Living in Maryland means many things; you get way too excited over crab season, you treat Old Bay as sacred, you don’t understand how people don’t know what lacrosse is, and you’ve probably heard stories of the old covered bridge on Jericho Road in Joppatowne.

The structure was built in 1865 for $3,125 over the Little Gunpowder Falls. The eighty-eight foot bridge connects Baltimore and Harford County and is open to traffic.  The bridge has been renovated three times since its construction to keep it in service. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Like many old structures, people claim it is haunted.

Junior Alisa Chin comments, “I’ve heard stories, and I won’t be going there anytime soon. I’m not a fan of creepy places.” She may not be a fan of this legend, but many teenagers drive out to bridge each night, looking to be scared, and pass the legend on.

It is said that cars often stall out while going through the bridge, and will not start again for several minutes. Strange noises can be heard, people say they feel an uncertain uneasiness around them, and some claim to have ghostly encounters. Many chalk it up to a dumb rumor, but with the rich history surrounding the area, is a haunting really that hard to believe?

An unknown Maryland resident shares some information. “Most haunted bridge stories seem to have the same similar plot of a horrific death occurring on the bridge followed by the victim’s ghost haunting the bridge, especially at night.”

There are many ghostly stories attached to the bridge. There’s the classic covered bridge story of the rafters being used as a stand in for gallows. Claims of slaves being hung from the bridge is one of the most common tales, even though slavery was abolished 1863, two years before the bridge was built.

Another story tells again of people being hung from the rafters, but instead of slaves, it talks of captured Civil War soldiers. The war ended in 1865, the year the bridge was built; therefore there is a possibility, but the probability of it being true isn’t high.

Both theses legends say that if you stop your car in the bridge at night, turn off your lights, honk your horn, and look in the rear view mirror, you can see the silhouette of a swinging body.

The history of the area and the fact that the covered bridge is almost 150 years old seems to be the cause of most of the stories. Civil War Soldiers, slaves, and lynching’s all seem to be a thing of the past, but that hasn’t stopped new more current stories from emerging.

There are rumors that an old hermit lived in the area around under the bridge in the 70s and he would kidnap and eat hikers. If you’re looking up stories of the Jericho Bridge, there’s a high chance you will come across this story. Which is odd, because there seems to be no proof or backbone to this claim, as zero police information can be found on this supposed event.

One of the last most common stories surrounding the bridge tell of a story where a baby was thrown off the bridge by its mother. Some say the mother threw the baby off the bridge, drowning it in the river below, then hung herself in the bridge. People claim that you can hear the mother singing a lullaby to her child.

A Perry Hall resident tells of this ghostly encounter on a message board. “I could hear it clear as day except I was still never able to make out the words. My impression was that it sounded just like a lullaby, the tune seemed so familiar but I was never able to quite place it.”

Rumors and stories about this bridge are cheaper by the dozen. Each time you look for a story, a new tale seems to come forward. This bridge will always be churning out new stories, and people will always be trying to prove of its haunting.

“Seems to me that every town, city, suburb or whatever you call it has a story about these ‘bridges’,” states one nearby Perry Hall resident.

It may be best to just let the covered bridge, be a bridge, and not some haunting ground that people frequently visit looking for a scare. The bridge is over a century old and has been renovated three times. Cars not obeying the speed limit put its structural integrity at stake.  Steel reinforcements have had to be added to support the weight of traffic. Chris Scovill, Volunteer Curator of the nearby Jerusalem Mill said “We don’t want to wrap it in bubble pack. We want the public to enjoy it.” This historic bridge is aging, and needs to be taken care of if it wants to remain in use.

It seems like it may be time to stop talking about hauntings and give this covered bridge a break.