Beware!
Several people have let me know they have encountered individuals who have chased them from the bridge. DO NOT go to the bridge alone!
Gibbs Road Bridge is located in Richfield Township Ohio between Sylvania and Berkey. Legend has it that the bridge is haunted by the victims of a deadly auto accident that occurred on the bridge. The sounds of a collision and laughter are said to be heard at night. People have also reported being chased off the bridge after dark by ghostly shadows. This all sounded interesting so I decided to investigate on April 24th 2003.
I arrived at the bridge at 8:14 PM about 30 minutes before dusk. The air temperature was 60 degrees with light wind and low humidity. Gibbs Road Bridge is located .25 miles North of Sylvania Metamora Road. There is one house near the main road to the South and nothing for at least a half mile down Gibbs road to the North. Both East and West of the bridge is wooded terrain. The bridge was constructed in 1928 and is 60 feet long with one plus lanes and crosses over a 25 foot wide stream called Ten Mile Creek. The sides of the bridge consist of a concrete wall about three feet high that is covered in painted graffiti.
As I approached the bridge I turned the camcorder on and left it on for entire investigation. For the first twenty minutes I took many digital and 35mm photos for documentation purposes. At 8:32 as I was putting a new roll of film in the 35mm camera and the film would not advance. It took several attempts before the film finally advanced. As I was loading the film, a crinkled up brown paper lunch bag that was on the side of the bridge slowly rolled four feet by its self. There was no wind and the leaves on the bridge did not move. This was the first of several events that began to happen over the next fifteen minutes.
Shortly after the bag moved I began to feel a presence and started to become uneasy. I decided it was time to try the dowsing rods because the TriField meter was not recording anything unusual. The dowsing rods barely moved as I walked back and forth across the bridge over the next ten minutes. Suddenly at 8:42 near the Northwest corner of the bridge the dowsing rod in my left hand began to spin very slowly counter clockwise but also pulling at the same time. The sensation that something was on the bridge with me became very strong and I asked out loud if anyone was there. I felt that it was a good time to leave because it was beginning to get dark and I didn't like the feelings on the bridge. I packed the equipment and left at 8:50.
I returned home and viewed the digital photographs in the camera. Several low light orbs were visible on the twenty five photos but four photos also showed multiple darker white orbs on and around the bridge. My interest was elevated and I discussed what had happened with Trista. She was interested in going back to the bridge that night and I agreed even though we try not to conduct investigations in the dark. At 10:00 PM we made the short drive back to Gibbs Road.
Little did I know that the camcorder tape would also reveal several interesting events of that night . Beginning at 8:40 the tape showed a blur pass by the view finder on five different occasions. It looked almost as though the camcorder was attempting to refocus, this is a possibility but I'm not so sure because the camcorder was stationary on the bridge wall at the time. At 8:45 a heavy breathing sound could be heard for a full two seconds before disappearing.
Trista and I arrived at Gibbs road at 10:05 to take another look. I decided not to take any photographs in the dark and chose instead to use the camcorder in night shot mode. Trista walked the bridge with the dowsing rods while I filmed with the camcorder.
Immediately the dowsing rod in Trista's left hand began to spin counter clock wise rapidly on the West side of the bridge. When Trista would walk to the East side of the bridge the dowsing rods would go still. This pattern was repeated over and over for the next twenty four minutes. At 10:29 the dowsing rod also became active on the East side of the bridge where there was previously no activity. At this time Trista became chilled and said "Its time to go", I agreed. The entire atmosphere of the bridge had changed over the course of just a few seconds as if a new more powerful energy was now present. As we crossed the bridge on our way to the car at 10:32 Trista was visibly shaking from the cold, only it wasn't cold outside.
The next day I reviewed the tape from the camcorder and was not surprised by what I found. At 10:28 less than one minute before the energy became present on the East side of the bridge a voice was heard on the tape. It was not clear what was being said and consisted of only a few words. Twenty two seconds later the same voice could be heard again. Then once again twenty nine seconds later a different voice could be heard for a full two seconds but could not be understood. Two seconds later the activity started on the East side. Twenty six seconds later the final activity recorded on the tape took place. This consisted of a very deep breathing noise that lasted only briefly. I picked up the nineteen 35mm photographs several days later and found seven of them to have anomalies.
In conclusion, it appears that the Gibbs Road Bridge is the location of paranormal activity of undetermined origin. The orbs that were captured on film, the voices recorded on tape, and the dowsing rod activity all indicate paranormal phenomena. We will continue our investigation at a later date.
