Devil's Gate Bridge

By Crusader1307

 Little invites Visitors to the very small Township of Oxford, Alabama. It's population is tiny and it's buried away in deep woods. Picturesque would be one word, as would it's infamy locally as having a very strange old bridge. The now VERY dangerous and long since cordoned off span of wood and steel crosses The Choccolocco Creek. When the road was diverted, the bridge was left to rot. In fact even walking across it would be unwise. But the bridge was given a regional nickname (and no one is quite sure ''when'') – of ''The Devil's Gate''. The perhaps ''Urban Legend'' dates to the 1950s.


According to lore, a pair of lovers were driving across the bridge when they lost control of their car. Crashing over the side, they could not escape and were said to have drowned. Soon afterwards, locals say that when a person drives over the bridge (when they were allowed), that should one ''stop'' in the center of the span – an ''unseen presence'' would enter your car's backseat and leave two wet spots. Legend states that these are the ''Spirits'' of the two lost souls, making their ''presence'' known. But the myth has even darker tones. Some say that the reason they crashed, was what they ''saw''.


It was said that (and again no one is sure just why), should one have glanced at their rear view mirror when passing over the bridge, the landscape would ''change''. No longer would trees and the river (and side banks) be seen – but the very image of Hell itself. Fire, smoke, and all manner of nightmarish visions. Perhaps this is what frightened the pair of lover's in 1950 and caused their fatal crash. Perhaps....


Historically, no record exists of the crash. This may be due to it being just a local accident and further that records are lost all the time (especially in a time of no electronic information storage). But locals say the area in and around the bridge has always ''been weird''. Local Police placed concrete barriers and fencing as a means of keeping the curious away. They still find ways in and around Devil's Gate Bridge. In 2006 a Paranormal Investigations Crew staked out the bridge. They were able to get thermal photography of several Orbs, floating thru the landscape. They also reported having ''uneasy feelings''. None of them dared to approach (walk on) the bridge. Probably for good reason!