From Past to Future
Tuscola County, MI—Bridges have a place in literature and folklore, from Ichabod Crane’s flight from the Headless Horseman in Washington Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” (based on folklore from the Hudson Valley), to the bridge in Ambrose Bierce’s fatalist short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” The Buggy Woman of Crawford Road Bridge also has a horror element.
History
In Michigan, bridge’s have history, too. This includes the Mackinac Bridge that joins the Lower Peninsula to the Upper Peninsula, where some workman died tinkering during the final days of its construction, and Hell’s Bridge in Algoma Township, where the ghosts of dead children supposedly haunt the waters of the Rogue River.
The Crawford Road Bridge has its own folkloric story of sadness and death (Shadowlands). It comes in the form of the Buggy Woman of Crawford Road. The bridge lies southeast of Cass City in Michigan, and according to legend a woman attempted to cross it in her buggy, got too close to the edge, and dumped her vehicle over and upside down. The buggy trapped the young woman underneath in two-foot-deep water, and though she fearfully called for help to anybody within earshot, nobody arrived to save her.
Modern Buggy Woman Hauntings
In modern times, no bridge exists, but it is said that on foggier days, people can still hear the cries and pleas for help from the young woman near where the former bridge existed. What is more, some witnesses have claimed a spectral hand rose up from the side of the road to flag them down.
Still, other people have seen a woman in period-specific clothing wandering down the road toward them–her clothes soaked in water (Robinson). While horrifying, it’s a reminder to be careful where you tread lest you dump your buggy over–or run into an anguished specter from the past.
Sources
- “Haunted Places in Michigan.” The Shadowlands, Jan. 2010.
- Robinson, John. “The Buggy Woman Ghost of Crawford Road Bridge: Cass City, Michigan.” 99.1 WFMK, 21 Jan. 2021.
