11/24/2009: Thank you to Robert for sharing his experience at Preble County's Brubaker Bridge. Robert begins by telling a couple of lesser-known legends and then goes into his story. He and his friends decided to check out the bridge late one night. After hearing strange noises, their car would not start until it was pushed from the bridge. They then saw what Robert described as a black demon.
Just outside of Gratis is an old bridge called Brubaker Bridge. It is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of numerous ghosts and/or demons. The first spirit rumored to haunt there is of a little six year old boy who apparently was kidnapped and killed on the bridge. His body was then thrown over the bridge into the river below where it was never seen again. The second spirit is of a young woman who threw her baby over the bridge just before she killed herself. They say you can hear the cries of the baby or woman while crossing the bridge. The last rumored spirit is that of a group of teenagers who were out joyriding late at night at very high speeds. They turned the corner too hard and swerved out-of-control right into the side of the bridge. Their car and themselves went over the side and into the river. They say you can still see the outline of the hole that the car made that night.
Now I've been out there numerous times and can verify the truth of some of these claims. It was late one night around 2:00 in the morning when me and a group of friends drove to the bridge. We drove across it first just to get the feel of the area and then we parked right by it. We walked slowly across the bridge and inspected it thoroughly. We heard some strange noises all round us and there were some strange lights coming from the woods near the bridge. Then I saw the outline of the broken wall where the teens' car drove off of it.
One of my friend started to panic so we decided to get in the car and park on the bridge. As we got onto the bridge, we heard the sound of crying coming from underneath it and then our car died. We tried starting it but it wouldn't start on the bridge. We had to push it off in order to get it to start again and then we were all starting to freak out. Then we saw it. This black mass that was shaped like a demon ran, or should I say flew at us from the other side of the bridge. We left that place so fast that my friend left his hat on the bridge. We haven't returned there since.