Crybaby Bridge

by Jessica Craig

Crybaby Bridge located in Anderson, South Carolina that is no longer available to vehicular traffic

 Stepping out of your vehicle, and placing the keys on top of the hood begins the awakening of a mother and infants spirits. Placing baby powder around the hood, and chanting “I have your baby, I have your baby,” will result in your vehicles keys going missing, with prints of a baby’s foot showing up in the baby powder. All occurring on the famous Crybaby Bridge. Readers may view it just as a basic bridge, but the legend behind Crybaby Bridge holds more than just tread marks. Recognized as the bridge that holds a mother and an infant’s spirit.  Crybaby Bridge is distinguished as a nickname given to bridges all over the United states, including places such as: Ohio, Virginia, Oklahoma, Maryland, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.

 Legend states that if you park on one of the existing Crybaby Bridges that you can hear a cry of a baby or scream from a women. Each Bridge in the United States has their own account behind the myth. Ohio, being the most famous bridge of them all, tells the story as a couple arguing, and the women jumping out and getting hit by a car, which explains why citizens hear the scream of a women while crossing the bridge. Oklahoma, holding the plot twist of them all, reading as not only one child but several children were thrown of the side of the railing by their mother, because they all were a result of her being molested. Texas, where you can hear the crying from a women below the waters of the bridge, whom was killed by her husband, who soon drowned the baby along with the mother. South Carolina, holding the original and most famous myth of them all, containing the mother throwing the infant over the railing then soon hanging herself. Being a citizen living in South Carolina, I have visited the local bridge located in Edgefield, SC. Driving down the spooky trail, we rolled the windows down and instantly I heard women like screams, hearing the screeching my friend had slammed on brakes, and while sitting there in silence our back windshield shattered. 

The definition of an urban legend or a myth is just that: Crybaby Bridge. Depending on one’s belief as far as hauntings or spirits, the noises could actually be from nature itself meaning old wood, old bridges, waterways, or animals in the woods, but the myths keep it intriguing and brings people in from all over the country to experience the historical momentum of the urban legend. Crybaby Bridge could also be just a memorable scare for local citizens. Feel free to visit this historical haunting for a bridge or just the beauty of the nature around it or to make the hair stand up on your neck, either way they are worth the visit. There is nowhere to run, or nowhere to hide from the spirits of Crybaby Bridge.  

Works Cited:

Summers, Ken. “Troubled Waterways: Origins of The Crybaby Bridge Legend.” Week In Weird, 2011, http://weekinweird.com/2011/09/03/troubled-waterways-origins-crybaby-bridge-legend/ 

Jarvis, Robin. “The Stories Behind These 9 Haunted Bridges In South Carolina Will Keep You Up At Night.” Only In Your State, 2016, https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/south-carolina/haunted-bridges-in-sc/ 

Willis, James. “Crybaby Bridge Project.” The Strange and Spooky World of James A. Willis. https://strangeandspookyworld.com/crybaby-bridge-project/ 

Lamkin, Virginia. “Crybaby Bridge: Monmouth, Illinois.” Seeks Ghost. 2012, https://seeksghosts.blogspot.com/2012/12/crybaby-bridge-monmouth-illinois.html 


Hudson, Marilyn. “Crybaby Bridge-Oklahoma Style.”2007, http://mystorical.blogspot.com/2010/07/cry-baby-bridge-oklahoma-style.html 

Links For Further Research:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYfxYbR6HEI 

Although this video is creepy it holds a documentary of the urban legend of “Crybaby Bridge.”