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Crybaby Bridge is a term that refers to numerous bridges across the United States, associated with urban legends and ghost stories involving the sounds of a baby crying. These tales typically involve tragic backstories of infanticide, accidents, or other sorrowful events that purportedly occurred at or near the bridges, for example, an urban legend relating to a baby or young child/children where the mother threw her baby off the bridge and felt so bad that she killed herself. She now looks for her baby while crying in the river sadly. The phenomenon is not limited to a specific location, but represents a type of folklore that has become embedded in the cultural fabric of various regions, each adapting the legend to fit local histories or landscapes. [1]
A bridge on Sleepy Hollow Road near the border between Jefferson and Oldham counties in Kentucky was known as Crybaby Bridge. Reportedly, mothers would drop their unwanted, sick, or deformed babies off the bridge to drown in the water, and their crying can still be heard there. The original bridge has been replaced by a newer one made of steel and concrete. The bridge is one of several rumors about locations along Sleepy Hollow Road. [2]
Although the bridge is off of Egypt Road near Salem, Ohio, it is actually on what used to be West Pine Lake Roads, 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. [3]
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, 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 the appearance of the Goatman. [4]
"Crybaby Bridge", or "Spook Bridge", located about 25 miles west of Texarkana, runs across county road 4130, located 4 miles south of De Kalb, Texas. Legend says that a mother driving a car plunged into the creek, and the baby drowned in the near-freezing waters. [5]
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. [6]
"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. [7] [8]
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. [9]
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 Westminster, 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." [10] 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.
Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, Westchester County, New York, United States.
The Neches River begins in Van Zandt County west of Rhine Lake and flows for 416 miles (669 km) through the piney woods of east Texas, defining the boundaries of 14 counties on its way to its mouth on Sabine Lake near the Rainbow Bridge. Two major reservoirs, Lake Palestine and B. A. Steinhagen Reservoir are located on the Neches. The Angelina River is a major tributary with its confluence at the north of Lake B. A. Steinhagen. Tributaries to the south include Village Creek and Pine Island Bayou, draining much of the Big Thicket region, both joining the Neches a few miles north of Beaumont. Towns and cities located along the river including Tyler, Lufkin, and Silsbee, although significant portions of the Neches River are undeveloped and flow through protected natural lands. In contrast, the lower 40 miles of the river are a major shipping channel, highly industrialized, with a number of cities and towns concentrated in the area including Beaumont, Vidor, Port Neches, Nederland, Groves, and Port Arthur.
La Llorona is a vengeful ghost in Mexican folklore who is said to roam near bodies of water mourning her children whom she drowned in a jealous rage after discovering her husband was unfaithful to her. Whoever hears her crying either suffers misfortune or death and their life becomes unsuccessful in every field.
John Clark Monk(s) (25 February 1760 – 9 December 1827), also known as the Hanging Sailor of Perryman, was a sea captain.
Weird NJ is a semi-annual magazine that chronicles local legends, purported hauntings, ghost stories, folklore, unusual places or events, and other peculiarities in New Jersey. The magazine originated in 1989 as a newsletter sent to friends by Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, but as it grew in popularity, it became a public magazine published twice a year. It spawned a series of books called Weird US, which chronicle oddities from individual states in the United States aside from New Jersey, which in turn led to a television series that aired on the History Channel.
Belle Brezing was a nationally known madam in Lexington, Kentucky at the end of the 19th century and into the beginning of the 20th. Her brothel was known as the "most orderly of disorderly houses".
Clinton Road is located in West Milford, Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. It runs in a generally north–south direction, beginning at Route 23 near Newfoundland and running roughly 10 mi (16 km) to its northern terminus at Upper Greenwood Lake.
Shades of Death Road is a two-lane rural road of about 6.7 miles (10.8 km) in length in central Warren County, New Jersey. It runs in a generally north–south direction through Liberty and Independence townships, then turns more east–west in Allamuchy Township north of the Interstate 80 (I-80) crossing. South of I-80 it runs alongside Jenny Jump State Forest and offers access to it at several points. The road is the subject of folklore and numerous local legends. In 2013, the SyFy channel's Haunted Highway series did a segment on the road.
The Three Sisters are three rocky islands in the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., west of the Key Bridge. A notable landmark in colonial times, the islets are less well known as the Three Sisters Islands and Three Sisters Island.
The Bunny Man is an urban legend that originated from two incidents in Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1970, but has been spread throughout the Washington, D.C., and Maryland areas. The legend has many variations; most involve a man wearing a rabbit costume who attacks people with an axe or hatchet.
Gore Orphanage is the subject of a local legend in Northern Ohio, which refers to a supposedly haunted ruin near the city of Vermilion in Lorain County, Ohio. The ruin is a building that formerly housed the Swift Mansion and, later, the Light of Hope Orphanage, and is the subject of local urban legends, whereby the violent deaths of young adults and children are alleged to have occurred. According to the urban legends, supernatural activity has occurred in the building since its closure.
Bardin is an unincorporated community in Putnam County, Florida, United States, located northwest of the city of Palatka. It was named after Hazard Bardin (1856-1934) circa 1900. He was the first resident and operated a turpentine distillery business at the interception of Bardin Road and the creek.
The New Jersey Pine Barrens has been the site of many legends, tales and mythical creatures, many of which have been documented by Weird NJ in its magazines and books.
Kay's Cross was a large stone cross located at the base of a hollow in northeastern Kaysville, Utah, United States. Its origins are disputed, and several urban legends are tied to the site. The cross was demolished with explosives by unknown persons in 1992.
The 4th Golden Satellite Awards, given by the International Press Academy, were awarded on January 16, 2000.
Numerous narratives and folk beliefs make up the ghostlore of Indiana, a U.S. state in the Midwest, and there are many locations that are considered to be haunted by locals. Some of the hauntings are celebrated in festivals, and most have some history behind them.
Weird US is a series of guide books written by various authors and published by Sterling Publishing of New York City. The series originated with Weird NJ, a magazine published by Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman that chronicles local legends and other peculiarities in New Jersey. The growing popularity of the magazine resulted in the publication of a book written by Moran and Sceurman, Weird NJ: Your Travel Guide to New Jersey's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. After the book was released, Moran and Sceurman began receiving letters from individuals across the United States, detailing oddities from their home states, which prompted Moran and Sceurman to create Weird US.
Mark Sceurman is a graphic artist and co-creator and publisher with Mark Moran of Weird NJ magazine and a state-by-state series of books. With Moran he co-hosted the spin-off television series Weird U.S. on the History Channel.
The Devil's Tree is a solitary oak tree, with some dead limbs, growing in an undeveloped field on Mountain Road in the Martinsville section of Bernards Township in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States, across from a private housing development. Local legend suggests the tree is cursed: those who damage or disrespect the tree will soon thereafter come to some sort of harm, often in the form of a car accident or major breakdown as they leave.
The Leaning Tower of Britten is a leaning water tower which serves as a roadside attraction and decorative item along historic U.S. Route 66 in Groom, Texas. Sometimes called the Leaning Tower of Texas, the tower was originally a functioning water tower slated for demolition until Ralph Britten purchased and moved it to serve as an advertisement for his truck stop and tourist information center. The Leaning Tower Truck Stop closed in the mid-1980s after an electrical fire damaged it; a small remaining portion operates as a local truck repair shop.