Fort Leavenworth is the oldest continually operating military post west of the Mississippi River, and its cemetery has been in use since at least 1844. Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery was officially established in 1862 and contains the remains of over 20,000 United States soldiers. Oddly, the ghosts said to haunt this hallowed ground are not service men. One of the oldest legends concerns Catherine Sutter, an early pioneer whose children became lost in a winter storm while looking for firewood. Catherine searched in vain all winter long, before succumbing to pneumonia. Her ghost has been seen wandering the cemetery grounds, wearing a calico dress and black shawl. Sometimes she is holding a lantern, and other times only her voice can be heard calling out for her children. The other ghost is that of an American Indian named Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce. He was incarcerated at the fort in 1877, and his apparition has been seen in the cemetery.
Edna Collins Bridge - Putnam County, Indiana
Believed to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl, Edna Collins Bridge was built in 1922 and spans Little Walnut Creek along County Road 450 N, west of Glenn Flint Lake. It is the only covered bridge in Indiana to be named after a woman, but it is not Edna Collins who haunts it. In the late 1920s, the story goes, an adolescent girl used to play around the creek near the bridge. Her family lived nearby, and they would leave her to play while they drove into town. On the way home, they stopped at the bridge and honked three times. Usually, their daughter would join them, but on that day, she did not appear. Her father found her body floating in the flooded creek. According to legend, the laughter of a young girl can sometimes be heard near the bridge. If you stop your car on the bridge and honk three times, the girl’s apparition will appear. Some visitors have even seen her ghost sitting in their backseat!
Sim Smith Bridge - Montezuma, Indiana
Built in 1883, this 84-foot covered bridge spans Leatherwood Creek along 40N, south of Route 36, about six miles west of Rockville. The bridge used to lay on the path of Pikes Peak Highway, which ran from New York to Los Angeles. According to legend, in 1890 a young mother was carrying her baby home to Montezuma. She reached Sim Smith Bridge at dusk and hurried across. Unfortunately, a rider was driving a horse and buggy quickly in the opposite direction. It was too late to stop when he finally saw the woman, and both her infant and she were brutally crushed beneath horse hooves and buggy wheels. From then on, riders heard the sound of a buggy coming across the bridge, but none would emerge. Local fishermen sometimes saw a horse and buggy enter the covered bridge, but never come out the other side. Still others have seen the figure of a young woman and her baby in the shadows.
400th Avenue Bridge - New Holland, IL
The 400th Avenue bridge crosses Sugar Creek just north of Pool Hill Cemetery. According to local lore, the area is a supernatural hotspot and was the scene of lynching in the distant past. Visitors occasionally hear whispering, talking, rattling chains, and screams as if the lynchings were being repeated over and over again. Even the nearby fields are not immune from this macabre auditory replay. Also, if you lay your hand on the tree where the hangings occurred, it is said that you will witness the events. Today, not much remains of the cemetery that overlooks the bridge, and the tree has been cut down.
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