Mackinac Bridge

Michigan · USA · Bridge

Five miles of suspension bridge between Michigan's two peninsulas, and the story that will not survive checking.

The Mackinac Bridge opened in 1957 and carries traffic five miles across the straits between Michigan's lower and upper peninsulas. It is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world and, on a bad day, one of the most frightening drives in America. The wind comes down the straits with nothing to slow it, the deck moves, and the bridge authority will send a driver across for you if you cannot face it yourself.

The story people repeat is of a baby crying, heard by drivers on the span, left behind after a family went over the side. It does not hold up. Two vehicles have gone off the Mackinac Bridge, in 1989 and in 1997, and no child was in either. We are keeping the entry anyway, because there is something real underneath it.

Five men died building this bridge. They went into the water or off the steel during construction between 1954 and 1957, and their deaths are documented in a way the crying baby never has been. A bridge this size gets a ghost story whether it has earned one or not, and this one attached itself to the most frightening thing a driver can imagine happening up there. The men who are actually owed something by the structure are the ones who did not get a story at all. Drive it slowly. Look at the towers.

FAQ

Hvor ligger Mackinac Bridge?

Mackinac Bridge ligger i Michigan, USA.

Image: WMrapids / CC0 — Wikimedia Commons