| Advertisement |
|
|
Visitors to Phelps Grove Park have claimed, for years, they see a woman in a wedding dress under a bridge.
"There's stories that have been around for a long time, a lot of them haven't been proven one way or another," says Janice Tremeear, co-founder of the Route 66 Paranormal Alliance.
The park's story, is that of a bride on her wedding night. According to the tale, her groom got jealous.
"[He] spurred the horse on. The horse bolted and the carriage flipped off the bridge, upside-down, on top of the bride, broke her neck," says Tremeear.
Now, when the sun goes down, some say she appears under a bridge, the same bridge where she died.
"What people are supposed to see is the bride in her wedding dress, but you can't see her face," says Tremeear.
We wanted to find her. So, we called in the professionals: Janice Tremeear, Alicia Holder, Andrew Muller, Dean Pestana, and Charlene Wells.
'We're just here trying to find out if you're here," says Tremeear, hoping to get a response from the ghost.
Of course, we were looking for the bride.
"It would be cool if she was actually here and she made an appearance," says Tremeear.
We were also looking for anything we could not explain - like lights. The alliance says a light orb could be a sign of ghost.
"The general consensus is orbs are so iffy now, because of moisture and everything, they've gotta be pretty outstanding," says Tremeear.
So, we moved on to find something outstanding.
"If you get scared, don't run," laughs Tremeear.
Suddenly, on a 50-degree night, the temperature plummeted. Within seconds it dropped to ten degrees, according to a thermometer Holder had.
Sure, a bride could be getting cold feet, but not that cold.
"Now, what could cause this?" asks Holder.
Despite the sudden excitement, a temperature drop doesn't necessarily mean a ghost, either.
"We can't just go by the temperature drop and say, 'Oh, there she is," says Tremeear.
"We gotta stay calm and not get excited when we think we see something. We need the physical proof," says Wells.
Then, we noticed something curious.
"That could be mistaken for something," says Tremeear.
We saw a play of light and shadows, at the end of the tunnel, under the bridge.
"It looks like a veil hanging off the back," says Pestana.
Based on the shape of the shadows, and the story, some say it's a bride.
'There's your classic explanation back there," says Pestana.
It's not a ghost, but a trick of light.
"When light hits things certain ways, and your brain tries to make out what it is, you'll sometimes put something, that's not there, in your mind," says Muller.
Some unexplained things did happen on our search, that could be paranormal activity, but a ghost? Well, that's for you to decide.
"What are you gonna label a ghost exactly?" asks Tremeear.
Tremeear recently published a book called "Missouri's Haunted Route 66." It cronicals ghost stories along the mother road. In the Springfield section, Tremeear includes the story of the bride at Phelps Grove Park.