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Crybaby Bridge refers to numerous bridges across the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, 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.


Kentucky

A bridge on Sleepy Hollow Road near the border between Jefferson and
Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...
counties in
Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
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 The original bridge has been replaced by a newer one made of steel and concrete.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.


Ohio


Egypt Road, Salem

Although the bridge is off of Egypt Road near
Salem, Ohio Salem is a city in Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The population was 11,915 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Salem was founded by Quakers in 1806 and played a key role in the Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist ...
, 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. Map:


Maryland

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.


Texas


De Kalb

"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 De Kalb ( ) is a city in Bowie County, Texas, United States; it is part of the Texarkana metropolitan statistical area. Its two area codes are 430 and 903. Its ZIP code is 75559. It is in the Central Time Zone, and its population was 1,527 at t ...
. Legend says that a mother driving a car plunged into the creek, and the baby drowned in the near-freezing waters.


Lufkin

Jack Creek, a stream west of
Lufkin, Texas Lufkin is the largest city in Angelina County, Texas, United States and is the county seat. The city is situated in Deep East Texas and is west of the Texas- Louisiana state line. Its population is 34,143 as of 2020. Lufkin was founded in 188 ...
, 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.


Port Neches

"Sarah Jane Bridge" on East Port Neches Avenue in
Port Neches, Texas Port Neches is a city in Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,692 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an increase over the figure of 13,040 tabulated in 2010. It is part of the Beaumont� ...
, 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.


Controversy

In 1999, Maryland folklorist
Jesse Glass Jesse Glass (born 1954) is an American expatriate poet, artist and folklorist. In America Glass first began to write and publish experimental poetry in c. 1972. Starting in 1976, he edited and published the mimeographed ''Goethe’s Notes Magazi ...
presented a case against several crybaby bridges being genuine
folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
, contending that they were instead
fakelore Invented traditions are cultural practices that are presented or perceived as traditional, arising from people starting in the distant past, but which are relatively recent and often consciously invented by historical actors. The concept was high ...
that was knowingly being propagated through the internet. According to Glass, nearly identical stories of crybaby bridges in
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...
and
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
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 Westminster is a city in and the county seat of Carroll County, Maryland, United States. The city's population was 19,960 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Westminster is an outlying community in the Baltimore metropolitan area, whic ...
, 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."Moran; Sceurman, p.22 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.


See also

* Overtoun Bridge


References


Sources

* {{cite book , author=Mark Moran and Mark Scuerman , title=Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets , publisher=Barnes & Noble , year=2004 , isbn=978-0-7607-5043-8 , url-access=registration , url=https://archive.org/details/weirdus00mark American ghosts American urban legends Bridges in the United States Ghost children Maryland folklore Reportedly haunted locations in the United States Supernatural urban legends