The Elmore Rider
The Elmore Rider weaves a tale of love, tragic loss, and a headless ghost that can’t help sticking around. Elmore, a town in northern Ohio, and its population was a mere 1,410 as of the last census. At the time of our tale, shortly after World War I, it was a little more booming thanks to the surrounding industry.
Like many love stories, our main characters were separated by something, in this case WWI. After our Elmore Rider was drafted, his sweetheart promised to wait for him in Elmore until his return. After letters going back and forth discussing their love for each other and their impending marriage, the Elmore Rider was finally headed home.
As a celebration, on the last leg of his journey back to Elmore he bought a brand-spanking new Indian brand motorcycle for his ride home. He decided to cut the engine a bit as he neared her house, intending to surprise her. As he passed by and parked his bike, he could see her working in the kitchen and decided to sneak in behind her and surprise her with a hug. Sadly, he did not quite get the happy, affection-filled reunion he thought he was walking into.
His love screamed and soon her face contorted into horror as she realized who had hugged her. She had thought her love had died in WWI and had accepted a marriage proposal from someone else.
Shocked and upset, he barely let her explain before hopping on his motorcycle and driving off into the night. Sadly, he didn’t make it very far. He lost control of his new bike and police were called to his scene, where his head lay several feet away from his body on a nearby bridge.
Since then, there have been reports of blinding lights around the bridge followed by eerie and heartbreaking screams. These can be heard throughout the year but on March 21st, the alleged date of the incident, it said that a ghostly bike driven by a headless rider can be found driving that stretch and vanishing from the bridge around the midpoint. Others claim that you don’t see an entire apparition, but a single ghostly orb making the same journey. It’s also said that if you stand on the bridge during the anniversary, you may end up thrown from it. Although the bridge is not very high, it would still cause quite some damage.
According to the Louisville Ghost Hunters Society, “Richard Gill was a student at nearby Bowling Green University and had an avid interest in the paranormal. As March 21 neared, he and a friend decided to stake out the haunted bridge. They brought along a movie camera, a still camera and a tape recorder. They parked their car on the far side of the bridge and then followed the procedure that, legend had it, caused the ghost light to appear. He blinked his car lights three times and then honked his horn three times. Suddenly, the light appeared near the farmhouse and flew toward the bridge, where it vanished.”
Thanks to Mel B for this suggestion for Blogstonishing 2019!
The image is Entering Elmore, Ohio by David Wilson and is licensed under CC by 2.0.
