Steel Bridge

The former one-lane Pratt truss bridge over Watauga River on Steel Bridge Road (County Road 1011) was allegedly haunted by a spirit that tried to jump into cars crossing the bridge.

Charles Edwin Price writes in his book Haints, Witches, and Boogers: Tales from Upper East Tennessee that a terrible murder took place under the bridge. He writes that young couple Tom Jackson and Wanda Smithson were underneath the bridge one late night not too long after construction spending some quality time together when Wanda was stabbed to death by a vagrant wearing black. Price writes that Tom was able to climb into the backseat of a passing car but later passed away at a nearby hospital. He claims that the spirit of Tom still tries to jump into backseats on some late nights.

Price’s story is fraught with inaccuracies that shed doubt on this legend. First, he writes that the “creaking steel-girder bridge built in the late 1920s spans the river on the road between Elizabethton and Watauga Lake.” (Price, p. 95) An article titled "Bredesen Breaks Ground on Recovery Act Project in Carter County” by Julie Oaks documents the actual date of construction:

The steel through truss bridge is located on Steel Bridge Road (near Wilbur Dam Road) in Carter County and was originally

constructed in 1941. No reconstruction or major repairs to the bridge has occurred since the original construction. The bridge

is rated as structurally deficient and functionally obsolete and has been posted for a maximum allowable weight. (TN.gov

Newsroom)

Furthermore, there is no written record of either death. Eddie M. Nikazy’s tomes Abstracts of Tennessee Death Records for Carter County: 1908 – 1925 and Carter County, Tennessee, Deaths: 1926 – 1934 do not mention the deaths. Neither are they found in the Carter County Courthouse or with the Tennessee Office of Vital Records. In addition, Tom Crowe documented numerous deaths, folklore and ghost stories in that area in his 1976 book The Horseshoe People, but did not write about this alleged incident.

Perhaps Price took creative liberties to explain paranormal experiences some people reported when driving across the bridge. A website titled "A Great American Haunting: The Watauga River Bridge” explains:

On July 18th, 1977, the first report of paranormal activity was documented. Beecher Davis, a Gate City, Virginia sheriff's deputy,

arrived at the Carter County Sheriff's department around 1:42am in a panic. He stated that he was driving over the steel bridge

when the passenger's side door flew open and then slammed shut. He slammed on the brakes and noticed an indention in

the passenger's seat, as if someone were sitting there. He then caught a glimpse in his mirror of a dark figure that appeared

to be wearing a dark cloak and hood. He said that it appeared to be inching closer to the car, but it didn't look like it was

walking. He stated at that point, he got out of the car and nothing was there. He became even more startled at that point and

drove off to the Sheriff's station. (HubPages)

The old steel bridge no longer stands. Demolition was completed in June 2010 after a new two-lane bridge was installed beside of the old steel one. Given time, maybe reports of the invisible hitchhiker ghost will migrate to this new bridge.