Hello,
I saw your web page on Knox County folklore and found it very interesting, particularly "Ghostly Woman in White Reenacts Tragic Death Along Vincennes-Lawrenceville, Ill. Railroad Tracks." While a senior at Mooresville High School in Mooresville, IN, I did a research paper on the haunted bridges at Danville and Avon, IN. Both towns are about 20 minutes away from Mooresville and I had grown up hearing the various legends about them. The Vincennes legend seems to closely resemble the legend concerning the Avon bridge in particular. The Only variation is that the woman in white is carrying a baby. Versions differ as to whether she threw the baby over the bridge to avoid an on-coming train, or if she dropped the baby on accident. Either way, most versions state that the woman lived and she returns nightly to search for her baby. As a train approaches, it is said one can hear the woman crying and/or a baby crying.
The Danville haunted bridge legend says that a worker(usually a minority) fell into the concrete while the bridge was under construction. Due to various troubles, the worker's corpse was left to stay and the bridge was constructed around his body. Accounts differ as to the exact type of ghostly manisfestations: a ghostly arm pointing to the next to die, blood flowing from a crack in the bridge on hot summer days, a ghostly light walsking the bridge, a screaming sound as a train passes over. Another legend about the Danville bridge says that a "mud-monster" lives in the bridge and will jump in front of passing cars only to reform on the other side after the car passes through it.
During my research I also found stories from Dublin and Bedford, IN. The Bedford legend concerns a large railroad tunnel still in existence today lacated outside of Bedford (in a town called Tunnelton, I believe.) I also found, after searching through the Hendricks County, IN archives an older haunted bridge legend based in North Salem, IN concerning a phantom buggy. Two things most of the bridge legends had in common were that most of the manesfestations were only audible(screaming in particular) and that most happened either as a train was approaching or as one passed over the bridge.
I really enjoyed your web site and learned a few new tales which I hope to share with friends this fall around the campfire. I'm sure you've already been exposed to them but if not there are two great books on Indiana folklore, one by Linda Degh and the other by Ronald Baker, I believe. I'll keep checking your web site for any more bridge and other tales that pop up.
Sincerely,
Dave Billington
coolbill@expert.cc.purdue.edu
This is Dave's followup when I asked him to see if he could post the paper he wrote:
Subject: Re: Haunted Bridges Richard:
I would not mind at all for you to use my comments for your site.
Concerning my research paper, I need to contact a former teacher at my
high school to make sure that I can post it on a web site. If I am
correct, Mooresville High School has ownership rights to all students'
research papers but I don't think it will be a problem. Unfortunately, I
do not have it in electronic form and will have to pick up my copy of it
when I return home this weekend. All things going well, I can probably
get it e-mailed to you by the end of next week.
I believe the name of the book by Linda Degh (actually, I believe she
edited it) is "INDIANA FOLKLORE: A Reader" and is published, I think, by
Indiana University Press.
Once again, I enjoyed your web site and hopefully my contributions will
be of some interest.
Sincerely,
David Billington
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 23:17:51 -0500 (EST)
From: David Billington
To: Richard King
CC: David Billington
coolbill@expert.cc.purdue.edu