In the mid-1800s, passenger packets and cargo boats traveled the waterway connecting the Ohio River and Lake Erie, called the Miami & Erie Canal, from Toledo to Cincinnati. A driver guided a mule that walked the towpath along the shore and pulled the boat. During the canal years, between Spencerville and St. Marys, two boats were commonly seen along the waterway—the Daisy and the Minnie Warren. Jack Billings was a big, softhearted man and a driver for the Daisy. A moody man named William Jones led the mules for the Minnie Warren. The captain’s daughter was on board this boat, and her name was given to the packet. Minnie cooked for those on board and rode faithfully by her father’s side on the canal route.
Minnie and Jack often flirted playfully with each other as their boats passed. After some time, they both realized they loved each other. Jack counted the hours between the time Minnie’s boat disappeared after passing and when he would see it appear in the distance again. Minnie felt her heart pound wildly when she shyly caught the man’s eyes in hers while they teased each other about whose boat was the better. This flirting made William Jones jealous as he loved Minnie, too. William would have mentioned his liking to the young woman. Still, the driver knew she only had eyes for Jack Billings, which would not have made a difference. So he just seethed over their fledgling relationship from sunup to sundown. He tossed and turned at night, dreaming up ways to get the girl all to himself.
It was not until one evening in the fall of 1854 that William’s jealousy peaked after a social event both Minnie and Jack attended. They paused at the bridge late in the evening as they walked home along the canal. Little did they know William was waiting for them in the shadows with a sharp-edged ax. In one stroke, the bitter man cut Jack down. Minnie fell backward over the edge of the bridge and into the water below. She drowned in the murky waters of the canal.
Some would say it was shock that sent her reeling to her death, but others believed the moment Jack died, she did not want to live at all and took the plunge to be with him. Soon after, someone stumbled upon the gruesome scene of Jack’s lifeless body and noticed the girl floating dead in the water. They brought her body up and laid it next to the bloody corpse of her sweetheart. Gone, they were. But each of the young lovers left their mark on the region. For nearly forty years after Jack’s body was removed from the bridge, the bloodstains left from his body remained engraved in the wood. And hence, it received its name—Bloody Bridge. Those who looked over the edge of the bridge where Minnie died said they would see her face staring up at them from beneath the muddy canal water.
Ah, the things we do for love! My ghost books are just filled with their tragic tales. This is just one example of bent, broken, twisted love ending with a tragic ghostly ending. Maybe you don’t have a date for the day or just broke up. Or maybe you’ve got it a little too good. Regardless, have a little heart. There are worse things out there for those who are in love, out of love, have too much love, or simply don’t have a soul so they can love.
You can find this and other ghostly Ohio tales in my book: Haunted Ohio Unearthed Real Ghost Stories from the Shadows of the Buckeye State
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