Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainA third wooden bridge along Whitesville Road where EVP captured two voices in 2002 and locals report infant crying from the creek below
Whitesville Road (third bridge), Columbus, GA 31904
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free public roadway
Access
Limited Access
Roadside bridge over creek, wooded area with unpaved shoulders
Equipment
Photos OK
American Crybaby Bridge Tradition · EVP Documentation (2002)
Crybaby bridges follow a recognizable American folk pattern: an isolated crossing over moving water becomes the site of a legend about a child who drowned, was thrown from the bridge, or died nearby — and visitors who stop and listen can still hear the child cry. The Whitesville Road bridge in Columbus is one of Georgia's documented instances of this tradition.
The site is described as an old wooden bridge in a wooded stretch of Whitesville Road with no houses in the immediate vicinity. That isolation — unusual even for rural Georgia roads — has helped sustain the legend. Visitors who stop and kill their engines report that cars sometimes refuse to restart, a detail consistent with other crybaby bridge accounts across the Southeast.
The most specific piece of documentation is an audio encounter submitted to GhostVillage.com on October 31, 2002. On August 1, 2002, Columbus-area resident Susan McKinzie Smith brought a blank tape to the site and recorded while asking aloud, "What is your name?" On playback, she heard two distinct voices: the first answered "Boyd," and the second, a few seconds later, said "I don't remember." Smith reported hearing nothing during the session itself.
The legend itself describes a mother who drowned her infant in the creek below the bridge. Witnesses over the years have reported crying sounds, a white-clad woman seen in the surrounding tree line, and unexplained footsteps. None of these claims have been corroborated by independent investigation.
Sources
The legend at Whitesville Road centers on a mother and child: the story holds that a woman drowned her infant in the creek below the bridge, and the child's spirit remains. Visitors who stop on the bridge and wait report hearing a baby cry from below — sometimes faintly, sometimes clearly enough to prompt a search of the creek bed.
Other reported phenomena include car engines stalling without explanation, a woman in white seen in the tree line on the Columbus side of the bridge, and footsteps audible from the surrounding woods when no one else is present. These accounts circulate through Columbus-area oral tradition and were compiled by ScaryhHQ.com from local sources.
The most documented incident is the August 2002 EVP recording by Susan McKinzie Smith, published by GhostVillage.com. When Smith asked "What is your name?" on a fresh tape at the bridge, playback revealed two responses: "Boyd" and, seconds later, "I don't remember." The identity of "Boyd" — whether a first or last name — has not been established. Smith's submission is one of the earlier online-era EVP accounts from a Georgia crybaby bridge.
Drive out to the third wooden bridge on Whitesville Road — isolated, surrounded by woods, with no nearby houses. Visitors park on the bridge and listen for reported sounds: infant crying from the creek below, unexplained engine stalls, and footsteps from the tree line. The site sits in a genuinely remote stretch of road that amplifies the sense of isolation.
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