Aerial survey · USDA NAIP · public domainThe site of a 1908 Parker through-truss bridge over Boeuf Creek in rural Franklin County, demolished in 2013, that drew ghost hunters from across the Midwest for its phantom dogs and a documented fatal fall.
Enoch's Knob Road over Boeuf Creek, New Haven, MO 63068
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Public rural road; the historic truss bridge was demolished in 2013 and replaced with a concrete span.
Access
Limited Access
Remote gravel road crossing Boeuf Creek; the original bridge no longer stands.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1908 · 1908 Parker through-truss bridge by the Missouri Bridge and Iron Company · One of the most-visited haunted bridges in the Midwest before demolition · Site of a documented 1987 accidental death and a 2005 homicide · Demolished in 2013 and replaced with a concrete span
Enoch's Knob Bridge was a Parker through-truss bridge roughly 185 feet long, erected in 1908 by the Missouri Bridge and Iron Company to carry a remote gravel road across Boeuf Creek in Franklin County, Missouri. The crossing sits below Enoch Knob, one of the highest points in the county, southeast of New Haven and between Washington and Union. For more than a century the narrow iron span was a fixture of the rural landscape and became one of the most-visited 'haunted' bridges in the Midwest among amateur paranormal investigators.
The bridge accumulated a real record of tragedy alongside its folklore. On the evening of August 23, 1987, Patrick Kinneson fell about 37 feet to his death after climbing the bridge's girders during a party; he had reportedly been trying to help a friend whose car was stuck in a nearby field. His body was found later that night and the death was ruled accidental. Years later, on May 9, 2005, Stephen Cooksey was killed near the bridge during a drug-related crime and his body burned in a vehicle - a documented homicide that further darkened the site's reputation.
By the early 2010s the aging structure was deemed unsafe. As reported by the New Haven Banner, the infamous bridge was slated for demolition, and it was removed in 2013 and replaced with a modern concrete crossing. The site has been documented by bridge-preservation researchers (Bridgehunter's Chronicles, Bridgehunter.com) and covered by the Columbia Missourian, which examined the persistent legends surrounding the location.
Sources
Enoch's Knob Bridge built one of Missouri's densest clusters of bridge folklore. The lake and creek below were said to be haunted by the spirit of a little boy who drowned long ago, sometimes described as appearing in the water as a serpent. Visitors traded accounts of a man who took his own life by diving from the span, of dogs heard barking near the bridge though none lived in the area, and of an apparition of a red-eyed gnome climbing a dead tree on Friday the 13th (the latter detail drawn from the Shadowlands Haunted Places Index seed for this site).
The most-repeated ritual held that parking a car in the middle of the bridge, killing the engine and lights, honking three times, flashing the headlights three times, then restarting would summon a three-legged dog. Other accounts described a vortex that disabled phones, cameras, and even car engines, with one sheriff's deputy reportedly experiencing electronic failures while crossing.
These supernatural claims are anecdotal and uncorroborated. What is documented is the site's genuine record of death: the 1987 accidental fall of Patrick Kinneson and the 2005 homicide of Stephen Cooksey, both established in local reporting, which gave the legends a real foundation of tragedy. Researchers have also noted unverified references to late-1800s lynchings in the area that would predate the 1908 bridge. With the iron span gone since 2013, the legend now attaches to the crossing itself rather than to any standing structure.
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