Crybaby's Bridge

Missouri · United States · Bridge

The father had gone into town. The mother was doing the washing when her child wandered into the river. She could not swim and went in anyway.

A farming family lived by this bridge in Missouri. The father had gone into town for the day and the mother was doing the laundry.

The child wandered off into the river.

She heard it crying. She could not swim. She went in.

Neither of them came out.

That is the story in its entirety and it is one of the most widely told in America. Crybaby bridges exist in Ohio, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Kansas and a dozen other states, and the details vary while the shape never does: a mother, a child, and moving water.

What that persistence records is a real fact about rural life before the twentieth century. Drowning was one of the commonest ways for a child to die, farms were built beside water because they had to be, and most women could not swim.

The bridge is on a rural road.

FAQ

Where is Crybaby's Bridge located?

Crybaby's Bridge is in Missouri, United States.