Is the Haunted Monkey Bridge in Athens, Texas Based on a True Story?
The bridge itself may no longer be standing, but there are plenty of creepy stories floating around in Athens, Texas about a landmark that has a strange history behind it.
Over the last several decades, stories of devil worshippers in underground tunnels and ritual sacrifice have sprung up to go along with the tales of screaming monkey ghosts terrorizing anyone who visits the area at night.
According to one legend, in the 1960s, the bridge that became known as Monkey Bridge was the location of a circus train derailment. After the accident, the performing monkeys riding in a boxcar escaped, killing their human captors before disappearing into the night, per the athensreview.com.
Separating Fact From Fiction at Monkey Bridge
After many years of passing down the various stories of how Monkey Bridge came to be, wild tales about monkey ghosts and tunnels under the town for satanic worship became part of the legend, according to WFAA. Rumor has it that five tunnels throughout the town connect, making the shape of a pentagram.
Let's look at the facts. While I couldn't find any news stories about a circus train derailment in the area, there is a Fuller Park in Athens, which is the final resting place of property owners Reverend Medford Lee Fuller and his wife, Virginia. Fuller built the park in 1938 after his wife died, and he's still there, buried beside his wife.
The Athens, Texas Tunnels
What about the tunnels? The Tyler Morning Telegraph reports that when geologists did multiple soil surveys, they came to the conclusion that the land simply couldn't support a system of multiple tunnels, due to the composition of the ground itself. The water table is too high for a massive network of underground passageways, according to the Athens Daily Review.
However, the creepy stories of Monkey Road and the legend of mysterious tunnels persist. Described as one of the ‘spookiest places in Athens’, it would be the perfect place for a Halloween road trip to do some ghost hunting - especially if you're an animal lover.
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