With my younger sister sophomore Cara Wolfarth, News Editor Emily Cassidy, and three cups of Sweet Frog frozen yogurt in tow, I set out on our journey around 8:00 at night. We were cruising carefree with the windows down, a cool night breeze blowing into my car, not really thinking about what we were about to do… until we got there.

An eerie chill came over us as we neared the 48-year-old, rickety bridge on a cool October night.  As my headlights peered into the inside of Harford County’s infamous Jericho Bridge, we turned to one another with the same expression on our faces seeming to say, “Why did we decide to do this again?”

When Cassidy, my sister, and I  agreed to take on the spooky challenge of going across Jericho Bridge in the dark, we didn’t realize what we were getting ourselves into. We learned of this challenge through the book “Weird Maryland,” which is a book about strange legends in Maryland. We both thought it would be a fun adventure that we could one day tell our children in hopes of making us sound cool, but it was nothing like that.  As the sun started to set we realized we were not as brave as we thought.

The bridge was built in 1865 and is said to still have characters from that time period wandering the bridge late at night. According to “Weird Maryland,” during the late 1800s and early 1900s and around the time of the Civil War, the bridge was used to hang people.  It is also says that ghosts from the Civil War still keep watch. Local legend says that when you drive through late at night, you can see bodies hanging from the rafters in your rearview mirror.

It was pitch black and Jericho Road leading up to the bridge was looking as ominous as ever. The bridge’s dark entryway was anything but inviting as my car headlights peered in.

The bridge looked so old and weak I was shocked to think people drove over this death trap every day. Everything was silent except for the sounds of air coming through the windows.  Thoughts of what might lie ahead in the bridge bounced around in my head.  I was sure all sorts of paranormal, half dead creatures were lurking in the dark shadows of the bridge, ready to pounce on a car full of vulnerable teenage girls.  We slowed to a stop about 10 feet away from the entrance.  After all of us were done exclaiming “I don’t want to do this anymore,” and “I’m so scared,” it was time to head in.

We started out slow but then floored it once we were all the way inside.  The sound of the rickety old bridge was grotesquely loud under the tires.  The noise of the bridge and our screams rang in our ears.  It wasn’t until we emerged from the bridge that I realized my eyes had been closed the entire time while driving.

Although shaken up, we all agreed that we were OK and we hadn’t seen anything scary.  Then we realized, we didn’t know how to get back home without going over the bridge again.

And the terror continued.

This time, with a little more confidence, we braced ourselves for the second round of our Jericho Bridge adventure.  This time, we got halfway through the bridge before closing our eyes and flooring it.

Although we never saw anything scary at all, the experience was enough for us. Perhaps if we had gone in the middle of the night, turned off all our lights and engine, and waited, we would have seen something supernatural.  But let’s be real here, we just aren’t cut out for ghost hunting.

Caitlin Wolfarth and Emily Cassidy are Lifestyles and News Editors for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.