The Story Of This Haunted Bridge In Pennsylvania Will Make Your Hair Stand On End
By Beth Price-Williams|Published March 06, 2024
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Beth Price-Williams
Author
A professional writer for more than two decades, Beth has lived in nearly a dozen states – from Missouri and Virginia to Connecticut and Vermont – and Toronto, Canada. In addition to traveling extensively in the U.S. and the U.K., she has a BA in Journalism from Point Park University (PA), a MA in Holocaust & Genocide Studies from Stockton University (NJ), and a Master of Professional Writing from Chatham University (PA). A writer and editor for Only In Your State since 2016, Beth grew up in and currently lives outside of Pittsburgh and when she’s not writing or hanging out with her bunnies, budgies, and chinchilla, she and her daughter are out chasing waterfalls.
Even if we don’t necessarily believe in the paranormal, most of us enjoy a good ghost story every now and then. Pennsylvania’s teeming with the paranormal, which means we’re never wanting for a really good haunted tale. If you’re a bit of a skeptic, you might find yourself waffling after reading the story of this haunted bridge in Darlington, Pennsylvania.
Tragedy is often at the very core of the paranormal – a grief-stricken bride waiting for her love who never returns, a mother and baby who meet their tragic end at a famous covered bridge, and a young girl killed crossing a bridge on her prom night.
Sat along Shenango Road in Beaver County, Summit Cut Bridge served as a railroad bridge in the closing days of the 19th-century. One of the first tragedies, at least if you believe the tales told through time, happened sometime in the mid-20th century.
Still another tale tells of a woman named Josephine going off that very bridge at the end of the 1890s.
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A woman was driving down the road late at night. Everything about her – her name, her age, where she was going so deep into the evening – is a mystery. Legend, though, says she misjudged a curve and soared off of the bridge onto the railroad tracks below.
If you don’t quite believe that version, there’s another. This one says that another woman – again, who she was is lost to time – leaped from the bridge in an act of despair.
Only one thing is really for certain. Passersby have claimed to see a mysterious woman in white on Summit Cut Bridge at night. Some say she’s merely walking back and forth along the bridge, not bothering anyone.
In the more sinister accounts, witnesses say the lady in white frantically beckoned to them in desperate need of help but, upon getting closer, she appeared to want them to fall from the bridge too.
While the identity of these mysterious ladies in white have perhaps been lost to time, travelers still tell of seeing one meandering along the bridge, usually around midnight. What she’s doing there, no one knows.
Have you heard the tales of Summit Cut Bridge, the most haunted bridge in Darlington, Pennsylvania? Have you driven over the bridge? Did you experience the paranormal? Let us know in the comments! Then start planning an adventure along one of the best hiking trails in Pennsylvania. You’ll find them on AllTrails.
