HARD TO EXPLAIN TALES
22
The Witch on the
Bridge
(NOTE: The
following story occurred on the Gila River Indian Reservation, about 10-15 miles
South of Phoenix, Arizona, on Santa Cruz Road.) (The author has another story
titled My Address is 666.)
One night me
and my girlfriend were driving around, actually it was about 3 in the morning.
We drove down this dark road which the pavement ends after about 2 miles. Along
this road are 3 bridges, each about a quarter mile apart.
Now there is this legend about a witch who hangs around at the second bridge,
causing trouble for anyone who might encounter her. We started talking about the
legend as we were approaching the 2nd bridge. We zoomed across the bridge
without seeing anything. We drive further down the road, until we come to the
end of the pavement which we turn around and go back the way we came from.
As we approach the second bridge yet again, we see a figure lying in the road in
an almost fetal position. It is wearing a tattered green sweater. My girl
wants me to stop because they might need help. I remind her that the figure
wasn't lying there 2 minutes ago when we zoomed by the first time. Her eyes get
big and she tells me to drive on. Fast.
I ask "Do you think it was trying to get us to stop?" She says "Do you think
so?" I tell her it probably was because nobody lives back there and what human
being would be walking out there at this hour of the night?
Now this bridge has a little history to it.
Around 5 people have died there over the past 20 years. The first being a guy
found murdered back in 1985. The second being a family that mysteriously plowed
into the guard railing and went over the edge in 1991. The last incident being a
carload of 4 guys who flipped and went over the edge in 2000. 3 of the guys in
the car died instantly, and the last was in the hospital for awhile, but is
living and breathing today. He (being a former classmate of mine) told me all he
remembers is seeing somebody walk across the road and that is what made the
driver swerve and go over the edge. I asked what it was wearing, and he said he
only remembers a green shirt or jacket going into the thickets on the side of
the road.
-Cecil
Allison.