Stowe, Vermont is home to one of the most famous covered bridges in New England.
Emily's bridge is famous because it is believed to be a haunted covered bridge. There isn't just one story as to why or how it became haunted, there are three famous wise tales about the bridge.
The three stories are all different, but they all have the same main character, Emily.
The first story claims that Emily was thrown from her horse while going through the bridge on the way to her wedding. Supposedly Emily died at the bridge because of being thrown off so hard.
The second story took place in the 1800's when Emily hung herself from the rafters after being rejected by her fiance.
The last story took place in 1925 and involved a new person, Donald. Emily fell in love with him and got pregnant, and Donald didn't want to marry her. Donald then killed himself by jumping off the bridge, and after Emily gave birth, she jumped off too.
All three stories are considered myths, but the legend of "Emily" still lives on in the bridge. People claim to see and hear things they believe are her ghost hanging around.
Visitors of the bridge say they hear unusual noises like footsteps, a girl screaming, and tightening of ropes. Some people think they have seen a white figure and have left with scratches on their cars too.
The real story though that locals of the area like to tell, is that the bridge everyone calls, "Emily's," really isn't the place that she died.
Barbara Baraw, a woman from the Stowe Historical Society, claims that people should be looking at the bridge at the Gold Brook Road and Circle intersection. Baraw says that that bridge is higher and if Emily jumped, she probably did it from there.
The historical records of Stowe show no information stating an Emily died from jumping off a bridge ever. Baraw says, "It's probably just one of those wonderful stories we have in Stowe...it's a great story, but it probably didn't happen."
Not everyone believes this is fake though, the bridge attracts people every year from all over. The problem with this is that tourists do not realize that the bridge is located in a residential neighborhood, therefor visitors can be loud and out of control at inappropriate hours.
Local residents in the neighborhood are trying to come up with ways to let outsiders know that this is still a residential area. They want people to visit the bridge, but visit it in a respectful manner.
They want to bring in people that really do want to see the bridge, and drive out people that are only there to cause trouble. Julia Rodgers, a resident of the area, said "We basically want to make it very hard for the people that are causing the disturbances to come to the site, but make it easy for the people who just want to visit and enjoy the bridge."
The community has tried to push this effort by putting up historical signs, and signs warning of bad behavior.
Emily's bridge will still attract all types of people every year, like ghost hunters and curious teens to come find the ghost of Emily.
The best time to get a paranormal experience at Emily's bridge is between the hours of 12:00am and 3:30am.
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