Hoosac Tunnel , Western Massachusetts - The tunnel is one of the greatest construction undertakings of the region, a 19th century "Big Dig." Work began in 1851. For the next 25 years, hundreds of miners, using black powder, shovels, picks and their own hands, gouged through the unyielding bedrock of Hoosac Mountain. More than 200 workers died in the "Bloody Pit" as it came to be known. Men died in fires, explosions, tunnel collapses and even cold-blooded murder. The tunnel merits its reputation for ghosts. When nitroglycerin was introduced to America, construction crews of the Hoosac Tunnel were among the first to use it. On March 20, 1865, Ned Brinkman, Billy Nash and Ringo Kelley decided to use nitro to continue their work on the tunnel. The men placed a charge and raced back toward a safety bunker that would shield them from the blast. Brinkman and Nash didn't make it - for some reason, Ringo Kelley set off the charge before the others could reach shelter. Both men were buried alive under tons of rock. Shortly afterwards Kelley vanished without a trace, leaving many convinced that the "accident" with the nitro was not an accident after all. He wasn't seen again until March 30, 1866 when his lifeless body was found two miles down the tunnel in almost the exact spot where Brinkman and Nash were killed. Kelley was strangled to death. Deputy Sheriff Charles F. Gibson estimated that he was murdered between midnight and 3:30 that morning. No suspects were ever found and the crime is unsolved to this day. Construction workers had their own ideas about who killed Ringo Kelley. They believed that Kelley fell victim of the vengeful spirits of Brinkman and Nash.
Many workers came to feel that the tunnel was cursed and refused to enter it again. Some crew members walked off the job never to return. Most believed the dark and brooding place, with the deep shadows and dripping water was best avoided, slowing the construction of the tunnel even more. Workers brave enough to remain complained constantly of hearing a man's voice cry out in agony and refused to enter the half-completed tunnel after sundown. Things only got worse when a gas explosion blew apart the water pumping station on the surface. Thirteen miners died when debris filled the central tunnel where they worked. The 538-foot deep shaft rapidly filled with water. Bodies floated to the surface. It was over a year after the disaster before the last corpse was found. During the time the miners were missing, villagers told strange tales of vague shapes and muffled wails near the water-filled pit. Workmen claimed to see lost miners carry picks and shovels through a shroud of mist and snow on the mountaintop.
In the fall of 1875, Harlan Mulvaney, a fire tender on the Boston & Maine rail line, drove a wagon load of wood into the tunnel. He went just a short distance into the shaft when he suddenly turned his team around, whipped the horses and drove them madly out of the tunnel. A few days later, workers found the team and wagon in the forest three miles away. Mulvaney was never seen or heard from again. Stories about the "Bloody Pit" are still told today. Locals claim that strange winds, ghostly apparitions and other-worldly voices are experienced around and inside the forbidding tunnel every day.
Sizewell Power Station, Leiston, England - During construction, a worker fell to his death from a crane. Less than twenty-four hours later, another worker reported that a voice called for him from the base of a deep pit that he would have fallen into if a close friend didn't hold him back. The worker identified the luring voice as that of the dead man, and is convinced to this day that the deceased tried to kill him from beyond the grave.
The Rio Grande Gorge Bridge - was designed by the New Mexico State Highway Department Bridge Design Section. It won first place for the most beautiful span in 1966 in a competition sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction. Built in 1965, it was called the "Bridge to Nowhere," as there was no funding to continue the road on the other side. At 650 feet above the Rio Grande and 1200 foot span, it is the second highest suspension bridge in the United States. It is often referred to as a steel arch bridge because of the appearance of its main span but is actually a continuous steel deck truss. Locals say the bridge is a hot spot for suicides and is haunted by ghosts that tempt people to jump to their deaths. One ghost that is often seen on the west side of the bridge is a young woman wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. She is often mistaken for a "real" person as she walks east on the south walkway of the bridge, but upon reaching the center, she suddenly vanishes. The most credible witness is a State Trooper who encountered the ghost one evening while on patrol in October of 2001. Thinking that she might have car trouble, he continued crossing before turning around near the bridge's identification marker. As he turned his patrol car around, the headlights lit up the bridge ahead. No one was there. Thinking she'd jumped, he reported the incident to headquarters. The gorge was thoroughly searched for a body but no earthly trace was found. Other State Troopers have had similar encounters.
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