Rafetown Bridge 2020 Investigation

This was originally a wooden truss bridge built in 1923. The bridge was originally 190 feet long and 14.1 feet wide. It was replaced by the current concrete bridge in 2000.

Actual description is: Loss truss bridge over Dead River on Ch-10 in Jasper County, Illinois.

There were apparently multiple suicides before the original truss bridge was dismantled. Snider also related a story about an individual that apparently dove off the bridge, hit his head and drowned in the river. There were so many suicides and loss of life here that it was nicknamed, “Suicide Bridge” by the locals for a time.

Address: 38°51'24.0", N 87°58'57.0"W in Jasper County, Illinois on County Road E50 and the bridge spans the Embarras River.

Hauntings: Numerous EVPs and disembodied voices have been recorded and heard while people visit the bridge. A number have actually heard the guardrail make a loud clank for no apparent reason.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Rafetown Bridge on August 28, 2020 and the team members included: Mike Rosario, Kelly Griffey and Dale Kaczmarek, with help from Jason Snider, Courtney Mendenhall and Jason Dickerson from Crawford County Illinois Ghost Hunter's Society

Equipment setup: All that was used here at Rafetown Bridge were hand-held equipment; digital recorders, SB-11 Ghost Box, digital cameras and camcorders.

Experiments performed: A single EVP session was conducted with first the SB-11 Ghost Box.

Personal encounters:

Mike Rosario: At 190ft in length, it is one of the longest Through Truss bridges in Jasper County crossing the Embarras River. However, there is a more diabolical side to this particular type of bridge. Throughout its 97-year-old history, it has been the site if many infamous incidents involving suicides. Evidence I captured was an audio clip of a metallic knock.  Dale was conducting an EVP session on the bridge and had asked a question.  After his question, there was a soft ‘bang’ noise disturbance from the steel safety girder on the left-hand side of the bridge.  That noise could have resulted from anything, including stresses from the bridge, or even the heat making the joints of the bridge itself to bend and creak.  However, nobody was wandering around, or making loud noises during that session. It could have been paranormal, but it does warrant another investigation to the site and gather further evidence to make a more reasonable/logical conclusion.

Dale Kaczmarek: There were some faint voices that came through the SB-11 Ghost Box but nothing really discernable and surely not in direct response to questions asked. A loud bang on the guardrail and to the right of me was heard by all even over the noise generated by the SB-11 Ghost Box. No other responses came through the device.

Evidence collected:

Metallic knock Rafetown.MP4 – while conducting a SB-11 Ghost Box session, a loud bang was heard by all and recorded.

Conclusions: Coming back to this location again proved fruitful as another bang was heard and recorded. This happened the first time our team investigated here. I had always thought that the reason for the thud on the steel guardrail was due to the expansion and contraction of the bridge being that it was a very hot day. This visit, however, was quite a bit cooler and somewhat overcast with storm clouds rolling in. I cannot explain this noise as the bridge’s guardrails making sounds due to the heat of the sun.

It would be interesting to have more information about the deaths that occurred here and when and what were the circumstances behind those deaths. Were these accidents or suicides? The answer to these questions could further one’s knowledge and perhaps explain a lot regarding the possible hauntings that go on today.