A 305-foot Gothic-arch CSX railroad bridge built in 1906 over White Lick Creek, whose construction deaths and tragic legends have made it Avon's most iconic landmark — and one of Indiana's most documented haunted sites.
Whipple Lane (off S County Road 625 E), Avon, IN 46123
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free to visit. Washington Township Park provides free parking and trail access to the bridge. Road is gated at night — daytime visits only.
Access
Limited Access
Wooded trail descent from park parking lot to creek level; uneven terrain near bridge base.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1906 · Featured on official seal of Avon, Indiana · Documented in Indianapolis Monthly's '50 Things Every Hoosier Must Do' · One of Indiana's oldest continuously documented haunted locations (reports from 1908) · Active CSX freight railroad viaduct
The bridge crossing White Lick Creek south of Avon was constructed in 1906 and 1907 for the Big Four Railroad, formally the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway. An Indianapolis News report from June 27, 1907 describes the structure as spanning 305 feet with 'three arches of seventy-five feet each' supported by twenty-four smaller seven-foot-four-inch arches, at a total construction cost of approximately $70,000. The spandrel arch design was the work of engineer W.M. Dunne. Double-tracking was completed in 1908.
The bridge passed through several corporate hands as Midwestern railroads consolidated throughout the twentieth century and is currently operated by CSX Transportation for active freight service. Its distinctive Gothic arch silhouette became so emblematic of the community that Avon incorporated the bridge image into the town's official seal.
Access to view the bridge is via Washington Township Park on Whipple Lane, where a trail leads visitors down to creek level beneath the structure. The road itself is gated at night. DePauw University professor James Cooper has noted that trains crossing the bridge create 'reverberations careening eerily through the structure's caverns,' a physical phenomenon that likely contributed to the location's paranormal reputation.
Susan Truax, historian for the Avon-Washington Township Public Library, has documented the bridge's history, and the Friday Caller as early as November 13, 1908 recorded accounts from 'reputable men' of unexplained phenomena at the site — making the haunted tradition nearly as old as the bridge itself.
Sources
The Friday Caller of November 13, 1908 — barely a year after the bridge opened — recorded accounts from 'reputable men' of unexplained sounds and sights near the structure's east end, establishing the paranormal tradition almost contemporaneously with the bridge's construction.
The most persistent legend holds that a laborer slipped into wet concrete during construction and was never recovered, his remains entombed in the bridge's foundations. Accounts say his moaning can be heard when trains cross overhead — a phenomenon that DePauw professor James Cooper has offered a naturalistic explanation for: the stone arches act as resonating chambers, sending eerie vibrations through the caverns beneath the tracks. Some versions of the worker legend add that a saw remains embedded in the center support.
A second tradition centers on a young mother hurrying across the railroad tracks to reach a doctor for her sick infant. According to local accounts relayed by area historian Harriett Muston (whose husband Charlie grew up hearing these stories), the mother caught her foot on the track and dropped the baby into White Lick Creek below. In variant tellings, the mother herself also fell and died. Visitors and passersby have reported hearing an infant's cry — especially when a train crosses the bridge.
A third legend describes four construction workers falling to their deaths into White Lick Creek, with witnesses reporting unexplained thuds and splashes near the structure.
The custom of honking one's horn when passing under the bridge is a generations-old local ritual, variously explained as a salute to the dead, a way to provoke a response, or simply community tradition. Joseph Nield, who grew up near the bridge in the 1980s and 1990s, described the bridge as a constant fixture of local lore and teenage adventure.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Explore the base of this 1906 Gothic spandrel-arch railroad bridge via Washington Township Park trail. Walk under the arches, listen for the eerie reverberations when a CSX train passes overhead, and visit the site of Indiana's most enduring construction ghost legend.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Gatlinburg, TN
Great Smoky Mountains National Park preserves 522,427 acres of southern Appalachian terrain across Tennessee and North Carolina. The land was the heart of the Cherokee Nation before forced removal in 1838 along what became the Trail of Tears, and home to Appalachian Scots-Irish and English settler communities through the early twentieth century. Congress authorized the park in 1926; it was formally dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt on September 2, 1940.
Linville Falls, NC
The Linville Gorge Wilderness in Burke County, North Carolina is part of the Pisgah National Forest and contains the deepest river gorge in the eastern United States. The Brown Mountain Lights — unexplained luminous phenomena visible from Wiseman's View and other overlooks near the gorge — were first reported in published accounts around 1910. A 1922 investigation by USGS scientist George R. Mansfield attempted to explain them as reflected headlights and brush fires but could not account for all reported sightings.
Travelers Rest, SC
Constructed in 1820, Poinsett Bridge is the oldest surviving stone bridge in South Carolina and potentially the oldest in the southeastern United States. The 130-foot Gothic-arch span over Little Gap Creek was built as part of the State Road connecting Columbia to the North Carolina mountains, named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, then-president of the state Board of Public Works. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, it is now the centerpiece of the 400-acre Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve managed by SC DNR.