smell of sulfur, the sense of a demonic presence, and a darkness around the bridge that is so thick, light will not penetrate it. Paranormal investigators who have visited the bridge report strange voices that show up on their digital recorders (EVP—electronic voice phenomena).
SUICIDE BRIDGES
Many bridges have the sad honor of being places where people end their lives. Often, witnesses report seeing the ghosts of the dead wandering on or near the bridge, as if lamenting their deaths as they did their lives. The higher up the bridge was, whether over land or water, the more it was likely to be used as a suicide bridge. One such bridge is the High Bridge in Chicago, also known as the Lincoln Park Arch. The arch was high enough that sailboats could pass under it and became such a popular death spot, it was given the nickname “The Bridge of Sighs.”
Since it was built back in 1892, over eighty people jumped to their deaths from this bridge before it was torn down in 1919, and the ghosts of these poor souls remain. Some died of broken hearts, others of deep depression. They usually jumped, but one man hanged himself from the girders.
The Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, California, has long been a favorite jumping-off point for suicides. It now has a suicide prevention rail.
Other suicide bridges of note include the New River George Bridge in West Virginia, where three or four people jump off every year; the Coronado Bridge in San Diego, California, which is a favorite place for suicide jumpers and those who attempt but fail; San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, from which over 1,600 people have died of suicide; and the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in Paris, France, which became such a popular suicide choice that mesh was put up to prevent people from making that fatal leap.
The Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, California, has the terrible reputation as a favorite of those who seek to end their lives. More than a hundred people have jumped from this bridge, which sits high about the deeply cut Arroyo Seco. The bridge, built in 1913, connected Pasadena to Los Angeles and was a part of the famed Route 66 until 1940, when the Arroyo Seco Parkway was built. In 1981, the bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places but fell into disrepair, especially after the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. The bridge reopened in 1993 with suicide prevention rails. However, the locals attest to a host of ghosts that roam the bridge and the Arroyo Seco below.
CREEPY COVERED BRIDGES
Not too far from the famous Gettysburg battlefield in Pennsylvania, itself said to be haunted, is Sach’s Bridge, which dates back to even before the Civil War. Local legend says it was the place where three Confederate soldiers hanged themselves after deserting the Battle of Gettysburg. The soldiers haunt the creepy covered bridge, and witnesses report screams of the wounded and dying and a shadowy mist that moves across the bridge.
Another spooky covered bridge is Vermont’s Gold Brook Bridge, also known as Emily’s Bridge, named for a young girl said to have died on the bridge. How she died, though, is open to a range of rumors, including one that claims she was jilted by a lover and hanged herself from the rafters and one that claims she drove her horses and carriage off the bridge in an angry frenzy after the man she loved left her abandoned at the altar. No one really knew who Emily was or how she died, but in later years, people contacted Emily using Ouija boards. One rumor spawned from a Ouija session claimed she was killed by her own mother-in-law.
In any event, she still haunts the covered bridge in the form of footsteps, strange noises, scratch marks on vehicles parked on the bridge, the sound of rope dragging across cars, and a ghostly lady in white who floats around the general area where the bridge is located.
Kentucky’s Colville Covered Bridge covers the Hinkston Creek in Bourbon County. Originally built in 1877, the bridge has undergone much renovation over the decades and was dismantled in 1997 and reopened in 2001. This covered bridge was the alleged site of two teenagers who lost control of their car on the way home from prom night and drowned in the creek when their car veered off the bridge. Residents in the area later reported strange lights under the bridge. Other people report the ghosts of the teens accompanied by the ghost of an older woman named Sarah Mitchell who died crossing the bridge as well as vapors and orbs that appear at night.
BRIDGES FROM HELL
Hell’s Bridge in Michigan’s Algoma Township is really a narrow walkway over a River Rouge tributary. But this simple walkway is surrounded by supernatural lore revolving around a fictional mid-nineteenth-century man named Elias Friske. The horrifying story claims Friske was responsible for a host of murdered children. He came across as such a nice man (as many serial killers do); after many children in Kent County went missing, the towns-people asked Friske to watch the remaining children while they went out searching the woods. While they were gone, Friske killed the remaining children and tossed their bodies into the River Rouge.
The parents came back to find the dead bodies of their children under the narrow walkway. Friske was captured and blamed demons for the dead children, but nobody was buying it. He was lynched from the bridge, his body falling into the river below.
South Carolina’s Poinsett Bridge is located in Greenville County on Route 107. It is considered one of the state’s most haunted sites and the stomping grounds of a ghost of a young man who died there in the 1950s. The stone bridge is also haunted by the spirit of a slave who was lynched on the bridge. Visitors to this old structure claim to hear phantom noises and see floating orbs and strange lights in addition to the apparitions.
CRYBABY BRIDGES
A crybaby bridge, as stated before, is haunted by the ghosts of dead infants and children who are usually murdered by their parents or the victims of horrible accidents. Ohio has its own crybaby bridge, Egypt Road Bridge, which is now closed down and off-limits to trespassers, although ghost hunters visit it often. There are many stories associated with the bridge, all of which involve a baby or toddler who drowned in the waters below. Witnesses report paranormal activity during the day as well as the night, which is a bit unusual, and claim to hear the crying of a baby or child when there is no one around.
Another crybaby bridge exists in the town of Anderson, Indiana. An old bridge on County Road 675 in Madison County is said to be haunted by the ghost of a baby thrown into the water from a car after an accident on the bridge. Another rumor from the 1950s suggests the ghost baby’s cries belong to the child of an unwed mother who threw her newborn over the railing after giving birth in the back of a car on the bridge. However, the story states the baby landed on the ground, not in the water, and his haunting cries alarmed drivers on the bridge, none of whom ever bothered to stop.
The baby’s body was found by the police, but they couldn’t identify it. Shortly after, people heard the cries of a distraught baby as they crossed the bridge late at night. The sad thing about crybaby bridges is that they exist in the first place, suggesting that infants and children often meet their deaths in the most horrific of ways.
HAUNTED ROADWAYS
It makes sense that so many roadways would be haunted. Accidents on the roads take the lives of thousands each year from infants to the elderly. Sometimes in the case of multiple car crashes, many lives are tragically lost. Still, there are some highways and roads with reputations for being notoriously haunted by the spirits of the victims who lost their lives there. Some haunted roads have given birth to local urban legends and blurred the lines between reality and the imagination. And rather than avoid these roads altogether, many curiosity seekers flock to them in hopes of experiencing the road trip of their lives.
QUESTHAVEN ROAD
One such road was even experienced by the author of this very book! In Northern San Diego County, there is a Christian retreat called Questhaven up in the hills above what is now San Elijo, adjacent to the Elfin Forest. This area is known to be haunted by the Lady in White, a ghostly presence that often appears on the more remote, woodsy roads near the retreat and has been sighted by hundreds of people over the years. The entire Elfin Forest/Questhaven area is a hotbed for all kinds of alleged urban legends, including a huge, white owl that appears out of nowhere. Another legend claims there was once a mental hospital on the land, and many of the patients who died there now haunt the area (although there is no evidence of any mental hospital ever having been located anywhere near the area!).
Rumors abound that the woodsy area was home to devil worshippers, gypsies, witches, and cultists and was once sacred Native American land, which is why many locals claim to have seen the ghosts of slaughtered Native American children. But the Lady in White is the prominent legend and the one whom this author wanted to see proof of existence. She is the ghost of a woman whose husband and son were killed in the area and now floats around scaring people and causing car crashes along the road leading into and out of the Questhaven retreat, although the windy, tree-lined roads could account for the many crashes, as people tend to ignore signs to slow their speed!
While on a drive through this area over twenty years ago, this author noticed the lovely, clear, and sunny skies overhead. Suddenly, the car stalled in the middle of a dirt road. Surrounded by trees, there was no one in sight and no way to call for help, as this was the era before cell phones. Within a few moments, the skies turned dark and rain poured down relentlessly, unusual for an area that gets little rain and the fact that the skies were clear up to that point. In a short time, the dirt road flooded and was impassible, so this author panicked and tried to turn the car around but got caught in the mud.
After a few very frightening moments, the car skidded forward and was able to be turned around. This author sped back to the main road and was shocked to notice that the skies were clear and sunny there, even though it was only about half a mile away. There was no sign of clouds or rain anywhere, and the ground was dry as dust.
What made this experience so chilling was finding out later that dozens of others had had similar experiences in which their cars stalled out and they felt trapped, even panicked. Was it just coincidence? Being on a back road with few homes around? A freak storm? Or the work of the Lady in White, who didn’t want this author, or anyone else, trespassing on her domain? No, this author did not see the Lady in White, a giant owl, or the ghosts of Native American children but can attest to a powerful feeling of dread and foreboding and the sense of being watched for the duration of the event.
Which begs the question—are haunted roads haunted because people say they are? Let’s take a look at some of the more harrowing highways and byways.
ZOMBIE ROAD
Lawler Ford Road is a two-mile road that stretches through forest and hills in Glencoe, Missouri, near the Meramec River. Once believed to be a Native American travel route, the area was also the location of a flint quarry. In the earlier part of the 1800s, a ferry operated along the river to allow settlers to cross the Meramec River. In the 1850s, the Pacific Railroad line stretched parallel to the river. The wife of the local justice of the peace was killed by the train in 1876, one of many deaths in the area’s early history. In the 1900s, it became more of a resort community with clubhouses and homes later lost to the major flooding of the 1990s.
The name Zombie Road may have come from the former railroad workers who rose from their graves according to legend, accompanied by phantom, old-time music. Another legend claims that a mental patient escaped from a facility nearby, and only his bloody gown was found on the road. His nickname had been “Zombie,” and the road was named in his honor. During the Prohibition, the area was ripe with gangsters and the occasional murder. Bodies were never found.
Today, the area still takes its bodily toll, with children dying along its banks, falling into the river waters, only to be washed up onshore. Ghosts abound as well as shadow figures that run out into the road, then vanish. Those brave enough to come to Zombie Road report phantom voices and the sensation of being touched by unseen hands. Maybe even … zombie hands.…
RIVERDALE ROAD
There is an 11-mile (18-kilometer) stretch of road through Thornton, Colorado, that is packed with urban legends and ghostly goings-on. People traveling this long road have reported seeing a phantom runner attacking parked cars on Jogger’s Hill and a phantom Camaro that revs its engine as it speeds up and down the winding road. There is even the shell of an old mansion where, rumor has it, a man burned his wife and children alive. A ghostly woman dressed in white wanders the charred grounds. Other ghosts of slaves are often seen on the grounds as well, once hanged from a charred tree. Bizarre paranormal phenomena have been reported on this road since the 1850s, and whenever there is an accident, it is attributed to the demons who are said to roam the area.
NASH ROAD
This rural stretch of road in Columbus, Missouri, is home to a strange spectral entity known as the “Three-Legged Lady.” She is said to chase drivers down the dark road at night, banging on the hood. She has three legs, but one is a rotted limb that is sewn to her body. Generations of locals claim she is real and may come from an urban legend involving musician Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil or, in this case, the Yazoo Witch. As with any urban legend, she is often said to be the mother of a girl who was dismembered in an accident, and all she could find was the torn-off leg. Others claim the leg belongs to a dead lover she refuses to give up on. Whatever the truth is, she appears if you turn off your lights while driving down Nash Road. Try it if you dare.
THE NOTORIOUS CLINTON ROAD
West Milford in Passaic County, New Jersey, is home to one of the creepiest roads on the planet, according to those unlucky enough to have traversed it. Along the 9.3-mile (15-kilometer) stretch of roadway that winds through the thick northeastern woods, witnesses have reported everything from ghostly activity to the presence of the KKK, Satanic cults, and bizarre Druid ceremonies. Along the road, one can encounter such places as the dangerous, old, stone walls at “Dead Man’s Curve”; the home of the legendary Ghost Boy Bridge, where legend has it one can toss a coin into the water and the “ghost boy” below in Clinton Brook will toss it back; the ruins of Cross Castle, which many say is a meeting place for the KKK, Druids, and Satanic groups; and some say the area crawls with ghostly animals at night that were once a part of the nearby safari-themed park, Jungle Habitat.
The abandoned animal theme park was shut down in 1976, but West Milford residents and those who visit the area claim to have seen both the ghosts of animals that may have been killed by a hunting party after the park was closed and real animals that may have been let loose when the park was shuttered.
This abandoned, nineteenth-century smelter near Clinton Road has been taken for a Druid temple by those who believe the roadway is a hot spot for pagan and Satanic worshippers.
People driving along Clinton Road, now a popular paranormal hot spot, report strange phantom headlights, eerie, red, glowing eyes staring out from the trees, and even a possessed albino deer roaming the woodlands. The fact that this rural road is a very twisty, windy one with hairpin turns and no streetlights might have something to do with its supernatural reputation, but those who have driven it in the dead quiet of night will say otherwise.
THE PHANTOM HITCHHIKER OF HIGHWAY 87
Montana’s Black Horse Lake is home to a phantom hitchhiker who hangs out on a desolate stretch of Highway 87 near Great Falls. Drivers often report the body of a dark-haired Native American man in jeans suddenly slamming into their windshield, bouncing off the front of the car. But when the driver gets out to look for the body, there is nothing there … and no damage to the windshield. This strange hitchhiker does this repeatedly, as if stuck in some ghostly time loop, but some folklorists say he is part of a “vanishing hitchhiker” phenomenon that dates back to the nineteenth century and seems to show up in all regions of the country. This urban legend likes to play on the fear of picking up a stranger only to have he or she turn out to be some ghost or demonic entity, and when it happens on a rural road with no one in sight to come to one’s aid, it’s even more frightening.
SHADES OF DEATH
Another haunted New Jersey road is the 7-mile (11-kilometer) stretch of woodsy rural roadway in Warren County called Shades of Death Road that parallels the Jenny Jump State Forest, itself a paranormal hot spot. Drivers report everything from an unnatural fog that comes off the nearby Ghost Lake to spirits roaming the mist, possibly the ghosts of murder victims killed in the thick cover of the woods, including a man beheaded by his own wife and a local who was shot and buried in a mud pile beside the road; racial lynchings that once took place nearby; and even those who died in the area during the 1850s malaria outbreak. More ghostly activity in the form of mysterious, white lights that turn red when stared at can be found on Lenape Lane, a paved, dead-end, road off Shades of Death Road.
The Jenny Jump Forest itself is the stuff of spooky lore. There is a cabin by Ghost Lake that is haunted, and the nearby Bear Swamp was renamed Cat Swamp by locals because of rumored packs of vicious cats!
ARCHER AVENUE
This 7.2-mile (11.6-kilometer) stretch of road (Illinois Route 171) runs across the southwest side of Chicago and passes by a host of potentially haunted locations. Woodlands, cemeteries, quietly spooky lakes, even old churches dot this road, which has been called one of the city’s most haunted sites thanks to a long history of paranormal oddities. Two of those sites are the Resurrection Cemetery at one end, and the St. James at Sag Bridge Church at the other end.
The biggest local legend revolves around a ghostly woman named Resurrection Mary, who has been seen hitchhiking along the road dressed in a white party frock since the 1930s. Be careful if you encounter a blonde, blue-eyed woman in white thumbing for a ride because those who have dared to stop say she vanishes upon entering the car! Other supernatural activity includes phantom horses with riders running across the road at 95th and Kean; the notorious “gray baby” that locals have described as either a rabid human or a werewolf haunting the horse-riding trails and woods near the Sacred Heart Cemetery; and the ghost monks that walk the grounds of the St. James at Sag Bridge Church.
WOODLAND DEATH TRAP
In the southern section of Aroostook County in Maine, there is a road known to be a death trap not just because during the winter the icy patches along the rural road cause dozens of accidents taking the lives of truck drivers who have to navigate the slippery roads in their rigs. But other ghosts haunt Route 2A through Haynesville, closed in by forest on both sides, including two little girls who were killed in an accident involving a semitruck in August 1967 and the ghost of a woman who was killed with her husband and can be seen along the side of the road, begging drivers to stop and help her. Those who do stop report feeling a cold chill before the ghost vanishes before their eyes.
Route 2A even inspired Dan Fulkerson to write a country song (performed by singer Dick Curless) called “A Tombstone Every Mile,” which warns those thinking about taking a ride down one of most haunted roads in the United States.
Over in Wisconsin, another rural, woodsy road boasts its own ghostly apparitions. Boy Scout Lane in Stevens Point is a 3-mile (5-kilometer) stretch of unpaved roadway originally meant to lead to a campground for the Boy Scouts of America, thus the name. But the project was never started. Local legend states that a Boy Scout troop tried to camp in the woods sometime between the 1950s and 1960s and never came back out. Rumors abound, including one that suggests their scoutmaster murdered them. Other rumors suggest a bus crash or forest fire, but there are no records of either on the books.
Shiprock is a rock formation that is on Navajo Nation land in New Mexico and is only accessible via Route 491, the “Devil’s Highway.”
Drivers who dare to go down Boy Scout Lane report hearing heavy footsteps in the woods and strange, red flashes emanating from within the forest. Some unfortunate travelers even witness the ghosts of the boys themselves covered in blood.
Tulare, California, is known for the headless motorcycle ghost that haunts Bardsley Road. This rural road has been home to such rumors since the 1940s, but the only factual case of a motorcyclist killed on the road comes from the 1960s. Though the exact cause of death is as much the stuff of legends as the ghost itself, many locals report seeing the ghost of a man on his bike riding down the roadway and headlights that appear in the dark out of nowhere.
Route 491 is never to be driven at night. That’s according to the drivers who have experienced a plethora of terrifying events along this “highway to hell” that was once called Route 666. Often called “Devil’s Highway,” it runs north–south through the Four Corners region of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. The official state route was designated in 2003 and runs through desolate desert land, passing two tribal nations, the Navajo and the Ute Mountain, as well as an extinct volcano named Shiprock and the Mesa Verde National Park.
Road trips along the route may include sightings of UFOs, reports of Skinwalkers that often take the form of humans (more on this later), huge, black dogs with glowing, red eyes known as Hellhounds, an appearance by a strange, brightly lit, black sedan called Satan’s Sedan that tries to run drivers off the road, and even a demonic, glowing semitruck that runs drivers off the road before vanishing into thin air! There is a ghostly young woman in white found walking along the highway who vanishes when spoken to and an incredible number of unexplained, single-car accidents, including brand-new cars suddenly breaking down without explanation. Drivers also report feeling a sudden sense of utter doom or dread on the road, but with this kind of haunted reputation, that isn’t far-fetched.
THE DEVIL’S BACKBONE
There are a number of scenic roads in Texas Hill Country that are a vortex of crazy, spooky activity day and night. Texas Farm Roads 12, 165, 32, 2325, and U.S. Highway 281 stretch for 122 miles (196 kilometers) and provide some stunningly beautiful scenery, but they are also filled with ghosts. Because of the rich history of the area and the violence between white settlers and Native American tribes, the spirits that roam these roads are restless. Drivers have reported seeing the ghosts of a woman, who was the widow of a miner, and her child, who roam the area. On Purgatory Road, apparitions materialize on the hoods of cars and vanish just as quickly. Shadow people lurk on the sides of the roads, and an area ranch foreman reported waking up to the sights and sounds of twenty mounted Confederate ghost soldiers and their spectral horses running across his land.
A Native American ghost named Drago herds his cattle near ranches along Purgatory Road, according to more than one witness living nearby. Plenty of deadly accidents occur along the more treacherous roads, adding to the spooky atmosphere of the surroundings.
WOODS AND TRAILS
THE MOST HAUNTED FOREST IN THE WORLD
The home of the most haunted forest is Japan, where hundreds of people have committed suicide in the Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mount Fuji. The mountain is a sacred place to the Japanese, but the forest that spreads out beneath it is a terrifying place that has become, sadly, the most popular suicide destination spot on the planet. In the year 2010, 247 people attempted to take their own lives in the dark, eerie forest.
Aokigahara has a long history of tragedy. It may have been what the Japanese call “ubasute,” a place where the elderly and sick were dropped off and abandoned. Obviously, the remoteness of the forest was perfect for leaving someone to die, and now the forest is said to be haunted not only by those who took their lives there by choice but by those who didn’t have a choice.
HAUNTED HIKING TRAILS
Hiking is a strenuous enough activity, but when the trail might be haunted, it makes it even more challenging. Nothing like getting out in nature and exercising and encountering all kinds of creepy spirits along the way. Forget coyotes, rattlesnakes, and bears, oh my. These ghostly hiking spots offer a whole new kind of danger.
Bash Bish Falls in Massachusetts is named after a Mohican woman who was sentenced to death for adultery but was rescued by a cloud of butterflies.
The Grand Canyon in Arizona is a popular tourist spot for its magnificent grandeur and immense rock formations dating back millions of years. There are several hiking trails of varying difficulty, but one trail offers a chance to experience paranormal activity while enjoying Mother Nature. The Transept Trail stretches along the North Rim Campground to the Grand Canyon Lodge and passes by the ruins of a pueblo along the way. Hikers might see the ghost of a lady in a white dress with blue flowers, known as the Wailing Woman gliding along the path. They might also hear her wailing moans and sad weeping. She took her own life at the lodge after her son and husband were killed in a hiking accident nearby.
Mount Washington, Massachusetts, boasts the highest waterfall in the state, the Bash Bish Falls. The strange name comes from the legend of a woman named Bash Bish, a Mohican, who was sentenced to death after being accused of committing adultery. The villagers intended for her to die by tying her inside a canoe and dropping it down the 60-foot (18-meter) basin. On the day of the execution, a cloud of butterflies surrounded Bash Bish as the canoe tipped over the edge of the falls, and she was able to escape. Pieces of the canoe were found, but a body was never recovered. Years later, her daughter killed herself by throwing herself over the very same spot. Hikers report a ghostly young woman who can be seen standing just behind the falls.
Ghost House Trail in Big Ridge State Park passes by the old Norton Cemetery and what remains of the Matson Hutchinson Homestead in Tennessee’s backcountry. Locals say one of the Hutchinson family daughters died of tuberculosis on the homestead in the late 1800s. Hikers today claim to hear her cries and wails, and some have snapped pictures of the cemetery to find a ghostly presence appearing on film hovering behind the family tombstones.
Hikers in need of a rest often stop at the Punchbowl Shelter along the Bluff Mountain Appalachian Trail in Virginia. Whether they are attempting the entire Appalachian Trail hike or a smaller segment, this is one spot that may stand out on their journey thanks to the ghost of a little boy who wanders the trail. The ghost is attributed to a four-year-old boy, Ottie Cline Powell, who died over a hundred years earlier when he wandered off from school and got lost on the mountain. Hikers have left many stories in the registry at the location of their encounters with the playful spirit of Ottie.
The Lake Morena Campground 63 miles (101 kilometers) east of the city of San Diego offers trails and campsites with ghostly activity to go with them. The campground is located at the foothills of the remote eastern slope of the Laguna Mountains, home to thousands of acres of chaparral-covered hillsides, old oak trees, and huge rock formations. In a grove of woodsy trees across from the campground, a “lady in white” walks back and forth dressed in a long, white gown. The ghostly woman stares at hikers and campers, then vanishes into thin air. She also reportedly laughs and sings, and her footsteps can be heard outside of tents, but when campers unzip their tents and look, there is no one there. No one knows who she is, but she seems to enjoy making this particular spot in nature her haunting grounds.
Iron Goat Trail is located just 60 miles (97 kilometers) northeast of Seattle. Tucked away in the lush Stevens Pass in Washington State, the hiking trail is a 6.7-mile (10.8-kilometer) loop that offers views of lush flowers and scenery. The trail follows the train in the upper and lower sections of the now abandoned Great Northern Railway Grade. In 1910, an avalanche derailed two passenger trains going along the 6-mile (9.7-kilometer) trail, and close to one hundred people were killed when the trains were knocked off their tracks, making it one of the nation’s worst rail disasters. Today, hikers won’t see the tracks—they’ve been removed—but they claim to hear the screams of the passengers and the screech of metal as the trains derailed and crashed along the grade. The most haunted spots are the tunnels, where hikers hear the echoes of screams of the dead.
Another ghostly railroad trail, also in Washington, is the Spruce Railroad Trail in Olympic National Park. The eight-mile loop circles Lake Crescent, the home of the “Lady of the Lake.” She is said to be the spirit of a waitress, Hallie Illingworth, who was murdered in 1937. Her body was dumped into the lake, and fishermen found her remains three years later. Now she is often seen in her white dress by the lake along the trail.
Empire Mine Road is an isolated path in Antioch, California, with the notorious reputation as the “Gates to Hell.” On the side of the path is a metal barricade that prevents cars from going beyond that point, but people on foot ignore the warning. Rumor has it the land beyond was once home to an insane asylum where lobotomies and shock treatments cause agony, even death, for patients. Their spirits now haunt the area around the gate along with the ghosts of animals that lost their lives at a slaughterhouse that was once on the grounds.
Norton Creek Trail is a part of the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina, an area not only known for its amazing natural beauty but its history. The hills around this trail are haunted by an evil ghost called “Spearfinger” by the local Cherokee because of the entity’s one long finger in the shape of a sharp blade. Spearfinger is said to be female and roams the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee disguised as a kindly, old woman. Spearfinger lures children to their deaths, but other ghosts that haunt the trail are much less malevolent, appearing as a friendly, white light or the spectral apparition of a murdered settler who helps lead lost hikers to safety through the thick woods.
Many trails are linked to Native American tribes of the region and often are reflective of their legend and lore. Chilnualna Falls Trail in California’s Yosemite National Park is home to some of the country’s most naturally stunning, and utterly dangerous, hiking trails. The Mist Trail is home to two famous waterfalls, and the Chilnualna Falls Trail boasts three along the 8.4-mile (13.5-kilometer) loop past Grouse Lake. It was here, according to Awahnechee legend, one can hear the cries of a young boy who drowned in the lake, and legend has it, anyone who jumps into the water to try to save the child will also drown. There is also an evil spirit named Pohono who pushes those who get too close over the 240-foot (73-meter) edge.
Long Path in Thiells, New York, is in the beautiful, woodsy section of Rockland County north of New York City along the western side of the Hudson River. The path goes by the Letchworth Village cemetery, with hundreds of T-shaped markers that served as the final resting place for the residents of Letchworth Village, a mental institution built in 1911. Once the home to epileptics and mentally ill patients, most of whom were children, the institution was overcrowded and notorious for experimenting on the patients with drugs and vaccines to see if they were safe, including the untested polio vaccine. In the 1970s, ABC News documented numerous cases of horrible abuse and neglect, and the facility shut down in 1196. Most of it is in ruins, although the hospital wing is intact as well as smaller buildings. Ghost hunters love the site, as do hikers and those eager to see a place where such tragedy occurred. Reports of paranormal activity include shadow figures, phantom voices, and the sense of being pushed, touched, and watched. Letchworth is also home to a converted church and rectory dating back to the 1800s that now houses a charming bed-and-breakfast. It is located at the south end of Letchworth State Park, and the hauntings began after the renovations on the church began. Rumor has it one of the priests, Father Maurice, died in the rectory, and his ghost lingered on to haunt the new Heaven Sent Bed and Breakfast, where guests can feel the sensation of being touched and shaken awake in their beds, and the sounds of footsteps and children running and laughing are heard at all hours of the day and night. Guests also claim they can hear hushed conversations outside the closed doors to their rooms, but when they open the doors … no one is there.
Across the country in California, Warm Springs Canyon Road may sound nice and easy but is in fact an extreme, 16-mile (26-kilometer) hike through Death Valley National Park. Between the scathingly hot temperatures and the spooky, abandoned homes along the trail, it’s easy to see why this is considered an unsettling hike. But it may be where the trail leads to that is most unsettling of all, for it goes directly to the infamous Barker Ranch, the former hideout of the Manson family, including cult leader Charles, who lived there with members of his “family” in the late 1960s after the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles, California. Eventually, law enforcement caught up with Charlie and family, and they were captured amid gunfire that took several other lives. Barker Ranch was destroyed by fire in 2009, but the shells of buildings remain. Anyone brave enough to walk the ruins, or spend the night camping, may hear the screams of those who died there, the feeling of being watched, and the distinct smell of decomposing bodies.
Altadena, California, has its own haunted forest, a woodsy trail that leads to the Sam Merrill Trail, which in turn leads to Echo Mountain. There is a now vacant estate that was once called the Cobb Estate and was built in 1918 by lumber magnate Charles Cobb. The sign out front states it as a “quiet refuge for people and wildlife forever” and over its history has been home to the Pasadena Freemasons and a group of Catholic nuns. The actual house on the estate grounds was torn down, and the haunted forest was designated public land by the U.S. Forest Service in 1971, although some of the building’s foundation remains. There are ghosts around the area, including what might be the ghost of one of the estate’s most famous owners, the Marx Brothers, who had the home razed in 1959. Also nearby is the Altadena Haunted Gravity Hill, located at the northeast perimeter of the Rubio Wash Debris Basin. People say if you start at the bottom of the hill with your car in neutral, it will roll uphill! Is it some bizarre natural phenomenon, or is it supernatural? Rumor has it if you put baby powder on the hood of the car, you might see handprints on it, as if the car were being dragged up the hill by ghosts.
MOUNT RUBIDOUX
Another creepy California hike goes up a hill called Mount Rubidoux, at the northwest edge of Riverside, paralleling the Santa Ana River. The hill was named for a Mexican land grant settler, Louis Rubidoux, who was also a rancher, miner, and winemaker. It was once private property owned by a man named Frank Miller, who built the road that leads to the top of the hill. Miller put up a cross at the top of the hill to honor Father Junipero Serra, who founded the many famous California missions. The cross is accessed by a winding, paved road that goes past the Peace Bridge and Tower, ending in a stony peak where Easter sunrise services are given. This is where people are rumored to have seen the ghost of Jesus Christ at night as well as other ghostly figures lurking about. The Evergreen Cemetery is adjacent to the hill and dates back to 1872, and Frank Miller was buried there in 1935, so perhaps one of the many ghosts is his, wandering the hill to the cross he loved so much.
HAUNTED CAVES AND MINES
Do you have claustrophobia? Going inside a cave system can strike fear in anyone despite the possible presence of ghosts or evil entities. The feeling of walls closing in, lack of fresh air, darkness.… It takes a brave soul to go exploring in the many cave systems available and open to the public. But what about those that offer more than just interesting rock formations, strange drawings on the cave walls, and the possibility of finding gold and buried treasure? What about those that contain within their depths the spirits of the dead unable to find the light in death as they were in life?
Witnesses have claimed to have seen Jesus lingering around the cross erected at the top of Mount Rubidoux in Riverside, California.
MAMMOTH CAVE
Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave is one of the longest cave systems in the world. It was once a shelter for tuberculosis patients in the late 1830s, and the bodies of those who died were laid at the adjacent Corpse Rock before they were buried. The patients were kept in the cave by a doctor named Frank Gorin, who believed the fresh air above would kill them and that the cave air would cure them. It didn’t work. It’s hard to tell what killed them—the harsh cave existence or the tuberculosis itself. Perhaps both, and visitors to the cave today claim they can hear phantom coughing when no one is around. H. P. Lovecraft used the Mammoth Cave setting for his story “The Beast in the Cave,” in which a tourist finds himself stalked by a terrifying humanoid creature.
During the 1920s, the cave system was a popular tourist attraction, and some of the individual caves were owned by private individuals who had the money to buy them. One owner, Floyd Collins, called his cave the Crystal Cave, and it was a hot spot until it started waning in popularity. Collins tried to dig a new entrance but was trapped when a boulder was dislodged and fell on top of him. No one was able to move the large boulder, and Collins became quite a media darling as he lay there trapped, with souvenir stands popping up as rescuers tried to dig him out. Locals came to see him, as if he were an animal in a zoo, and another cave-in eventually blocked him off from hope of rescue. He died of exposure. His corpse stayed in the cave for years before the family was able to bury it in a local cemetery.
Collins’s father later had his son’s body exhumed and put in a glass case on display in the cave until the National Park System purchased the cave in 1961. The ghost of Floyd Collins was said to have haunted the cave since then and still does. People report rocks being thrown at them and the voice of a man calling out of the darkness, begging for help. Today, tours not only take visitors through this cave but the entire Mammoth Cave system, including the abandoned “tuberculosis village.”
SWALLOW CAVE
The seaside town of Nahant, Massachusetts, is where tourists find Swallow Cave, only about 24 yards (22 meters) deep but deep, but ripe with history. In 1675, during the King Philips War, around forty Native American warriors attacked the town of Lynn and were driven into Swallow Cave to hide out. Even though the cave was small, the warriors remained unfound, and the people of Lynn turned to a fortune teller from Salem by the name of Witch Wonderful to help the raiding party find them.
The witch told the men exactly where to find the Native American warriors. The men headed to Swallow Cave for a confrontation, but just before any weapons were fired, Witch Wonderful appeared and begged the two sides to come to an agreement. She got her desire, and peace prevailed until her death. She is now reported to float about the entrance to the cave or sit atop a hill overlooking the entrance.
The Grand Canyon is home to a haunted hotel, haunted hiking trail, and haunted caverns! The Cavern Hotel is located at the Grand Canyon Caverns in the northeastern part of Arizona along the famous Route 66. They represent the largest dry caverns in the country and go down to three hundred feet below-ground. Within the caverns is the fully functional Cavern Hotel, a full-amenities hotel with very unusual surroundings.
A number of ghosts haunt the caverns and hotel, including two brothers who were found dead in 1927 by a man named Walter Peck. The brothers had died of the flu and now are reported to haunt the area, along with Peck, whose spirit has a special penchant for riding on the elevator. A more tragic ghost guest is that of former hotel manager Gary Ringsby, who sadly hanged himself in the bunkhouse, where his apparition is often seen floating around. Other haunted hot spots include the curio shop, restaurant, and, of course, the elevator.
MOANING CAVERN
Enter the Moaning Cavern in Vallecito, California, and chances are good you might hear the phantom moans and mournful cries coming from deep within as well as the distinct sound of a hammer banging against rock. This particular cavern is said to be haunted by the Tommyknockers, mythical, little leprechaun creatures that cause mischief and trouble. Other people believe the spirits encountered in the cavern are of those who died there such as gold miners who perished after falling into the deeper parts of the cave or those who died in the occasional cave-ins. The knocking and hammering sound is believed to be evil spirits trying to cause a cave-in … or the ghosts of the dead trying desperately to hammer their way out.
This is also the site of a huge, cryptozoological, saber-toothed cat that died in the cavern and now appears to visitors with a chipped tooth from its fatal fall.
Strange monster cats, gnomelike figures, hammering and knocking … this is one cave system that seems more the stuff of urban legend, but don’t take my word for it if you decide to find out for yourself.
CANYON DIABLO
Arizona ghost town Canyon Diablo is found just off Interstate 40 and is a relic of the days when men built railroad tracks to allow settlers to go further west into California. The town was a place of lawlessness and home to many gamblers, outlaws, prostitutes, and crooks, who enjoyed the many brothels, bars, and gambling halls. When the railroad was complete, the town lost its allure and soon became Two Guns, a traveling post for those journeying along Route 66.
An 1890 photograph of Canyon Diablo, Arizona, during a time of prosperity when it was a railroad town.
Long before, in 1878, a band of Apache Warriors massacred a Navajo camp in the same spot, killing men, women, and children. The Navajo attempted to retaliate and tried to track down the Apache in the desert when they experienced a blast of hot air coming up from the ground. They were standing on a cave system where the Apache were hiding, and the hot air was coming from fires below. The Navajo stuffed the openings with wood and brush and set it all on fire, killing forty-two Apache and their horses. The caves were considered cursed ever since, yet white settlers chose to build Canyon Diablo and Two Guns there anyway, ignoring the warnings.
Shadow figures, phantom moans, screams, groans, and apparitions near the cave entrance haunted the townsfolk ever since, and to this day, the cave area is still accessible, but locals warn against going inside, claiming they will not only encounter ghosts but terrible misfortune. In fact, those who go in are told they might never come out again.
NEBRASKA CAVES
Pahuk Bluff in Lincoln, Nebraska, is part of a vast sandstone cave system that visitors and locals claim are haunted by the restless ghosts of Native Americans who died there under tragic conditions. When white settlers arrived, the area’s Pawnee tribe was booted off their land. Eventually, Lincoln would become the state’s capital, but those who ventured into Pahuk Bluff claimed to hear the chants and drumming of the Natives they cast out. A part of the same cave system called Robber’s Cave was a hiding place and rest stop for slaves along the Underground Railroad until it was turned into part of a brewery in 1869.
In 1873, the brewery went out of business, and the cave was later used by a hodgepodge of criminals, thugs, outlaws, and escaped prisoners as a hideout. The infamous outlaw Jesse James once used the cave to dodge law enforcement. Many people must have died there, as those who currently venture into the cave system insist they hear phantom voices, laughing, Pawnee chanting and drumming, screaming, moaning, and creepy chattering in the darkness.
MINES
HAUNTED MINES
The only thing more claustrophobic than a cave is a mine. The brave souls that go down into the earth often reside deep within tunnels with little air and dim lighting, often only provided by the helmets on their heads. A mine shaft can be a very terrifying place to be if you are not acclimated to closed-in, dark spaces. Abandoned mines are often said to be home to the ghosts of the men who died working there.
Haunted mines have some strange commonalities. Disembodied voices and strange, flickering lights are often reported, even in mines that are still functioning. Miners report sounds of voices from areas that were blocked off from fallen debris or collapsing rock. The mine shafts may be closed off beyond a certain point, but that doesn’t seem to stop the phantom activity that goes on there, including the sounds of hammers and chisels meeting hard rock walls. Some of it is blamed on Tommyknockers, which may be the spirits of underground entities that enjoy knocking on walls and walkways.
Mysterious lights and orbs are often reported, especially the dim beacons of miner’s hats in places where there aren’t any miners around. Since many men die in mines, ghosts abound, and their eerie whispers can be heard echoing off the walls, along with the swinging of chains; strange, mechanical noises; and screams of those who perished alone in the dark.
The Big Thunder Mine in Keystone, South Dakota, was once a gold mine that now hosts tours as part of the area’s tourism, especially at Halloween. The area around Keystone also includes a haunted cemetery that has the honors of being listed as one of the “100 Most Haunted Cemeteries in America” and has been visited by a popular ghost-hunting television show to look into the local paranormal lore, including the activity at a local, historic schoolhouse that was built in 1900.
But it’s the mine that draws the most attention from tourists and ghost-hunting groups who point to the mining community’s exposure to so much death as a reason why. The Holy Terror Mine, as locals call it, is surrounded by places where people were hanged, murdered, and, of course, killed inside the mine.
The Waldeck Mine in Nevada is said to be filled with ghosts and demons. In 2016, the YouTube Channel’s “Exploring Abandoned Mines and Unusual Places” wanted to test out some new flashlight equipment in the mine. But while there, phantom whispers were recorded on tape coming from deep within the mine.
Another Nevada mine, the long-abandoned Horton Mine, is home to not just ghosts but the sounds of swinging chains and mechanical noises that sound like there is still active mining deep inside. Located within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest in the central part of the state, the mine was put into operation in the 1800s as the bigger Victorine Mine. Several deaths occurred inside the mines, and it was given the reputation of being one of the most haunted in the country. It has been abandoned now for a while but continues to earn a dark reputation for the amount of paranormal activity witnessed there, including gusts of cold within the mine shaft, objects moving on their own, phantom voices and noises, shadowy figures moving about, and the strong sense of doom and foreboding upon entering the mine shaft.
PENNSYLVANIA MINES
Pennsylvania’s coal mines were the sites of many deaths thanks to a two-hundred-year history of coal mining in the state. In the nineteenth century, the Neshannock Township of Lawrence County, located in the western part of the state, had dozens of mine shafts alone, and the first ghost of a miner was reported as far back as 1898. The ghost entered the mine with his pick and his lantern each night, work for a while, and then come back out at dawn to vanish into thin air. Some miners at the time believed it to be the ghost of Elijah Bowaker, who vanished inside the mine the prior year and never came out again.
In the later part of the nineteenth century, there were on average five deaths recorded per month at the Wyoming Coal Fields in Scranton. The youngest victims were ten-year-old boys, who were allowed in mines at the time, and the oldest were sixty-nine and seventy-two when they lost their lives. The Bellevue Shaft was a particularly hot spot, with a six-foot-tall vapory apparition appearing to miners in 1872.
In Taylor, Pennsylvania, a mine owned by the Delaware and Hudson Company was haunted by a white-robed form with hollow eyes that carried a light. Several miners tried to approach the ghost in November 1906, but it vanished when they got too close. In Kittanning, miners were frightened by the apparition of a man that would appear carrying a lighted dinner pail. It would float from room to room of the mine and ordered the men to stop working. Some men stated it was half-human, half-beast and would set down their tools and run in terror for the entrance, then refuse to work for the next few days.
In the Jeddo Mine in Lancaster, it was common for miners down below to see strange lights with no explanation as well as the ghost of a man whose lips move but speaks no words aloud.
CANADA’S ATLAS MINE
In the Canadian Red Deer River Valley Badlands, there were once 139 coal mines in the Drumheller area of Alberta, providing nearby homes with coal for heat until natural gas took over and the mines and surrounding towns were abandoned for greener pastures. One of the mines was the Alton Mine, which is said to be notoriously haunted, long after it served its functional purpose. This area was rich with coal deposits as discovered back in 1792 by explorer Peter Fidler. In the following years, ranchers and homesteaders came to dig coal out of riverbanks and coulees to heat their homes, and the first commercial mine followed when Sam Drumheller opened it in the early 1900s.
Red Deer River Valley in Alberta, Canada’s Badlands was once home to over a hundred coal mines. Mining was a dangerous and deadly business, so it is not surprising the ghosts of dead miners may linger still.
It was said that hundreds of thousands of people came to find coal, many from European countries who had come to America. By the end of 1912, there were nine operational coal mines. Over the years, as more mines opened, the mining industry had several successes providing safer working conditions for the miners, which included better ventilation and washhouses. In 1911, boys under the age of fourteen were forbidden to work underground.
The mining camps, often called “hell holes,” were still dirty, rough places to live, with little in the way of sanitation and few comforts, and many miners turned to gambling and drinking, which often led to violent fights. Eventually, even that improved, as families came to live in the towns and modernizations followed.
By 1979, there were 139 mines total in the Drumheller Valley, and thirty-four of those remained highly productive for many years. The Leduc Oil Strike in 1948 put coal mining on hold and suddenly elevated natural gas to importance, and that was the end of the coal industry’s heyday. Communities turned into ghost towns, and the Atlas Mine shipped out its final load of coal in 1979.
Since then, it has become a National Historic Site in Canada and the home to ghosts that appear to many paranormal research groups that have visited the mine. They’ve reported the paranormal activity isn’t just in the mines but in the houses that remain, including the washhouse. One ghost is of a woman in a brown dress who was a miner’s wife that appears running into the office as she did when she was alive to warn the mine manager of an explosion. The mine manager went into the mine to investigate and died, possibly of exposure to methane gas. Orbs of light streak across the rooms, especially during thunderstorms, and apparitions are frequently seen, although no one can identify exactly who they are.
However, some people suggest these are nothing more than echoes of noises occurring above and outside the mines or fakery committed by those who hope to make money offering mine tours. But those who venture inside on their own or with research groups have a different story to tell.
