Rich Newman

Book received from NetGalley.

I loved this book of "real" ghost stories that take place in various places that are linked to the American Civil War. The book is divided in sections that focus on the same type of area, battlefields, forts, antebellum places etc. While there were many stories I had already heard, there were just as many that I have never heard before. It's a good book to get for travel if you're interested in ghost hunting, it tells you exactly where each ghost is supposed to walk. It's one I'm going to be buying since I love things like this.… (altro)

***This book was reviewed for Llewellyn Worldwide via Netgalley.***

From suicide bridges to phantom hitchhikers, Rich Newman’s Haunted Bridges collects together hundreds of spooky crossings from all over the United States. Each chapter focuses on specific characteristics related to the hauntings. Chapter One relates tales of hauntings believed to have been caused by hanging/lynching, such as Poinsett Bridge in South Carolina. Not only does this bridge have lynching associated with it, but it's also said that one of the stonemasons involved in building the bridge was walled up inside it.

Chapter Two focuses on hauntings believed to involve invisible hands. Sometimes these hauntings involve people being touched by the invisible hands, but most relate the sorts of tales that can found in just about any region, tales of cars that are in neutral being pushed across bridges (or over railroad tracks). I'm surprised that the author did not point out that this phenomenon of rolling cars is usually the result of an optical illusion. There is actually a decline in gradient that causes the cars to roll. Powder sprinkled liberally on the trunk and bumpers usually blows off, excepting where it sticks to latent fingerprints, making them visible. Experiments carried out by scientific-minded individuals are usually conducted by thoroughly wiping down the car, removing any latent fingerprints. In these cases, the car rolls, but no handprints are left. Use of surveying equipment reveals the difference in gradients, showing the deceptive decline where things either appear flat or appear to actually go uphill. The author does point out that, for most such 'hauntings’, there is no factual basis in the stories behind them, usually that a bus with kids wrecked there, and since then ghost kids try to push cars perceived to be in danger out of harm’s way.

Chapter Three looks at suicide spots. I'm surprised Golden Gate isn't listed here, with the numbers associated with it, but it is listed elsewhere in the book. One listed in this chapter that I would like to go check out is the Colorado Street Bridge in Pasadena, California. Built in 1912, this bridge has a hundred plus suicides associated with it. The bridge was given a facelift in 1993, at which time a barrier was put up to keep potential jumpers from leaping to their deaths. However, that was rather too late to keep it from being a paranormal hotspot. There are at least seven, if not many more, different spirits that loiter around this bridge.

Chapter Four delves into legends of crybaby bridges and crying woman bridges. Stories akin to La Llorona make up crying woman tales, stories of mothers who lost a child on the bridge, or killed a child on/near a bridge. The spirit of the mother can be found wailing or crying in the area of the child's death. Crybaby bridges feature the wails and cries of babes lost on or near them. I was quite tickled to find among this collection the tale of Sally’s Bridge in Concord, NC. This is the area I moved to CA from, and I remember one of my co-workers telling me this story. According to the story a young mother named Sally was in a car accident one rainy night. The child died as a result. Sally later died, I was told by suicide, and now if you visit the bridge at night you can hear the wails of the infant and the terrified cries of Sally. She may even appear to you, asking for help finding her baby.

Chapter Five covers hauntings that are considered residual imprints; loops that play over and over, with no apparent intelligence. Some here involved a theory new to me, namely that certain residual hauntings are not actually imprints left behind, but places where the veil of time has thinned, and people are witnessing not ghosts at all, but living history as it is unfolding. As an archaeologist, I'd really like a physicist to figure out how to do this at will. Oh, what we could learn!

Chapter Six relates tales of phantom hitchhikers. Usually, these are victims of accidents on or near the bridge. Often, if an unsuspecting person picks up the phantom hitchhiker, the hitchhiker will disappear once the span is fully crossed. Chapter Seven deviates from the typical ghost hauntings and instead looks at bridges with cryptid stories. From trolls (yes, you heard right. Troll bridges in the US) to goat-men to bigfoot, this chapter has all kinds of bridges with supposedly flesh and blood beasties 'haunting’ it.

Chapter Eight looks at bridges associated with criminal acts. The author is quick to remind the reader, as he did with the suicide chapter, that unlike a goodly portion of tales within this book that are more urban legend than truth, these particular stories relate to known deaths, in this case, most of murder. Chapter Nine focuses on bridges plagued by spook lights. These are regarded differently by different people. To some, they are spirits. To others, merely natural phenomena such as swamp gas or ball lightning. If paranormal, the lights are usually believed to be phantom lanterns or headlights, though ghosts are also believed to present as balls of light at times.

Chapter Ten covers unfortunate accidents that are believed to have resulted in haunted bridges. It seems to me like the chapters on hangings, suicides, crimes, and accidents should have immediately followed one another. I wonder at the choice to separate them, though it does serve to break up the sadder cases with some measure of levity. Chapter Eleven looks at places that have so many disparate things going on that they’d rightly fit in three or four of the previous chapters.

I really enjoyed this book. I like reading about the paranormal. It’s easy to forget just how many sites around the US (and the world) are considered haunted. Throughout the book, again and again, the author was good with warnings to readers hoping to visit some of these places to be sure and get proper permissions for visiting places closed after dark. More importantly, Newman cautions, time after time, to *not* attempt to walk across train trestles or dilapidated/condemned bridges, else you run a very high risk of becoming the next ghost that people come to catch a glimpse of.

🎻🎻🎻🎻 Recommended for lovers of the strange and unusual, for those interested in the paranormal and in ghost-hunting, and for those who enjoy shows like Ghost Adventures, Destination Truth, and The X-Files.… (altro)