The Frenchtown Railroad Bridge
As an American, I’m always wishing we had a stronger rail system. But every blogstonishing I can count on learning about at least one ghost train, even if the trains and schedules have abandoned the place the tracks once lay. Tonight, we’re headed to Baton Rouge to learn about the Frenchtown Ghost Train and the haunted trails that surround it.
Today, it's just an old abandoned train trestle and several solid hiking trails recently(ish) reopened in 2013 for public use. But as people started to visit this once busy railway again, strange stories and sightings began to rise to the surface.
In particular the most haunted area of the trails is supposed to be a haunted bridge which used to carry trains daily. If you believe any of this at all, a school bus had accidentally somehow found itself driving on top of that trestle with a bus full of kids. While the reason for the bus being there is varied (and largely doesn't make too much sense) it was allegedly hit by an oncoming train and all of the dozens of children on board lost their lives. A tragic haunting, child ghosts, and an abandoned railroad that had been dormant for decades before a revitalization project seems like the perfect breeding ground for ghosts, or at least ghost stories.
But the school bus isn't the only ghost story nestled in that old train trestle. There is also stories of a headless horseman who was said to be sighted by the bridge on foggy days. These rumors began circulating in the 1970s, long before the trails and lands were open to the public. It was common for teenagers in the area to share the lore and dare each other to approach the bridge in hopes of seeing his ghostly figure.
In the 90s, stories picked up again that the train trestle was a hotbed of magical and paranormal activity, in addition to the rumors above it was also said if you drove your car underneath the bridge at night, it would stall and you would see the glow of the watchers' flashlights. If and when your car started again and you had seen the flashlights, you better drive like hell out of there!
As mentioned above, you can visit the bridge today without fear of the cops getting called on you or risking your life. The trails are open to the public, unlike many of our stories, and you can head into the woods during the day and feel the bridge and its potentially strange magic for yourself.
Thank you to Henri for suggesting his hometown legend for blogstonishing!
Please note the blog image header does not represent the story. It is a railroad trestle along the Shenandoah River parallel to Shenandoah Street through the heart of historic Harper's Ferry. It was taken by Chris Light and is file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.