There are many “Crybaby
Bridge” stories in various states in the U.S. Some stories that surround these
bridges are genuine folktales others are more recent urban legends which cynics
state are “fakelore.” Regardless they are all entertaining.
One bridge in
Monmouth, Illinois, which has been christened a Crybaby Bridge, has an interesting
legend connected to it.
Local residents of
Monmouth are familiar with the following story about a steel bridge that sits three miles northwest of their town.
It was said many years ago, a young unwed mother
approached the bridge as a lightning storm raged around her.
Shame weighed heavily upon her shoulders.
Driven by fear because she had recently been abandoned, she found herself
standing in the middle of the bridge holding a week-old baby boy to her breast.
Having no choice, not wanting to be ostracized by the community, she hurled the
baby over the bridge’s trestles into the churning cold water of Cedar Creek.
Ever
since this tragic event, locals who pass the bridge state they have heard a
“spine-tingling” cry that sounds like a baby struggling to breathe.
Yet another legend connected
to this bridge states, an elementary school bus plunged off the side of this bridge during a flood. Unfortunately, it is said the buses occupants all drowned before rescuers arrived.
Since this accident, many
people have stated that if their car breaks down as they cross the bridge or
even if they just stop on the bridge that the ghosts of these children have
pushed their cars safely across. *
One local young lady and her friend not believing this legend decided one afternoon to drive to the bridge
to see if they could debunk it.
This single-lane bridge is located on a rural dirt road off
US 67-N. It is at the bottom of a valley-- there is a steep incline at both ends of the bridge. This road is so narrow that only one car can pass at a time.
After rounding a sharp curve that leads to the Cedar Creek Bridge these two
young investigators stopped their car at the bottom of the hill and got out.
They walked across the bridge, noting that it is entirely flat at both ends and in the middle.
They got back in their car
and put it into neutral. They were surprised when almost immediately, their car
started to slowly inch its way across the bridge. It did not stop until it got
to the other side.
Perplexed these two ladies were convinced that there must be an
environmental reason for this, so they headed up the opposite hill from
where they drove in.
They turned their car around and drove back down to test
it going the other way. They again stopped their vehicle and put it in
neutral at the opposite end of the bridge.
They were shocked to see their car instead of rolling backward as
they expected it moved forward and slowly inched its way across the bridge, not stopping until it reached the other side.
To this day their
experience on this bridge baffles them.
The young people in the town
often retell another legend connected to this bridge. They state that a group
of teenagers out for a joy ride struck a fisherman who stood on the
bridge late one afternoon.
Evidently, just as this fisherman cast
his line over the bridge, he was hit by their car and killed.
Local legend states his apparition appears around the area that surrounds the creek.
* This gravity hill story is very similar to the San Antonio,
Texas story, which states a school bus full of children, was struck by an
oncoming train. These students were killed instantly. Like the bridge
story above, it is noted these children help push cars across the railroad tracks. Here is a link to a post I wrote about this ghost story.
The Amish also have an evil crybaby bridge haunting here.
