Читать книгу More Haunted Hoosier Trails - Wanda Lou Willis - Страница 21

It happened one cold fall night, near midnight, under the full moon: The sounds of angry voices, then blood-curdling screams, and finally the splashing sound of something falling or being thrown into the river below the bridge.

Sometime during the early 1940s, a husband and wife began an argument that resulted in both of their deaths. The house where they lived is said to have been on a hill just outside of Gas City about five hundred feet from the road near Mason’s Bridge.

The argument began when the husband accused his wife of having an affair. His jealous rage became maniacal. Fearing for her life, his wife fled from the house, her husband close behind her brandishing an ax.

He caught up with his wife just as she reached Mason’s Bridge. With ferocity, he swung the ax and cut off her head. Picking it up, he tossed her head over the bridge and into the water below. Ex-hausted, he sat on the roadway beside his wife’s headless body. Maybe it was the chill of the night—or the chill in his heart—that shocked him back into a semblance of sanity and the realization of the horror that he had committed.

Overcome with grief and guilt, he returned to the house, climbed onto the roof, and hung himself.

That’s how it happened then—and how it still happens—or so the legend goes.

To witness the reoccurring murder at Mason’s Bridge, go there around midnight on a clear fall night with a full moon. Take State Route 22 out of Gas City to County Road 500 East. Park your car and walk to the east side of the bridge. Wait, watch, and listen.

Soon you will hear voices raised in anger, arguing, and the sound of people running down the hill toward the bridge. As the sounds reach the bridge two images begin to take shape. One small. One large. The larger of the two raises something above its head. The moonlight glints off the object. Suddenly a sickening dull thud is heard, mingled with a spine-chilling scream, and then—silence.

Wait a bit before you move—if you can move. Then go to the opposite side of the bridge and look along the river’s bank. There you will see a white figure walking along the edge of the river—the woman looking for her head.

Mason’s Bridge and the haunted river banks below. PHOTO: Peggy McClelland