Gloria's Bridge - Ghost encounter #1

The year was 1984. Reagan was battling the Cold War, David Lee Roth was still in Van Halen, and SirJager went to Gloria's bridge.

What is Gloria's bridge? If you've ever thought of what a haunted bridge might look like, Gloria's bridge was it.

So the story goes...

Legend has it many years ago there was a car wreck on an old bridge and a young girl named Gloria was killed. Some say her body was never found. The legend also goes that if you call her name from the bridge she will appear in front of you.

Now, when a kid turns 16 and gets his driver's license, there are a few things on the to-do list. Aside from the usual, a haunted bridge twenty minutes away, was on the Jager list.

The First Trip
The moon is out, but it's still a dark Autumn night in Alabama. Four kids pile into a Pontiac Sunbird and head for the town of Sylacauga. We were given directions but still not sure we would find the bridge. Our trip carries us through the quiet town center passing an occasional group of high school kids hanging out for the weekend. We make our way out of town and down small winding Alabama "back" roads.

Eventually the there are no houses and no lights and for a group of teenagers, it's pretty creepy.

The Sunbird tape player is blasting out Queen's Greatest Hits as the road becomes barley wide enough for two cars. The Fall moon flashes behind trees as their arms reach over the roadway. Suddenly the tape player stops and quickly comes back on again. It does this one or two more times. We dismiss the event as coincidence.

Seconds later we come to a curve in the road. If you're not paying attention you will go straight into the woods and into a small stream. We make the sharp left and our headlights uncover the bridge. We stop.

Bridge similar to Gloria's bridge

About fifteen feet in front of us is an old wooden bridge. A support truss runs along the top and wooden planks run horizontally to make up the one lane crossing. This was it, Gloria's bridge.

We approached slowly not sure if the bridge would hold the weight of the car and to make sure a car was not approaching the bridge. As we slowly crossed we could hear each board clap in a rhythmic pattern. We caught a quick glimpse of the moon from the break in the trees that hung over the stream.

After crossing we found a spot to turn around approached the bridge again. This time we parked dead center turned off the lights and engine. The only sound was the dull sound of water slowly flowing fifteen feet below. If there ever was a haunted bridge, "This was it", we thought.

Following legend protocol we cracked our windows and called, "Gloria, Gloria, Gloria" and immediately rolled them back up. The moon slowly made it's way through the trees. The hill behind us was well lit but the woods surrounding is were dark black.

After an uneventful hour we decided to call it a night. Somewhat disappointed we made our way home thinking, "so much for Gloria's bridge". When we got home, however, our thought's would change...

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