The Ghost Train of Bostian Bridge, North Carolina

East of Statesville, North Carolina, sits the Bostian Bridge. On the night of August 27, 1891, a train headed to Asheville from Salisbury derailed and plummeted to the ravine below. Thirty people are recorded as having died in the crash, and many more were injured.

Local legend holds that the wreck plays out every year on the anniversary of the wreck, at 3 AM. Stories are told of people hearing the horrific sounds of the crash, the twisting of metal, screams, and the crash as the train hits bottom. Some people report being approached by a man in a 19th century railroad uniform asking for the time so that he can set his watch. This spectre is usually thought to be the spirit of the baggage master, who was among the 30 killed in the crash.

Outside of the crash itself, the railroad crossing guard arms are said to sometimes descend without reason, a sign that the phantom train is on the tracks.


Commentary: Bridges and train tracks are both magnets for ghost stories, and so it is only fitting that we have a story that involves both. Unlike many ghost stories, this one focuses on a train crash that really did happen, which makes it even more interesting.

One of the hallmarks of this sort of story is the replaying of the wreck at a given time and place - in this case, on the wreck's anniversary at 3 AM (they're punctual buggers, these ghosts). This provides an opportunity for legend tripping, but unlike most other such opportunities, which arrive on a frequent if unpredictable schedule, this one only comes once a year, giving it a special feel. Which, really, is kinda' cool.

It's also worth noting that the annual ghostly visitation occurs at 3 AM. While my own experience is that ghost stories rarely claim that events occur according to a particular schedule, there is a popular folkloric belief that 3 AM is among the more active times for ghosts and demons.

As for the "crossing guards mysteriously closing" angle - which appears to happen from time-to-time and not on a fixed schedule - I grew up around train tracks. I can tell you from experience that the crossing guards close without a train on a regular basis. Sometimes it's intentional, testing equipment and whatnot, and sometimes it's due to equipment malfunction.

Back to the legend tripping aspect. Normally, legend tripping provides a safe way for people to experience a bit of a thrill. In this case, the legend tripping recently proved rather dangerous in and of itself. On August 27, 2010, a group of ghost hunters visited the bridge in order to witness the annual replaying of the events. The group of twelve headed out onto the bridge, and learned the hard way that the bridge is still in active use by the railroad.

When a very real train appeared on the track, ten of the ghost hunters managed to make it back to the safety, one was pushed off by one of her fellows and dropped 30 to 40 feet, sustaining injuries. And one was hit by the train and killed.

To the degree that any good comes of this, it is that it may serve as a reminder to other curiosity seekers to be mindful of where they are going, and be aware that there may be many real-world dangers that they need to protect against.




Sources: CNN, Local News Station, Haunted Bridges.info, N.C. Ghost Guide, Internet

The Little Red Man, Salem-Winston, North Carolina

The location now known as Old Salem Village and Gardens was once the location of a Morovian colony. It is also the former home of a strange creature known as the "Little Red Man."

As the legend goes, there was a cobbler named Andreas Kresmer living in the colony during the late 18th century. He was killed in a construction accident while preparing the foundation for the colony's house for unmarried men. After his death, people claim to have heard the sound of a cobbler at work when in the vicinity of this building. Eventually, people began to report seeing a small man, wearing a red cap (as Kresmer himself did) in the vicinity of the building.

Over time, the building came to be used as the home for widows. On one occasion, the granddaughter of one widow, a girl named Betsy, ran in to her grandmother's room, telling a story about a small man in a red cap who wanted Betsy to come and play.

Eventually, the ghost was exorcised by a minister following a run-in with one of the community leaders. Since then, the ghost has passed into obscurity.

Commentary: What a great story! What appears to be going on here is a mixing of two types of folklore. The first concerns the classic ghost story - a man dies during an accident and thereafter elements of his life continue to echo in the setting in which he died - specifically the sound of a cobbler's tools at work. Classic stuff.

The other type of folklore concerns the spirit people* of northern European folklore. The little red man resembles the trolls, elves, and faeries of Northern Europe, and his association with a a domestic task (in this case, shoemaking) is reminiscent of mythological creatures such as brownies. The melding of the two is not entirely odd, as some European folklore from the Renaissance onward (possibly continuing an earlier tradition) conflated the spirit people of folklore with dead humans.

The stories of European spirit people would have come with the Morovians when the arrived in the Americas. That such a story would get attached to their new colony is unsurprising. That it would be attached to a particular person as it was is rather more interesting (and given Morovian record-keeping habits, it appears likely that Kresmer was, in fact, a real person). One is left wondering why this occurred.




*Most cultures have folklore concerning spirit people, be they "the ancestors", angels, trolls, kobolds, faeries, devils, or any number of other names. These are usually conceived of as the intelligent forces, benign or malevolent, behind nature, and descendants of them are seen in even the "big three" monotheistic religions of the world.


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