Crybaby Bridge

Crybaby Bridge crosses a gorge in the woods outside Esterholt, Ohio. The road leading to it is all but abandoned, and the bridge itself is falling into disrepair. Locals claim that the bridge is haunted. Roughly, the story goes that one night, a mother and a fluctuating number of children were crossing the bridge, but due to drunk driving, wildlife, poor visibility, or other causes, she drove directly off the bridge and into the gorge. On certain nights, if you go out there at either midnight or three in the morning, you can hear the children. Or so they say. Despite the rise in interest in the strange in and around the town of Esterholt, the bridge itself has not seen very much traffic outside of groups of kids legend tripping to the site to test their mettle.

Purpose / Function

Originally the bridge was built to cross the gorge in order to reach settlements deeper in the mountains that were otherwise cut off from the world. While it does still do this in theory, changes in travel needs and regulations moved the main arteries into and out of Esterholt away from the bridge.

History

In 1952, there was a one-vehicle car accident, killing the driver and both passengers, all high school seniors. The tragedy sparked a number of rumors, beginning with the fact that on the anniversary of the accident one can hear the car go over the bridge and into the gorge. Over time this spread. Local populations of large cats, inadvertently coupled with adventuresome high school students, began shifting the story into one where it is possible to hear the children crying for their mother. Some added the detail that when the wind is right and the sky is dark, you can see headlights on the bridge, just before they swerve off into the gorge. As the rumors spread and the town rearranged its roads, the path to Crybaby Bridge was slowly abandoned. It and the surrounding road fell into disrepair, which added to the overall ambience of the place. And, in 2018, it was the site of a skirmish between Ta'zhen and a challenger for Leadership of the Stenza, which many think was actually an attempted assassination.

Type

Bridge

Parent Location

Esterholt, Ohio