The Philo Bridge




This bridge, which connects Philo to Duncan Falls across the Muskingum River, is said to be haunted by the cries of babies murdered there. There are many, many so-called "crybaby bridges" in Ohio, and this could be considered just another among many, but there's more to the legend than it might seem at first glance.


There is a story that three children, siblings, drowned in the river sometime in the 1950s. This happened at the islands just below the bridge.


These excellent photos appear courtesy of Lisa, who lives close to the bridge in Philo and was good enough to contribute the following story:

"A few years ago I was standing in my bedroom when I heard what sounded like a baby crying. It sounded like it was coming from the dining room so I went to check it out, but when I entered the room there was nothing there. So I just guessed that I was hearing things because I was the only one home, and I get creeped out some times when I’m alone.

"A few days later I had my friend Gail coming over to help me babysit because I was watching my one-year-old baby cousin Mitch (but he calls me Aunt Lisa so he is like a nephew) and this horrible seven year old little girl; I swear that child was the devil she was so mean, but hey, I needed the money. I had told my friend earlier that we would probably all still be asleep when she got there so just to come in. But a few minutes after she got there she heard this crying and thought it was Mitch, but when she checked it wasn’t, he was fast asleep just like everyone else. Not long after that I got up and went out to the living room and she told me about it and asked if I'd heard anything. I said no, I hadn’t. (I didn’t even think about the other day when I had heard something).

"Then later that same day we both heard it again and again checked the kids but again it wasn’t them. By this point we didn’t know what to think so we just forgot about it. Until several days later when Gail was over visiting, she was in the kitchen and I was in my room, and I heard the crying again and it sounded like it was coming from the dining room like before so I again went to check it out. Gail was coming in too because she had also heard the same thing. This time, however, we were the only ones in the house. Then I started to put all of the pieces together and I told her about before when I was alone and heard it and then we talked about when she heard it. Both of us agreed that it was something we couldn’t explain. To this day we haven’t figured out what it was that we heard, nor have we heard it since."

I would be interested to know how old the children were when they drowned near the river islands. Young enough that their cries could be mistaken for the cries of a year-old baby? It's a spooky situation, and one that deserves further resarch. My own trips through Philo and Duncan Falls at night have turned nothing up, even when I left the car and walked onto the bridge. If you have any more information about this haunting, please don't hesitate to send me an e-mail.



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