janet42
10-19-2011, 10:34 PM
Since this is the month of Halloween, I would like to share with you a tale about Avon Bridge, which is located in Avon, Indiana.
Located southwest of Avon in Washington Township, this particular bridge has been standing since 1907. The concrete structure is 50 feet high and has three main arches. Above the main arches is a series of smaller arches separated by passages. The bridge has the look and feel of a Roman Aqueduct, and something more besides.
Fate it seems, has doomed the bridge from the start. Legend has it that during it's construction, a man working on the structure accidentally slipped and and fell into the wet cement that would serve as the bridge's foundation. Other workers witnessing the accident left him there, perhaps feeling that leaving the poor man in the concrete was easier than pulling him out and saving his life. They decided to hasten the man's death by pouring the rest of the cement in, ignoring the pleas and screams accompanying their decision.
Now any time a train clatters overhead, it is said the man's rest is disturbed and he screams in revolt. And some people claim to have seen his pick protruding from the concrete, frozen forever in time as a sign of his desperate attempt to free himself from his quickly setting tomb.
Another story is years and years ago perhaps even a century, a woman was at home attempting to nurse her sick baby. The baby cried and cried, his body curled up in pain. The mother grew frantic and set out into the cold to see the doctor. The quickest way was across the Avon bridge. Footing on the railroad bridge was uncertain even in the best conditions. In the darkness, the mother was forced to inch her way forward making sure to avoid the gaps in the bridge. Suddenly the tracks shuddered. The bridge began to shake with vibrations that the woman knew could only come from a train. Hoping against hope, the mother began to move more quickly praying that she would not see a train, knowing that any light she encountered would be from the locomotive bearing down upon her. And then there it was the whistle of a train pierced the silence. The woman tried to hurry, but her foot caught in one of the ties. With the train almost upon her she gave one final wrench and freed herself. She lept to the side, aiming to land on the ground beneath. She touched down safely, but as she fell through the air, her baby slipped from her grasp and tumbled to his death on the hard ground below. The mother went insane with grief and died a short time later. It is now said that every time the New York central chugs its way across the Avon bridge at midnight, you can hear the cries of a mother desperate to save her child.
Now people claim that, should you be near the bridge on a dark night, you can hear a train whistle and seconds later the scream of the mother and her baby and the worker in concrete, he might avoid the bridge altogether
Hope you enjoy the story.
Located southwest of Avon in Washington Township, this particular bridge has been standing since 1907. The concrete structure is 50 feet high and has three main arches. Above the main arches is a series of smaller arches separated by passages. The bridge has the look and feel of a Roman Aqueduct, and something more besides.
Fate it seems, has doomed the bridge from the start. Legend has it that during it's construction, a man working on the structure accidentally slipped and and fell into the wet cement that would serve as the bridge's foundation. Other workers witnessing the accident left him there, perhaps feeling that leaving the poor man in the concrete was easier than pulling him out and saving his life. They decided to hasten the man's death by pouring the rest of the cement in, ignoring the pleas and screams accompanying their decision.
Now any time a train clatters overhead, it is said the man's rest is disturbed and he screams in revolt. And some people claim to have seen his pick protruding from the concrete, frozen forever in time as a sign of his desperate attempt to free himself from his quickly setting tomb.
Another story is years and years ago perhaps even a century, a woman was at home attempting to nurse her sick baby. The baby cried and cried, his body curled up in pain. The mother grew frantic and set out into the cold to see the doctor. The quickest way was across the Avon bridge. Footing on the railroad bridge was uncertain even in the best conditions. In the darkness, the mother was forced to inch her way forward making sure to avoid the gaps in the bridge. Suddenly the tracks shuddered. The bridge began to shake with vibrations that the woman knew could only come from a train. Hoping against hope, the mother began to move more quickly praying that she would not see a train, knowing that any light she encountered would be from the locomotive bearing down upon her. And then there it was the whistle of a train pierced the silence. The woman tried to hurry, but her foot caught in one of the ties. With the train almost upon her she gave one final wrench and freed herself. She lept to the side, aiming to land on the ground beneath. She touched down safely, but as she fell through the air, her baby slipped from her grasp and tumbled to his death on the hard ground below. The mother went insane with grief and died a short time later. It is now said that every time the New York central chugs its way across the Avon bridge at midnight, you can hear the cries of a mother desperate to save her child.
Now people claim that, should you be near the bridge on a dark night, you can hear a train whistle and seconds later the scream of the mother and her baby and the worker in concrete, he might avoid the bridge altogether
Hope you enjoy the story.