Stuckey Bridge Scare

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Murder at the Myrtle Plantation
Murder at the Myrtle Plantation
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Stuckey Bridge Scare

Stuckey Bridge in Savoy is a 165 year old bridge that crosses over the Chunky River.  A contract for construction was delivered in 1847.  A new bridge was built to replace the original bridge in 1901 by Virginia Bridge and Iron Company, due to multiple instances of accidents and reports of dangerous maintenance and events surrounding the bridge.  It lost its functionality as a bridge 20th century and now serves as a local party spot.  When Virginia Bridge and Iron Company were building the bridge, they were shocked to discover over twenty bodies buried in the banks under the bridge.

(image: flickr: tobybenshoff)

(image: flickr: tobybenshoff)

The old wooden planks and rusty metal with its old creaks and moans were the perfect host for a modern day horror story.  Legends surround the bridge that in the past, and even now, Stuckey of the infamous Dalton Gang, reigns over the bridge and all those who come near it.

The Dalton Gang was a group of rebel outlaws that were around in the 1890’s in the American Old West.  Three of the members were the Dalton brothers.  The gang was notorious for bank and train robberies.  Many of the members, including the brothers, were killed in a bank robbery gone bad.  Luckily, Stuckey was never involved in the bank robbery as the group left him behind and what was later named Stuckey Bridge.

Carrying on the traditions of his brother gang, Stuckey was the American West version of Norman Bates, a murderous innkeeper, taking advantage of his lonely guests.  He took over an inn to make money when some of his conquests fell short.  He would stand on the bridge at night, waving a lantern and offering travelers a hot meal and a soft bed for the night.  Giving a new meaning to resting in peace, Stuckey would rob and murder his guests, burying their bodies in the banks of the riverbank, where the new bridge was eventually built.

Stuckey also robbed and murdered travelers passing through Lauderdale County in the early nineteenth century.  He slayed weary travelers and stole their money and anything of value.  Those he didn’t bury he threw over the bridge into the Chunky River.

Chunky River

(image: flickr/The B’s)

In the 1850s, after the bridge was built, Stuckey was caught, tried, and hung from the railings of the bridge for his crimes.  He was convicted and hanged for the deaths of over twenty people.  Many people in the area claim Stuckey continues to haunt the area today.  They suggest he is bitter and angry over having met the same fate as so many of his victims that he cannot leave this world and remains stuck at the bridge.

People have described being pulled off the bridge or feeling a push, without being able to locate a source.  One unlucky victim even has the scars to prove it.  Others have seen visible apparitions and untraceable sounds linked back to Stuckey and his bridge.  Many say he still haunts the banks of the river, carrying his lantern, refusing to give up his heinous crimes.  Some have heard a splash under the bridge and were unable to locate anything, some even seeing a glimmer of what appeared to be a body falling into the river.  Others have seen Stuckey’s corpse hanging from the bridge.

Stuckey’s Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 and as a Mississippi Landmark in 1984.

Megan Borchert
Megan Borchert
Lover of all things unusual, Megan is a staff attorney for the state of South Dakota. When she's not stuffed in an office writing case synopses, you can find her at home with her army of Schnauzers, snuggled up with some strong wine and a good book.

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