Many believe the Colorado Street Bridge is haunted — and that’s saying a lot in a town known for Jack Parsons’ alleged portal to hell in the Devil’s Gate region.
Over the years, folks have claimed witnessing the ghosts of sad, Depression-era bankers, despondent mothers, even a boots-clad construction worker. The common belief: most of these are spirits of people who’ve leapt to their deaths from the bridge — a subject I try to avoid speaking about because of the heartbreak this Pasadena landmark represents for so many locals. Read my novel, Arroyo, to see how I handled this by exploring the bridge’s inception.
I was once skeptical that apparitions materialized on the deck, beneath the grape-bunch lampposts, or under the bridge’s enormous Beaux-Arts columns. To me, online posts about people experiencing flickering lights, eerie vibrations, vapory shadows represented projections inside human fears, or their attention-getting steaks.
Today, after years researching my novel, ‘Arroyo,’ while developing a more flexible spirituality, I feel less certain that EVERY paranormal report is nonsense. If a house or graveyard or barn can be tormented by lost souls, is it that much of a logical stretch to suggest a vintage bridge, with one whale of a history, can’t join their ranks?
Here’s one decent video highlighting the fascination.
Happy Halloween everyone. Walk that bridge with a good flashlight.