Page 33 - Crooked Letter Legends
P. 33
BURNT BRIDGE
Purvis, Mississippi
ALTHOUGH THE OLD BRIDGE HAS been replaced, legend has it that it
used to be haunted by a girl in a prom dress who was killed there.
Other Versions
An elderly member of the community that the “Headless Woman of Burnt
Bridge” was a story made up and passed down by accident. The “Headless”
woman was actually the wife of a WWII draft dodger who hid out in Black
Creek Swamp to avoid arrest. The wife often wore a light colored dress with a
black shawl over her head to protect her from the night air. She carried a
kerosene lantern and took her husband food and supplies late on dark nights.
Hunters often saw her from a distance and the legend was born. It was
perpetuated to protect the man and as time went by became an urban legend.
The old bridge actually did burn early in the 1900 in a cattle and sheep feud. The
man on the south side of the creek owned cattle and the gentleman on the north
side owned sheep. Sheep destroy grazing vegetation for cattle so the cattleman
burned the bridge to keep the sheep from crossing the creek.
Story is a woman was killed on the bridge she was supposed to be a witch
after her death the Church up the road burnt down as well as the bridge, hints
the name burnt bridge. Some say it was an act of god
A couple was driving home from prom late on a stormy night and the car
crashed on the bridge. In the crash the girl was decapitated but the boy survived.
The car either caught fire or completely exploded and set the whole bridge
aflame. The remnants of the bridge are actually still out there. The story goes
that if u drive over what’s left of the original bridge on a dark and stormy night,
the poor decapitated girl will jump onto the roof of your car and hitch a ride
across the bridge that she never left.