We LOVE N.C. ghost stories here at the Dare Society. Always have. Always will. As mentioned before, "Lydia" was one that enamored me as a young kid at the school library. Well, after decades, we may have an update on her.
From WRAL's Heather Leah:
Historians and paranormal experts alike have long tried to solve the mystery of Lydia, matching the folklore of the "vanishing hitchhiker" with old records of car crashes and deaths along the haunted route.
But how did the real history of Lydia get lost, and why is her real bridge now closed to traffic? Is it because too many people saw her spirit along the roadside?
As Leah reports, "Lydia" may very well have been one Annie L. Jackson, who died in a crash near Jamestown in June 1920.
Born in 1885, Annie was around 35 years old, and she worked in a cigar factory. She had been living in a nearby hotel while working, and had only been there for a few months. Her parents also lived locally.
The authors of Looking for Lydia believe Annie's middle initial, which they report was 'L,' might be where the name Lydia originated.
Today, Annie is buried in Holts Chapel Cemetery in Greensboro. ...
After the tragic death, people began claiming to see the ghostly hitchhiker appear beneath the bridge – which was still in use at the time. Years later, however, the road beneath the bridge would be re-routed to go beneath a new bridge – leaving the real Lydia's Bridge to disappear beneath the overgrowth.
Today, a new, modern bridge takes traffic away from "Lydia's Bridge." But the town of Jamestown still has designs on honoring her memory. However, Covid-19 pressed the pause button on that.
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Image courtesy of WFMY.
