Old Bridge

The Old Bridge is a true ghost story about a ghost that attacks a school bus one night. It is based on an old African-American ghost tale that comes from Texas.

Near Camden, a little saw-mill town in East Texas, there was an old bridge that went by the name of McManor bridge. The reason it was called McManor bridge was that a crazy old man named McManor was killed at the exact the spot where the bridge crosses the river.

One night, he was out riding when his horse got spooked and suddenly reared up on its hind legs. Old man McManor was thrown off and he landed on his head. The fall broke his neck and killed him deader than a doorknob.

Now, old man McManor was a foul-tempered individual and after he was buried, there were reports that his ghost haunted the old bridge at night, frightening anyone that tried to cross the river. Everybody in town was scared to travel across that bridge at night in case they encountered the fearsome ghost.

One night, the school football team were coming back to town after winning a game against another school. They reached McManor Bridge and all of a sudden their bus stopped in its tracks and the engine stalled.

The kids looked out the windows, wondering what had happened and there was old man McManor’s ghost just laughing like a crazy man and making all kinds of hideous faces at them.

Everybody in the bus started screaming and hollering and old man McManor’s ghost took hold of the back end of the bus and lifted it clean off the ground throwing everybody out of their seats. They were just falling all over one another and yelling and screaming at the top of their voices.

Some of them tried to climb out the door, but it was jammed and they couldn’t jar it loose. So they just lay there on the floor of the bus with their heads down, praying for the Lord to save them.

There’s no telling what might have happened to the teacher and the children in the bus that night if some cars hadn’t been passing that way. When their headlights hit old man McManor’s ghost, he suddenly let go of the bus and vanished right before their eyes.

One of the drivers jumped out to help and managed to open the door of the bus. Some of the kids came scrambling out and started running every which way but the teacher called them back and told them to calm down and take their seats again. The teacher took the steering wheel and started the motor running. They went home to Camden without having any more mishaps, but they would never forget that terrible night.

After that, so many people were pestered by old man McManor’s ghost that they finally built a new highway and tore the old bridge down. The McManor Bridge ghost hasn’t been seen or heard from since.