GOATMAN’S BRIDGE

HISTORY & INFORMATION

Built in 1884, the “Goatman’s Bridge,” also known as the “Old Alton Bridge,” was a truss bridge that is infamous around the state of Texas for being haunted. The legends began after the murder of Oscar Washburn in 1938. Washburn was an African-american who owned a goat farmed and put up a farm advertisement on the bridge that read, “This way to the Goatman’s.” This caught the eye of the Ku Klux Klan, who jumped Washburn and then forcefully hung him from the bridge. However, when they looked over the bridge to make sure he was dead, the noose was empty and the water was still. The KKK members frantically searched along the creek, and assuming that he had escaped, quickly ran to his farm, burning the whole property down and murdering his wife and children. Washburn was never seen again, starting the rumors that he is still at the bridge to this day haunting it. The legend goes if you turn out all lights and walk across the bridge, the goatman will appear. The bridge was closed off to vehicles in 2001 and now has become a walkway for a trail. This site has been investigated by many paranormal experts, such as the TV show crew, “Ghost Adventures,” and “BuzzFeed Unsolved,” as there have been many reports of people experiencing hauntings on the bridge from people being grabbed to rocks being thrown at cars.