Students visit 'haunted' bridge

Every state has stories or legends of paranormal activity. Whether these stories are true or myths is unknown, but people still pass these kinds of stories down from generation to generation. Vermont is no exception. One of Vermont's better known legends is the legend of Emily's Bridge.

Emily's Bridge is actually named the Gold Brook Bridge and is located in Stowe. This bridge is rumored to be occupied by a ghost named Emily. There are a few legends that have surfaced about how Emily came to haunt the bridge.

Although the rumors vary, they seem to consist of the same general story.

Emily was a young woman who fell in love with a man. Her family did not approve of her love because he was from a poor family. Emily and her love decided to run away so they could be together.

The two lovers planned to meet at Gold Brook Bridge so they could begin their lives together. Emily arrived first and waited for hours. He never came.

She thought he did not love her anymore and became devastated. She did not want to go back to her judgmental parents and listen to them tell her how they were right about him. So instead, Emily hung herself off the bridge.

Legend has it that Emily's ghost still haunts the old bridge and people have experienced unexplainable things while there. If there are males present at the bridge, it is more likely that strange things will occur because of Emily's revengeful hatred of men.

A group of Norwich University students decided to see if the legend was true. They drove to the Gold Brook Bridge in Stowe.

"I just don't believe [in the legend]," said Tito Garcia, 18, a freshman environmental science major from Worcester, Mass. "It hasn't been proven to me." Garcia had visited Emily's Bridge earlier.

During Garcia's last visit, there were digital photographs taken and a voice recorder that recorded everything that was said and heard during the visit. When the visit was over, Garcia and friends looked over the pictures and listened to the tape recorder to see if Emily was present.

In the pictures, there were many orbs and smoke. Even on the tape recorder, whispering can be heard that could only be explained as whispers from Emily. Garcia, unlike his friends, was still skeptical about the legend.

But others believe. "I do believe the legend is true," said Jacquelyn Chafe, 21, a junior psychology major from Northfield, Vt.

Chafe has been three times.

"One time when I went there, I went with a group of friends. We brought my ex-boyfriend with us because legend has it that if you bring a guy with you you're more likely to get something to happen," Chafe said.

"We were kind of taunting her and we didn't really hear anything so we thought it was lame. On the way back, I was listening what I recorded on my phone.

"In the background we could hear something whispering to us. One of the things we heard was when we asked Emily where she was and telling her to show herself to us and we heard the voice say, ‘Look up in the rafters'," Chafe said.

Chafe and Garcia went back to Emily's Bridge to see if they can encounter the ghost again and prove that the legend is true. They brought along a friend who had never been there before.

Vanessa Schoellkoph, 19, a freshman nursing major from Marblehead, Mass., believes the legend about Emily. The three friends brought along a digital camera and a tape recorder.

They arrived at the bridge, parked the car, and walked around. They started taking pictures of every angle of the bridge to see if something would come up. The whole time they were there, they kept the tape recorder on to try to pick up Emily's whispers.

Chafe and Garcia, having been there before, were not shy about taunting the ghost to see if she would reveal herself. They kept repeating, "Where are you, Emily?" and "Why don't you come out to play?"

After about 40 minutes, the friends called it quits. While in the car, they played the tape recorder to see if Emily's whispering were picked up. All the friends were silent in hope of hearing Emily's voice. They weren't disappointed.

In the beginning of the tape, when they first got to the bridge, you can hear Emily say something in the low whisper. "I couldn't make out what she is saying," Chafe said. She played it over a couple times. On the tape, it sounded like she is saying "me" or "hi."

In the pictures taken by Chafe, Garcia and Schoellkopf, there are many orbs floating around. These orbs fit with the legend of Emily's hatred of males. A majority of them seem to surround Garcia in the photographs. Smoke was also present in some of the photographs, giving the three friends a creepy feeling that they were not alone.

People who go visit the Gold Brooke bridge can judge for themselves if the legend is real.