Pitchin Crybaby Bridge

Type
Vehicle bridge over water

Legend
With so many personal experiences (see below), you would have thought this particular bridge would have a nice, robust legend behind it. Nope. Other than vague mentions of a mother and baby being on the bridge and the baby dying, there’s not much more to this legend, although some will say the baby was thrown from the bridge by the mother while others claim both mother and baby jumped to their deaths.

It also appears that the more popular legend surrounding this bridge has nothing to do with a baby and instead centers on a murderous group of people who are often described as “a cult”, “Satanists”, or “witches”. Original versions of this variation, however, did include a baby, which the group had sacrificed near the bridge. More recent versions drop the baby (no pun intended) and instead just focus on the shadowy group of people who will attack you if you wander up onto the bridge.

In all versions of the legend, however, there is a reference to the ghost of a woman standing on or near the bridge. In the “baby” version, it’s the ghost of the mother. In the non-baby version, the woman is one of the groups victims.

Ritual
None known as of this writing.

Location
Located on Garlough Road in Pitchin (Green Township). Bridge crosses the water at approximately the 7840 block of Garlough Road.

Notes
I’m going to be honest here: This particular bridge wasn’t even on my radar. Never heard of it before and had absolutely nothing about it in my files. So suffice to say, it wasn’t mentioned on the master list of bridges I put up on my web site when I launched the Ohio Crybaby Bridge Project. That’s where you all came in.

Almost immediately after launching the Project, I started getting emails, asking why the Pitchin bridge wasn’t on the list. When I replied with “I’ve never heard of it. What can you tell me about it?”, I would immediately get a response, including what experiences people had on the bridge. What’s more, people started posting about the Pitchin Bridge in the comments section of almost every page of the Ohio Crybaby Bridge Project. In short, the Pitchin Crybaby Bridge legend was literally brought back to life, thanks to readers of this blog!

To think that the legends surrounding this bridge could have been lost forever if not for my readers is something I don’t take lightly. And I can’t thank you enough for writing to me. I know there’s still more stories to share, but for now, I’ve compiled all the emails and blog posts I’ve received so far in the Personal Experiences section below.

Personal Experiences
Had I heard about the cry baby bridge in Pitchin, OH before the experience my friend and I had, I too would think it was just an over-shared legend. About 9 years ago, my friend and I were taking a drive through Pitchin. It’s in the country and it’s kind of pretty in the early fall. (Neither of us had ever heard of cry baby bridge at this point).

Anyway, we drive over the bridge and both thought we heard something. But we assume it’s an animal and we don’t think twice about it. As the sun was starting to set, we decide to head back to Springfield and go the exact way that we came going over the same bridge. (From what I’ve heard you aren’t supposed to?) As we go over the bridge for the second time, my friends car loses its “get up n go” and starts to slow down. Then we heard the same noise that we heard the first time driving over the bridge. It was definitely someone crying but when the car completely stopped we both swear we heard a cackle, (like the ones witches make in the movies) then cries again. The whole time my friend is trying to start the car we hear these cries. (We were too freaked out to “investigate”. Finally, we get the car started again and just as we’re driving off the bridge, there was a shadowy figure that looked somewhat female standing right on the edge of the road by the bridge cackling, and as we past her a dark figure flew across the windshield. When we got home we told some friends what had happened and that’s when they told us about cry baby bridge… Maybe nothing actually happened there, but something definitely happened that evening!
—Bri (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

I went there a lot as a teenager trying to scare my friends. I have heard many stories of people being chased by pickup trucks that devil worshippers were driving. And people in black hooded capes running out of the corn fields. The last time I went I seen a sign that appeared to be written in blood it said “we kill before pig inquire”. Don’t know what it means but scared me!
—S. Sparks (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

I grew up in south Charleston and knew people in Pitchen so we would go there sometimes. Always heard the baby crying. I do recall as we were getting our licenses, we would drive over the bridge and the car would come to a crawl, and seeing a dark figure in the road and the crying noise.
—Laura (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

Cry baby bridge in Pitchin is legendary. Aside from the tale of the mom and baby, it’s a notorious area for Wicken activity and some darker sides of witchcraft. The story I heard while in high school (late 1980’s) was that a woman was fleeing from her abusive husband and took their baby with her. As he caught up to her, she threw the baby over the bridge hoping it would have a better chance of survival than being beat to death by the father. He killed her and the baby drowned. It is said that you can hear the baby crying and also see the woman standing toward the end of the bridge.
—Angel Jacobs (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

Been on the cry baby bridge near Pitchin too many times to count. Not only is this one of many in the state, this one is also the location of a local Geocache. The legend changes depending on who you talk to and often people add their own twist. When we get a lot of rain, the water under the bridge often raises over the road’s surface. While there have been rumors of Wiccan activity and even KKK at the bridge, it has went from Urban Legend to local teenage hang out as evident by the years of graffiti on the roads surface and bridge structure itself.

Glad to see so many locals report this site to have it added to your list. There is for sure an unsettling feeling.
—Don T. (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

The above story from “Bri” is quite interesting regarding the Pitchin version of CBB. Back when it was an old iron-frame bridge, I sat on it for about three hours one night talking (truly) with a girl I was dating at the time, That was around 1984. Noting happened. NADA. No strange noises or images. The cool thing about it back then was that it was such a deserted area that no one ever drove through there—including deputies. The word got out—however—that it was becoming somewhat of a hangout and deputies began to patrol it. Eventually the old bridge was torn down and replaced with a basic, two-lane open bridge, destroying forever the mysterious aura.
—Brian H (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

Hey everyone. Suffering from some acute insomnia down here in Kentucky and came across this. Stumbled upon this page and the moment I saw the Garlough Road Bridge in Pitchin, my blood froze! Salyersville native here, but a large portion of my family lives in Springfield and South Charleston. I’m a frequent visitor, so I’m fairly familiar with the area. I too have an experience with this terrifying place.

About a year and a half ago, some family members and I were heading to Springfield from Selma to visit with my uncle. The bridge on Selma Pike was closed for construction and in my ignorance, I identified Garlough Road as a much more suitable route than hitting US-42 to S. Charleston and taking SR-41 into town. We were en route to our destination around 8 that evening. Upon crossing the bridge, my aunt proceeds to tell me the folklore. Being the skeptic that I am, I dismissed it as nothing more than a good conversation starter. We were on our way back around 11 that night. I was driving around the curve/dip before you reach the bridge (it’s not visible until you fully negotiate the curve) and what appeared to be three people dressed in black robes and in face masks were standing right in the middle of it. Upon their sight of us, they began to run towards our vehicle. The road is roughly wide enough to accommodate one vehicle at this location, and it took me about three tries to get fully turned around. We were in a panic! Stupid kids I thought to myself…but before I began to take off, we looked behind us and nothing! It was like they had vanished. I personally didn’t think they would have had enough time to hide in the cornfields, and at that particular spot in the road, they couldn’t have had enough time to escape our sight.

One of the most frightening experiences of my life. Us KY folk aren’t used to that. This all led to a call to the OSHP and a sleepless night. They eventually followed up with us per my initial request, but couldn’t find anything. I don’t take things like this lightly! I’m a graduate student at UK and struggle with accepting things I can’t see. Interpret this as you see fit, but if there’s ever a place that has some sinister history and apparently current activity, look no further than Garlough Road.
—Blake Cantrell (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

I for a fact know something’s not right with the crybaby bridge in Pitchin. I’m 37 and when i was 16 i was on house arrest and snuck out of the house to go with some friends. We all go. Get out of the car to listen to this so called baby crying. We all heard the crying and raspy voices. We start to get scared and go back to the car when plain as day we hear screaming “get off my land”. We hightail to the car, hearing footsteps behind us. One of our friends stopped to turn around to see what was going on and on the other side of the bridge you could just tell it sounded like an old-time truck starting up. We all get in the car and leave in a very big hurry. The truck was following us. My friend flipped the car and the whole front end was smashed in, so we had to climb out the back window. We all escaped with minor cuts and bruises, but the truck vanished into thin air. Needless to say we all ended up in the hospital and from there i was taken to a detention center and I’ve NEVER been back.
—Mary (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

I grew up in Clifton Ohio and my family is all from the Pitchin area, my grandma and uncle live 5 minutes from the Garlough Road Crybaby Bridge. I heard all the stories from various family members growing up about the area and how haunted it is. I have several family members who have had run-ins with the individuals performing dark occult practices that once took place in the old farm house on the hill overlooking the bridge as well as dealing with various other supernatural elements in the area.

I never really believed them until some friends and I started exploring the area once we started driving and we’ll into my mid-twenties. I myself along with friends have heard strange things and seen stranger things along that dark stretch of road. The last time I went out there was about ten years ago with some friends who had talked me into going after I have told them about the bridge. We drive out there, stop the car on the bridge, shut off the car, get out and start exploring. For several minutes nothing happens, then we start hearing sounds of movement down underneath the bridge, we look and call out but receive no answer, at this point many of us are beginning to feel very uncomfortable due to loudness of the noises. At this point we hear a terrible scream and we all panic and run towards my car, I try to start it but nothing happens, almost as if the battery was dead at which I begin to panic, then suddenly something that seems to be very large begins to climb on the hood of my car, the front end dips down and the hood indents, the outside of the windshield begins to fog as if something or someone is heavily breathing upon it. All of us are completely terrified at this point and I am frantically trying to start the car and get the he’ll outta there. Suddenly my car starts and whatever the presence was simply vanished, I was never so scared in my life. I have been chased by other vehicles out there, seen creepy must forming and rolling across the fields at night and have witnessed dark cloaked figures in the fields and woods and I have never been more terrified than I was that night. If you go out there stay in your car, stop for no one and and don’t play around, Pitchin can be a dangerous place.
—J. Shaffer (via strangeandspookyworld.com)

Pitchin was the bridge very well known to us growing up. Listen for the baby to cry!!!! Also beware of the devil worshipers.
—Noelle Shipley

Additional Information
There is very little information out there about this particular bridge, which is another reason why I am ecstatic that so many of you took the time to write to me and share your personal experiences! All joking aside, you are the ones who are keeping this particular legend alive. Whether or not the ghost stories surrounding this bridge are true, the fact that the stories were a part of so many people’s lives proves they are history. And as such, these stories need to be preserved. So thank you to all who let me know about this bridge. And if you have an experience to share, please send it to me!

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Helltown Crybaby Bridge
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Lefevre Road Crybaby Bridge
Mary Jane’s Bridge
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Newton Falls Covered Bridge
Palmer Road Crybaby Bridge
Pfeiffer Crybaby Bridge
Philo Crybaby Bridge
Pitchin Crybaby Bridge
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Screaming Bridge
Sidney Crybaby Bridge
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Crybaby Bridge Project Home Page

I'm done with these bridges! Take me home, please!