Behind the picturesque site of the Old Alton Bridge is a warning not to cross it especially when night falls. Legends says that a horrifying goatman haunts the passage thus the nickname the Goatman’s Bridge.
Constructed in 1884, the Old Alton Bridge connected Lewisville to Alton of Denton Country, Texas. Locals used the 145 foot long bridge to carry horses and later vehicles across the creek.
According to stories, the haunted bridge was named after an African-American entrepreneur named Oscar Washburn. The Washburn resided North of the bridge and tended a farmstead goat herd. Oscar earned respect for his quality of meat, milk, cheeses and hides. He displayed a sign on Alton Bridge: “This way to the Goatman’s”
However, some townspeople resented the farmer’s success. It enraged local Ku Klux Klansmen who plotted violence.
On the night of August 1938, a group of KKK stormed the Washburn hovel and dragged the screaming Goatman from his home to the bridge. Oscar begged the Klansmen to spare him but the men prepared a noose for him. They tightened the rope around Oscar’s neck and lynched him over the side of the bridge.
Peering over into the water, his killers saw a rope, but not his body. The men searched the area but did not find the body. They returned to the Washburn shanty and burned the Goatman’s family to bait Oscar to emerge.
As the Goatman vanished, a vengeful spirit haunted the Old Alton Bridge since then.
Locals reported many strange sightings on and near the Goatmna’s Bridge. Some tell the story that those who cross the haunted bridge with no headlights will be met by the Goatman on the other side.
Some says that knocking on the steel bridge at night or honking three times with turned off car’s lights summons the vengeful Goatman.
Numerous reports tell of unholy glowing eyes that burn red from the darkness, eerie glimpses of a large snarling Goat-headed man-beast stomping in the wooded shadows, or a frightening apparition of a maniacal Satyr carrying the heads of goats or humans in his hands.
Some report seeing a ghostly man herding goats over the Goatmans’ Bridge, while others say they have seen an apparition staring at them, holding a goat head under each arm. Stranger stories even include people having seen a creature that resembles a half-goat, half-man. More tales of strange noises have also been recounted including the sounds of hoof beats on the bridge, splashing in the creek below, maniacal laughter, and inhuman like growling coming from the surrounding woods.
The Goatman’s Bridge is located about seven miles south of Denton.
Source: We Denton Do It The Dark Path Legends of America
Further Readings :
Haunted Bridges
Haunted Places
The post Don’t Dare Cross the Goatman’s Bridge appeared first on Scary Side of Earth.
