If you’ve investigated long enough, I’m sure you’ve come across locations that have myths and/or legends attached to them. Quite possibly that is why you looked into the location to begin with. So how do you deal with all those legends, myths and information about a location? One of the things I do is look at are the legends similar to another location? If its a covered bridge for example many share same legends (horse thieves hung, suicide, baby thrown over the ledge, etc.), so which one is the originator of the story? Even with research it can be a challenge with urban legends tossed in as well. For myself living in Bucks County every covered bridge of age is haunted it seems – many look alike from the same time periods which adds further confusion.
As you can see these bridges look alike, and if one didn’t remember where the bridge was, but heard a story as they were shown a picture they might be like “I was there before – that’s…!”
For my team, I gave up on covered bridges long ago to investigate because they all seem to have the same stories attached them, regardless if they are bridge where the stories originated. I’ve heard the same stories for both of these, though Van Sant tends to be only one with the “crying baby” story – though I’ve heard Knecht’s had similar story about a unwed mother throwing herself and her newborn into the waters below. Knecht’s bridge also is associated with the so called “Ghost Mountain” area – which is really Haycock Mountain, but is called “Ghost Mountain” because at one point albino’s used to live on the mountain (they may still do), that of course spawned the urban legend of killer albinos…. True story that is an urban legend I’ve heard… Lots to deal with eh?
So how do you deal with confusion about places like that? Do more research. Figure out as much as you can about a location from more then just urban legends and stories people repeat (we all know how whisper down the lane ends). Go beyond the story to get to the facts about a place or location. Urban legends can be fun to tell, but to me reality is so much more interesting. The stories we know going in to a place are usually just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is really the history of a location. Sure some legends are based in fact like how “Ghost Mountain” came to be called, but let’s be honest would you rather investigate “Ghost Mountain” or Albino Mountain…. As paranormal investigators or researchers or hunters, we all tend to start with our own “Ghost Mountain” – time to start the climb to a better view of things.