The Haunted Wabash Cannonball Bridge, St Francisville, Illinois 

It's only a ONE WAY bridge now.

All you have to do is Look. Now, I will say that if it's foggy, you may see another vehicle coming, once you've already started across. But that is only due to the denseness of the fog. Other than that... 🙄

@@gogetta2lb 2 way bridge...one at a time

You never know what they're going to do in Indiana. It's a very peculiar place. If it makes sense, they probably won't want to do it.

Maybe it was a local politician who just read some devastating poll results.

So it's still there? I hope they dont replace it.

Hi Debra😊 I'm a product of St. F! Nice to meet ya! Ask your Dad if he knew Paul Young😁✌️. That was my Daddy and he knew everyone in the area. I wanted to tell you that when I brought my fiancé home, from Texas, what my Dad did. Lol! Of course Daddy was a farmer, like his Daddy, and we owned some large equipment. One such was a big ole red dump truck. So, Daddy had filled the truck with corn and offered to take my fiancé along with him, to Indiana to sell the corn. Once Daddy had him in the truck his ass was Daddy's! Lol! He told him never hit me and so on... You can imagine. But anyway, Daddy then takes him at breakneck speed over the Wabash on the trestle..... (while still in the half ton dump truck) Scared my man half to death! Lol!😂. He had absolutely no fore warning and I had never even told him about the bridge. It was quite the giggle for Daddy for years to come. 🤣

Glad you like the video Anthony!

I live in PA now but grew up in NJ & worked in NYC, for the Port btw 😆 I haven't been to the city in years. Had no idea the tolls were that much. Insane. I remember always thinking the Verrazano was a lot. Don't miss the city.

I remember when it was 50 cents😉

If I get to England, I'll do a few when I'm there too!

@@historyinyourownbackyard2363 I do have some connections in that I met and married my wife in Newark, Ohio!

@@andyhenly1538 that's about 4 hours from me so those would be easy videos to do.

But nothing as old and intact as what you'll find traveling around Britain, except for the mounds that were built long before the first Europeans arrived.

I'm just to the west of you in Illinois. I attended VU from 95 to 97 and we went and partied at this bridge. I am having trouble finding out when they opened it to car traffic. I know it was not when I went there. There was no road on either side. Just the old train right of way. I have been underneath it and seen the swing mechanism. They say it is concreted in now. There are trails all the way up to Billet? I wondered how people got to them. They look like alot of fun

Glad you liked the video Mike!

It's privately owned and maintained. A buck fifty is a bargain to save many miles. This is a shortcut to VIncennes US 41. When I was a teen we called it purple head...and the story goes...

@@robertyoung9589 It was purchased by the state of Illinois in 2009.

Oh, I can believe that! Once, out on the fishing boat, Dad took me underneath that bridge. When I looked up and saw all those missing planks.... 😳

Glad you like the video Ken!

If you are ever in Morgan county Ohio look up a bridge called 'The Hellmick" there is a website with pics of it. it's so beautiful!!

Why haunted?

We're riding through the Jungle on the Wabash Cannonball.....

Glad you like the video Scott!

I know!!!! :)

Thanks for the response, that helps!

It's a cool bridge!

Where is the second bridge?

Looks like it would b

Naw...

Yes thats correct, I'm from Lawrenceville, use to travel on that ferry back in the 60's Trig Kasinger use to be the ferry operator

No, the locals don't end up meeting another car in process unless it's unusually foggy. Daytime, just look hard and nighttime you'll see their lights. In fact, most people turn their lights on during the day, just for that same purpose.

Definitely a wide ride across this bridge.

Really? If you are local it cuts about 12 miles off the trip to Vincennes.

Thats the illinois central bridge that goes into indiana

Lets Go Brandon!

@@renegadetenor Let's Go Brandon, I Agree!

Hi Cannon! I would be very interested in doing a documentary on the history of Summerfield, North Carolina. Could you give me a call at 812-623-5727? I have some questions about the town. Thanks!

@@historyinyourownbackyard2363 Welcome to our backyard... :) You mentioned that Illinois has set back money to refurbish that bridge. Can you tell me where you received that information? I have childhood (and adult) memories of that thing. Even when it was closed and we would go out there without permission.

@@gregcarrie2461 This set of google search keywords find the PDF document but it is currently unavailable: site:www.idot.illinois.gov Wabash Cannon Ball Bridge Also saw references in the comments here: bridgehunter.com/il/lawrence/st-francisville/

@@gregcarrie2461 it was a newspaper article that I read about the money earmarked for the bridge.

That was a pretty good idea, wasn't it?

We are deliberate if not always sober lol but thank you kind sir for the good words. New Hampshire native here with a family tree going back many many generations!

The only sign on it warns that it is a toll bridge and 1 lane only. You do not cross it fast. I drive over it all the time. It is fairly out of the way.

I have a video on Kenosha coming out in a couple of weeks.

I don't know right now as I'm about 200 miles away.

I'm sure there is but I don't remember what it was. It was built for trains so I'm sure most trucks could cross the bridge.

I don't know.

I graduated 86. Had many fun nights crossing that bridge. I have to go back & see how campus looks now.

@@bradishear9369 Much Bigger 👀.... Very much bigger.

Go on out there! 🤣 You won't see any ghosts in the daytime! ✌️😁 That's a Promise!

@@juliepearce6667 OK. Thank you🙂

My Dad and Grandpa crossed this bridge many, many times with a loaded dump truck.

It's called The cannonball bridge though... That's the name of the bridge... And crosses the Wabash River.... Pay a little bit of attention

@@kylea5529 It's BIG FOUR RAILROAD NOT WABASH. Big 4 never had a Cannonball train. Get a Big 4 map and look at it. Better yet study the railroad.

@@intercityrailpal Sorry, but he is correct. It's name IS The Cannonball Bridge and it crosses the Wabash River. Born and raised there, so don't even try to tell me it's name. It was also called Stangel Bridge for the farmer who brought it here and had it reconstructed. And at a later time, some started calling it Purple Head Bridge for the guy who decapitated himself, after he tried to just hang himself. Head popped off, tho. Guess that's what some might call "over-kill" 😂 Oh, and No... You were right.....The Cannonball never traveled thru here, in fact, no trains used it after it was brought here. It was meant for farmers to have a major shortcut to Indiana. ✌️😁

@@juliepearce6667 The name Cannonball was not only used by the Wabash but as many as five other roads used the name for their crack (varnish) passenger trains. These trains once placed in rail service often were only numbers on the schedule until the public in the service area gave them their popular moniker. A good example of this is the petticoat junction Hooterville Cannon Ball. At one time the U.S. railroads operated as many as 20,000 hot shot passenger trains. E.g. Rock island rockets, Frisco Meteor, Katy Flyer and on and on the names intended to portray great speed and or vast luxury. So as you can see while the Wabash train number one and two (the cannonball) never traversed the bridge (except for a possible through coach or sleeper car in another roads consist) it was the errant public who called the bridge by a stolen name. Incidentally in the many incarnations of the song ""Wabash Cannonball"" many of the lyrics have the train in places like New York, Minnesota, Texas and locales the Wabash didn't pass within for a thousand miles or so. Such is poetic license. The famous locomotive engineer John Luther (Casey) Jones became a fatality while at the controls of the Illinois Central train the southbound Cannonball in the early morning hours of April 30th 1900. As of this date November 22, 2021 on the banks of the Mississippi river near Niota Illinois is the Fort Madison bridge a full span swing rail and highway toll bridge that is still in full operation as it nears a century of use.

@@patrickrichardson1036 wow, that's some cool history! Isn't it amazing how well we built things in the past? I love historical things. Sounds like you do, as well. Especially when it comes to trains. 😉 Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Patrick!

Do you live in Anna, Illinois?

I don't believe that it does. And as long as I lived there, I never ever even knew it was a Swing Bridge because it never lifted up. Ever.

@@juliepearce6667 Julie swing bridges do not lift (and that includes the Wabash bridge here) they swing. Bridges mostly are positioned athwart stream and that's true here. When a swing bridge opens for boat traffic it swings parallel to the waterway.

@@patrickrichardson1036 I guess you're never too old to learn! But still.... The bridge has always been stationary. How's that? ✌️😁

@@juliepearce6667 The reason for the stationary stance of the span is that there is no river traffic that warrants repositioning the deck span, if I am not mistaken the river is at a very shallow point near and around the bridge.

That is not an electric service tower. It was for signal lanterns. I did not know it was hand powered but I knew it used to swing. I have been under that bridge during my college days and there was a massive ring gear and not much else left of the swing mechanism. I hear it is concreted in now so it cannot move. I am a local and cross the bridge all the time.

I bet!!!

That would be a great idea, if the two one lane bridges were “side-by-side”, rather than “back-to-back”. One bridge crosses some low-lying area right before you reach the bridge that crosses the Wabash, traveling along the same road.

@@mrimmortal1579 Thats notr the way I heard the video!!!!

@@frederickwise5238 yeah, the video is kind of ambiguous about the “other bridge 1/4 mile west”, almost as if he’s saying “while you’re in the area, check out this bridge, too!” But you can’t cross one without crossing the other. It’s been a few years since the last time (out of a whole two times lol) that I crossed it, so I don’t really remember if there’s a stretch of normal two-lane road between them or not.

@@mrimmortal1579 I dont expect to ever be in the area to find out, since I cant drive anymore. LOL

@@mrimmortal1579 There is a nice two lane paved road leading up to both sides. The road in between the two spans is also 2 lane paved.