It was a warm august night; my guy friend and I decided the best way to spend the weekend night was creeping through the dark woods to hunt at the infamous Emily's Bridge in Stowe, Vt.After an hour drive, we rounded a corner on a dirt road and the ancient covered bridge loomed in the dark. It was already well worth the drive. We parked around back and stepped out into shining moonlight in a clear, open sky. But the bridge, even though well lit, was eerily dark.
The story of the bridge goes like this: A woman named Emily met the man of her dreams. They planned to elope, but when her father found out, he hunted down the young man and had him beat. In the morning, when she was supposed to meet him for their escape, he was nowhere to be seen. Plunged into sorrow over her lover's absence, poor Emily hung herself inside the bridge. Now the legend has it that any couple who enters the bridge will be met with hatred by Emily's ghost.
So of course we decided to put it to the test.
I grabbed my mini Maglight flashlight and we walked into the bridge, hand in hand. Giggling and talking, I set my flashlight on the wooden plank floor of the bridge and told Emily to show herself.
Nothing.
To pass the time, we began talking and one thing led to another. As he grabbed me and pulled me in close, lightly kissing my neck, I heard a loud bang from my flashlight - only about about 4 feet away - turned on.
My friend was clearly rattled and didn't know how to react. After all, I think he went on this whole excursion as a skeptic - but one who wanted to keep a girl happy. Meanwhile, I giggled. "She's heeeere," I said, mimicking Heather O'Rourke
. But when I leaned in for another kiss, the flash light turned off and another loud bang echoed through the dark.
To this day, I can't say for certain that the banging and the lights was a pissed-off ghost of Emily. Then again, much of the time our paranormal experiences are so caught up with emotions and the moment that it can be hard to say. What I do know is that it felt like something was unhappy with two stupid kids goofing off and making out in her bridge. I'd like to go back to Emily's Bridge, and I'd like to even try again to make contact with her - if she's still around.
But more than anything, I hope that if Emily is hanging around that covered bridge, she eventually does what anyone who's had a broken heart must do: Let go of the sorrow and anger, and move on.