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The legend dates back to the 1920’s when a young woman was tragically killed in a horrific car accident.The community of Jamestown, North Carolina is known for this eerie legend of sorts. Many motorists who have come through this location have reported seeing a ghostly spirit here.
The young lady who died that day is known as Lydia. According to paranormal author Amy Greer, there was an eyewitness who said, “she just looked, as they put it, just horrifying and so they took off. They didn’t even allow her to get into the vehicle and go with them.”
Entrenched into the local folklore, Lydia’s Bridge is a haunt spot for this disturbed spirit. A commemorative plaque was recently presented to help immortalize her in some way. This marker idea originated from a podcast by Jeffrey Cochran and Dan Sellers known as Carolina Haints.
The ceremony was backed by the Pomeroy Foundation. This organization helps to preserve local community histories around the United States. Also, the North Carolina Folklife Institute was involved with the project.
This historical marker is a part of their ‘Legends and Lore’ program which celebrates various accounts of unusual stories such as the Lake Champlain ‘monster’.
In regards to Lydia, she has been a spooky story that locals talk about ever since she died. A number of curious folks came out to witness the marker being put on full display.
“Lydia particularly is such an important part of the town of Jamestown,” Sellers said. “It’s really a big part of the history and the fabric of the community. They need to come visit this wonderful walkway and visit the experience the town has made.”
Just how many people have seen this apparition of a young woman dressed from attire from the early 1920’s is unknown. The walkway location does run alongside East Main Street in Jamestown. There’s a place where the path crosses under the train tracks, and it’s there that the legend took place.
Ghostly spirits such as these are known as roadside ghosts, they are quite remarkable to behold as they appear as a moving image trapped in place and time. Encounters such as these have been talked about from all over the world. Some have said they try to make some kind of contact with them as the ghostly apparition would then approach them.
In regards to ghosts, they are believed to be stronger at night than in the daytime hours. But encounters have been witnessed at any hour before.
With their research, paranormal author Amy Greer alongside Michael Renegar, said the initial story dates back to June of 1923. Both of them found further information snooping around and found out that Lydia was likely a young woman known as Miss Annie L. Jackson. The letter “L” possibly stood for Lydia.
“She was coming home with her boyfriend from some dance, and she came in and they got into the curve and had an accident,” Greer said. “They crashed, and it killed her instantly.”
Later, a death certificate was discovered and it seems that Annie L. Jackson of Greensboro was already dead as she arrived at the hospital around 10:30 p.m.
From the information found on the death certificate, Annie L. Jackson, of Greensboro, was a worker at Vick’s Chem Co. She was later buried at Holt’s Chapel on June 22. The grave marker states that she was born on April 28th, 1885. So, she would have been 35 years old at the time of her death.
Remarkably, this ghost story helped solve Robin Mitchell Taylor’s mystery answer. It seems that Annie (Lydia) is her great-aunt Annie who died in a car crash. After looking at the article she was amazed and things started to ‘click’ for her.
“I’m in the public library reading this, and I’m like, going, ‘Oh my goodness. I think my aunt could be Lydia,’” she said. “And I thought, ‘Man,’ and I kept reading it and reading it. I’m like, ‘Yeah, I think she really could.’”
After all of this happened with Robin Mitchell Taylor, they feel like the sightings have either slowed or stopped altogether. Perhaps her spirit was trying to reach out to contact her in some way. Robin went on to say, “At that point, I felt like she was at peace. You know, it was like she wanted us to find that article, for us to know her real name.”
She did go on to say that she drives by from time to time, hoping to catch a glimpse of her great aunt.
Source: Fox 8
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