Sometimes perilous and almost always remote, rural bridges have long been a staple of local ghostlore. They are places where ghosts of long-forgotten accidents still roam and phantom voices cry out from the water below. At the Legends and Lore of Illinois, we have visited allegedly haunted bridges all over the State of Illinois, but which one will prove to be the most haunted?

10. Old Train Bridge

Schuyler County, IL

This isolated wooden bridge over the railroad tracks in rural Schuyler County is rumored to be the home of a phantom train. Locals claim that if you stand on the bridge at night, the bridge will begin to shake and you will hear a train whistle, but no train will ever arrive. Another story, common to many rural railroad bridges, is that a bus filled with children plummeted off the bridge, killing all aboard. Now the ghosts of the children can be seen darting in and out of the nearby woods. Two men in particular heard the sound of children crying while they were exploring the area.

9. 400th Avenue Bridge

New Holland, IL

The 400th Avenue bridge crosses Sugar Creek just north of Pool Hill Cemetery. According to local lore, the area is a supernatural hotspot and was the scene of lynching in the distant past. Visitors occasionally hear whispering, talking, rattling chains, and screams as if the lynchings were being repeated over and over again. Even the nearby fields are not immune from this macabre auditory replay. Also, if you lay your hand on the tree where the hangings occurred, it is said that you will witness the events. Today, not much remains of the cemetery that overlooks the bridge, and the tree has been cut down.

8. Witch’s Bridge

Clarksdale, IL

For many years, a small stone cabin with a long, brick chimney stood along the road near a bridge not too far from Anderson Cemetery. It was rumored to be guarded by a zombie dog, and to be the home of a family of murdering thieves. According to local paranormal investigator Larry Wilson, “Supposedly a man, his wife and their children lived in the cabin. Legend is the man killed his family then hung himself on the bridge nearby. It was rumored that if you went into the back room of the cabin no matter how cold it was it would become very warm.” Others have said that a girl (or witch) was hung from the steel bridge past the cabin. Spook lights are sometimes seen floating around the creek under the bridge. The cabin has since been relocated to Rochester, Illinois near a city park.

7. Love Ford Bridge

Falmouth, IL

The area around Love Ford Bridge is home to several notorious places, not the least of which is Happy Holler, a bar and sound stage popular with bikers, truckers, and hunters. Just across the road, at the top of a hill derogatorily named after the African Americans thought to be buried there, sits Higgins (Coburn) Cemetery. Strange lights and sounds have been encountered near the cemetery, and it is rumored to be the site of animal sacrifice and Devil worship. Love Ford Bridge is believed to be haunted by the ghost of an inebriated young man who jumped into the Embarras River and drowned. One eyewitness who spoke to authors Chad Lewis and Terry Fisk claimed that he heard the sound of splashing and laughing coming from the river near the bridge. Thinking that was strange because of the cold weather, he went to investigate and saw “several ghostly figures floating in the water.”

6. Lakey’s Creek Bridge

McLeansboro, IL

The headless horseman of Lakey’s Creek is quite possibly one of the oldest ghost stories in Illinois. Long before a concrete bridge spanned the shallow creek 1.5 miles east of McLeansboro, a frontiersman named Lakey attempted to erect his log cabin near a ford along the wagon trail to Mt. Vernon. One morning, a lone traveler stumbled upon Lakey’s body. Lakey’s head had been severed by his own axe, which was left at the scene. According to legend, his murderer was never found. For decades after the murder, travelers reported being chased by a headless horseman that rode out of the woods along Lakey’s Creek. “Always the rider, on a large black horse, joined travelers approaching the stream from the east, and always on the downstream side,” John Allen wrote. “Each time and just before reaching the center of the creek, the mistlike figure would turn downstream and disappear.” The headless horseman has been seen much less frequently in recent years.

Check out these places and more in Michael Kleen’s
Haunting Illinois: A Tourist’s Guide to the Weird and Wild Places of the Prairie State!

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