Witches and water often go together. In many places in rural America, bridges and creeks set the stage for tragic accidents, suicides, or murder. It’s a crossing place for souls. That’s the case with a small bridge in Weeping Water, near Omaha Nebraska. Eerie stories haunt the spooky metal bridge spanning murky water below. According to people who have visited the area, Witch’s Bridge no longer exists. Instead, you can see the piers from the old rail bridge nearby. It runs parallel to the more modern bridge that crosses the creek today. Whatever the real story, don’t gaze down from the bridge at your reflection on an odd-numbered night with an odd-numbered group of people unless you want the witch to appear and drag you down into the water with her.
It’s likely that this story is based on a true story. If that’s the case, the woman’s name is lost to time. Along the Nine Bridges Road, on the borders of Grand Island, a woman lived alone in a house that crouched at one end of the bridge. According to local legend, her neighbors considered her a witch who practiced devil worship. Perhaps she was an old woman who lived with a cat. Maybe a beautiful woman who made enemies. Maybe she was just an introvert who didn’t like company. At some unspecified date, the townspeople rounded up the woman, and several of her neighbors suspected of witchcraft. In a mob rage, the townspeople burned the woman to death in her house. Another folktale states that the witch hung herself (or was lynched) from the Weeping Water Bridge. If the story is true, then collective memory and guilt later turned the suicide or murder into a ghost story.
Something isn’t right at the Witch’s Bridge. Or so all the stories say. If you rattle down Nine Bridge Road, the car will die if you stop near the Witch’s Bridge. In the distance, you can hear a woman crying. Others report that if you get out and lean over the bridge to catch sight of the ghost, the witch will grab you and drag you into the murky depths. With a creaky bridge, drifting fog, and blood-curdling witchy tales, it’s no surprise that the bridge has seen a high number of fatal accidents over the years. On the front porch of a dilapidated house that sits at the end of the bridge, a rocking chair slowly rocking back and forth when there is no wind. People driving down the road report that their car stalls when crossing the bridge. When they get out of the car to check, a brief, cold breeze envelops them. When they glance up, the rocking chair begins to rock by itself. As they race away, there’s a loud thump as their wheels run over something. Horrified, they see a dog lying dead in the middle of the bridge. Slamming the car door shut, they floor the gas to drive away. Just then, one person looks back and sees the dead dog with red eyes glowing like coals staring at them from the middle of the bridge.
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