Crybaby Bridge - Anderson County, SC


Old abandoned bridges can often appear creepy or intimidating.  Some of the bridges are alleged to be haunted.  Urban legends and old wives' tales cement a myth of modern-day folklore.

In Anderson County, South Carolina, an old abandoned bridge over the Rocky River along High Shoals Road has a legend of its own.  Known as the 'Crybaby Bridge,' the bridge is a popular fishing spot and a stop for those tracking paranormal activity.


Built in 1919 in Virginia, the continuous two-span camelback through truss bridge initially stood near Charleston before moving to Anderson County in 1952.  It remained in service until the new bridge opened to its immediate south in 1987.  Since then, the bridge has sat abandoned.


The Legends:

Most stories detailing the paranormal sightings at the bridge involve a distraught mother searching for her child.  Many of these legends describe how a mother had thrown a crying baby off the bridge.  The guilt-stricken mother later committed suicide.  In these legends, late at night, a ghostly figure of the mother telling her baby not to cry or weeping that she killed her baby.  Some legends also say that you can hear the faint sounds of a crying baby.


Other legends about the bridge include - haunting by a gentleman that fell to his death during its construction.  Some stories say it was during the initial construction in Virginia or when rebuilt in Anderson.

The "Crybaby Bridge" legend is not local to this bridge in Anderson.  Nearly every state has a 'Crybaby Bridge.' In 2022, a paranormal documentary titled 'Crybaby Bridges' was produced for streaming television.

All photos taken by post author - February 1, 2022.

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Comments

Unknown said…
I have been over crybaby bridge several times never seen or heard anything just a tall tale
Anonymous said…
I have been to crybaby bridge and definitelu heard the sounds of a crying baby but it was midnight when we were there and it was when the old bridge was still in use.Never saw the woman in white however.I havent been back since that one time.I have crossed the new bridge many,many times but never at night.
I have not went I want to go to see if this is true or not. How old is it?
Anonymous said…
I grew up in Anderson and both rode my bicycle over the old bridge as a teen and drove over the new bridge as an adult. I never believed in the ghost stories. When my own daughters became teens and began to tell me the tales they heard about “bloody Mary”, their generation’s name for the mother ghost and how to encounter her at the bridge.
I stopped with them on the new bridge one night to prove the stories wrong. But after I turned my car off and said “I killed your baby” three times, my car wouldn’t start and my headlights wouldn’t come on. Thank goodness for a full moon that night. There’s definitely something strange about that area.

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