The Troll Bridge and other Saline legends...

As you know, I have been thinking about scary stories this week. Not because I'm morbid, or dark, or adventure seeking, but because I need to have a good one to tell at the bonfire this Saturday. I'm not brave enough to follow the tips I mentioned in my last post in order to create my own scary story, but I was thinking that we have plenty of scary story material right in Saline!

My friend Valerie went on a "haunted Saline" tour a couple years ago. The tour was given by a couple of ghost hunters and visited several sights in Saline. I'll tell you a few highlights of the tour along with some scary stories I know about the area. Let me know which you think is the best, i.e. the sppoooookiest.

The Troll Bridge
Way out in the country in Saline, there is a bridge in the woods locally known as "the troll bridge." The legend is this: years and years ago, a couple was driving home late at night. Their car broke down on the bridge so the husband got out to get help. He never came back. Hours later, his wife got out of the car and found her husband's body behind the car. Her body was found later that day. All the bones in their bodies were broken, and apparently the only logical explanation is that trolls did it. Personally I've always thought this one was ludicrous, but I still get spooked whenever I drive over that troll bridge.

The Cannery Houses

Down the street from the Troll Bridge there used to be a circle of houses off the road. They were destroyed a few years ago. No one knows when or why (did you like that detail? I made it up.), but at some point the houses were abandoned. My friends and I checked them out once when we were in high school. There was still furniture in them, magazines on the floor, and every other normal thing you'd find in a house. The people living there just seemed to have vanished.

Funny story: once, in high school, my friend Fred and I were driving my dad's truck past the houses, trying to spook ourselves. As we got closer to the houses, a branch broke off a tree and landed in the back of my dad's truck. Fred jumped, grabbed my arm and screamed. He'll never admit it, but it's true.

Oakwood cemetery
So, I've never found the grave yard particularly spooky, but Val told me it was on the haunted Saline tour. The ghost hunters have recorded a woman's voice saying, "Get out!" (yikes)

Union School

This school is straight up creepy. My aunt works there and has seen books fly off her book shelf for no reason. This school was also included on the haunted Saline tour.

Can you tell the stories are getting shorter? It's because I'm getting creeped out! Anyway, let me know which of these is your favorite, and I might tell it around the campfire. Don't be scared though (Emily), because they're all just products of people's imaginations running wild. Well, the troll bridge story might be true. It sounds the most probable anyway.