Stonelick-Williams Corner Road and turn left onto the road. This way you get to the haunted bridge quicker, but you skip the rest of the Peaceful Valley.
history
There’s not a lot of dark history from the area to account for the ghostly activity here, but many rumors exist of extensive cult practices performed near Stonelick Road. The covered bridge, which sits on this road, was built in 1878, making it the most recently constructed covered bridge in Clermont County. The area is quite rural with few houses around.
ghost story
Despite the lack of documented tragedy on which to base a ghost story, Peaceful Valley does not live up to its name. It is a scary place to go.
One of the stranger ghost stories involves a small farmhouse near the covered bridge. Legend says that as you drive by this farmhouse, there will be an equal number of lights lit as there are passengers in your car. No one is quite sure exactly which house it is supposed to be, but I guess you could look for the farmhouse that has the equal number of lights as passengers in your car and find it that way.
The bridge is also said to be haunted. People will see figures and hear voices on it. According to legend, you need to stop your car on the bridge for many of these strange things to occur. The most famous legend is that if you turn off your car on the bridge and flash your lights three times, you will see a man hang himself in a nearby tree. The legend says that you will not be able to restart your car until the man appears.
Most of the reports from the area involve the cult that is said to practice in the area. They are said to hang out near the bridge, and if they catch you stopped on or near the bridge, they will chase you away in a pickup truck. They will ride the pickup truck right up on your bumper with the high beams on, and then will mysteriously disappear without any apparent place to turn off. Sometimes, these cult members supposedly open your doors and try to drag you out of your car.
visiting
It is legal to be in this area after dark, but it is probably not legal to stop on the bridge and flash your lights. There are cameras positioned all over the bridge, and there are many police officers who patrol the area nightly, making sure that people aren’t creating disturbances or breaking laws. Sometimes these officers will simply chase cars out of the area without turning on their lights or sirens. This could explain some of the stories where people are chased from the valley by vehicles.
However, there could be further danger than being chased away by cops. People have reported that when they are stopped on the bridge, unseen figures will open the car doors and reach in to try to grab the people and the keys. When the assaulted car starts to flee, the pickup truck will chase them for many miles around the city.
I’m not one who jumps easily at ghosts. I looked at the farmhouses in the area by the bridge and sure enough there was one with two lights on and there were two people in the car. I don’t know if it was the right one or not, but it didn’t scare me. When I stopped on the bridge, I wasn’t scared of ghosts, despite the strange stories of voices and figures. But when I was on the bridge, my windows were most of the way up, I triple-checked to make sure that my door was locked, and, even though the legend dictates that the car needs to be off to find the hanging man, I kept the car on in case I needed to make a quick escape. Maybe that’s why I didn’t see the hanging man.
THE SCREAMING BRIDGE
6300 Maud Hughes Road, Liberty Township, OH 45044
directions
Take I-75 north to Cincinnati-Dayton Road (exit 21). Turn left onto Cincinnati-Dayton Road. Follow this road for a couple of miles. It will eventually change its name to Maud Hughes Road. The Screaming Bridge is on Maud Hughes Road. Once you follow this road for two miles, it will appear to dead-end into Princeton Road. Turn right onto Princeton Road. Then take the first left, which will be the continuation of Maud Hughes Road. The first bridge that you come to will be the Screaming Bridge. It crosses railroad tracks about twenty feet off the ground.
history
The bridge that crosses the railroad tracks at Maud Hughes Road was originally steel with a steel deck. Whenever a car would go across the bridge, it would sound like someone was screaming. This is where its name originated. However, there have been tragedies on or near this bridge that could produce some human screaming.
Many car accidents have happened here. The road turns sharply and blindly before the bridge, so if a car comes fast around the turn and someone is stopped on the bridge, there will be an accident.
There are also rumors of many suicides on this bridge. The most common story involves a young woman who got pregnant and had a child out of wedlock. She took the baby to the Screaming Bridge and threw it to its death before hanging herself from the bridge.
There have been train accidents near the bridge as well. One happened in 1976, when a northbound train carrying rails was approaching a southbound train. The rails somehow came loose and pointed out the side, working like a jouster’s lance toward the oncoming train. The engineer of the oncoming train was impaled and the brakeman was seriously injured. Another accident occurred in 1909 when the boiler on the train mysteriously exploded underneath the bridge. The engineer and brakeman survived the initial explosion, but they were slowly scalded to death by the water from the boiler. Other passengers also died in the accident.
ghost story
Many ghost stories are told about the bridge. A common one is that screams are still heard coming from the bridge even though the decking no longer makes the screaming sound when a car crosses. People also have heard voices and seen figures that appear to be crying. Sometimes people under the bridge will see two legs come over the side, as if someone has just hung him or herself. When they rush to the top to see what happened, the bridge is empty.
There also are stories that involve the train accidents that occurred here. People will see men dressed in trainman uniforms walking down the tracks. These figures simply vanish or will look up at the witnesses first before vanishing. People also have seen ghostly train cars on the tracks underneath the bridge or sitting on the nearby tracks. The train cars slowly dissipate into the night.
visiting
Visiting this site is not easy. First of all, I can’t stress enough how dangerous it is to stop your car on the bridge itself. There are trees on all of the corners, and it’s impossible to see a stopped vehicle. If someone comes around the corner late at night, they are not likely to see you in time.
Also, there is nowhere to park nearby. There are only private houses and driveways along the road for about a mile in either direction. I have asked someone to drive me to the site, and I got out of the car in one of the straight sections before the bridge. I then walked to the bridge to investigate and take photographs while my ride drove down the road and waited before turning around to pick me up.
Another time, I stopped at the police station about a mile away and asked if I could park in their lot while I went to the bridge. They gave me permission, and I walked down the tracks to the bridge. I did this during the day. I don’t know how accommodating they will be at night. They did tell me that the tracks are on public property so there was nothing they could do to stop me from walking down the tracks.
This area is in a safe part of town, but the underside of the bridge is covered with graffiti and I am always a little uncomfortable being anywhere at night where vandals frequent. Finally, the tracks are still in use. Keep an
