This bridge is known by locals as The Ghost Trestle
near
the intersection of Bailey Hwy and Gier Road.
One version of thelegend has it that a nearby farm
caught fire. The wife herded her children out of the house while the husband
went to the barn to let the animals out. The mother and children went to the
tracks to try and flag down the train for help. But they tried to do this while
on the tracks and the train couldn’t stop, the mother and children were killed
on the tracks while the father was said to have perished in the flames as the
fire spread to the barn.
The blog Michigan
Macabre offers a more detailed version of the legend.
According to
legend, a family of three moved into a modest little farmhouse just outside of
town, located near a train trestle. There was a lot of farmland, which meant a
lot of chances to live the American dream and be prosperous. There was a
mother, father, and their infant son who they loved dearly. She would tend to
the child as he would work out on the farm, breaking many a sweat from long
days of difficult work.
As we all know,
not all fairytales have happy endings, and this one is no exception. One night
while the family was enjoying a meal, the beautiful red barn that stood just
outside of their quaint little home caught fire, spitting hellish flames from
the red painted wood into the vast night sky.
The father, in a panic, drops his dinner plate, and rushes out the door
looking for anything that will help him calm the beastly blaze. He threw
buckets of water, and did everything he possibly could in desperation to save
his property. Sadly, the flames engulfed the barn and everything inside it,
including the family’s beloved patriarch.
Amidst the
fearsome inferno and the audible cries of death from her beloved, the wife
grabs her infant child, and runs out to the trestle to flag down an oncoming
train. While in panic, she slipped onto
the track, and struggled to regain her balance as the train quickly approached.
The conductor blew the whistle repeatedly, attempting to alert the poor woman
of her impending doom had she not gotten out of the way. Sadly, there was no
time. The locomotive passed through, striking the woman and child, killing them
instantly. As they lie dead on the track, the train crawled along, blew its
whistle one last time, and disappeared into the night as if nothing had
happened.
Rumor has it you can sometimes catch a glimpse of
the farmer wandering aimlessly looking for his wife and children. Or you might
hear the anguished cries of the mother and her children. Paranormal
investigators have caught orbs and shadow figures on film.
A reader submitted story on Haunted
Toledo describes experiences at the trestle.
“We’ve heard screams, footsteps, seen shadow
figures, orbs, heard growling and disembodied voices, and there are often lots
of dead animals lying around and lots of black cats run out at us.”
But it’s the dead animals laying about that has
Victoria thinking something much more negative lurks in the area of the “Ghost
Trestle.”
“There are underground tunnels running underneath
the trestle that I have not been in, but they seem very creepy as well. [The
area] has an eerie vibe to it, unless a train passes which it then gets very,
very crazy. As soon as the train passes you can feel the energy get really
heavy.”
Another visitor to the tracks claimed to have seen a
70s era spirit which they detailed on MichiganHauntedHouses.com:
While visiting this bridge, I felt an INSANELY heavy
feeling. It was so dark and intense, I couldn't even get close to it and had to
stand about 20 feet away. I closed my eyes and heard screaming which was soon
accompanied by a girl running along the train tracks. She had wavy dirty blonde
hair, glasses, and a turtleneck. She seemed to be dressed in 70's attire. Her
screams were just horrible. Every so often she would scream for help and I was
just overcome with her feelings of terror. I wanted to see what she was running
from, but I felt like it was a person. She didn't acknowledge I was there. I
think she was just residual energy but her pure terror was like one I've never
felt before. And the sheer dark and heaviness the bridge exuded was something
I've only experienced when visiting places where people have been murdered and
tortured. As we headed back to the car, my (very skeptical) friend saw 3
humanoid figures come out from the bushes and I saw a 4th watching from a few feet
away. Granted, it was dark and we may have been seeing a post or part of a tree
or something, but it was spooky nonetheless.
Strange things have
been known to happen around the bridge. Cars stall and lights go out for no
reason. Cameras and cell phones that had fully charged batteries would suddenly
go dead. Some people believe this bridge is a portal to the other side.
This
is a functioning stretch of railway so please stay off the tracks for your
safety. Surrounding areas are private property.
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