Cry Baby Bridge
When talking to students around campus about urban legends they knew, many of them were quick to recite a story that they once enjoyed hearing. Most people all knew at least a couple stories. Almost everyone knew some variation of the most popular urban legends. When talking in the dorm with a twenty year old female student, I learned that she knew several stories from her hometown. I found most interesting the story involving a bridge named Cry Baby Bridge. The story was specific to her home town. She had heard it in a similar situation as me, in the dorm atmosphere from one of her friends from her hometown. This is the story she told me, as close to verbatim as possible:
One day back home several years ago a teenage girl got pregnant. She was able to keep her pregnancy secret from her dad but when she gave birth her father was unhappy and ashamed of what she did. Her father kicked her out of the house, and she was left with no where to go. She was really sad and had no idea what to do. She drove to a single-lane bridge by her house and got out of the car with her new born baby. With the crying baby in her hands, she jumped off of the bridge, instantly killing both of them. Ever since then the bridge is now called Cry Baby Bridge, and if you go at midnight, turn off your lights and get out you can hear the baby crying, and her car will come from behind you and run you off of the road.
While telling the story she talked slowly and seriously. It seemed as if she believed in the story, but when asked after, she said she just thought of it as a good story from back home.
After hearing the story, I found variations online. One variation had the boyfriend, instead of the father, reject her (...
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...e not accepted. In this respect, this fear could go beyond teen pregnancy and be applied to topics involving either sex, such as homosexuality, drinking, smoking, and more. People begin to learn and see sex, alcohol and homosexuality during young adulthood. This is the same time when urban legends are most popular. Since so many people hearing the story share the fear of rejection, they are more interested and more likely to tell the story to others. In conclusion, the story displays young people’s fears surrounding premarital sex, teenage pregnancy, and rejection.
Works Cited
Siwak, Christine. University of Maryland Legends Collection. October 2004. http://www.wam.umd.edu/~dschloss/Legends/crybaby.htm
Schlossman, David. University of Maryland Legends Collection. April 2005. http://www.wam.umd.edu/~dschloss/Legends/crybaby_westminster.htm
My teammate originally heard this story from her classmates during her junior year in high school. My teammate had no problems remembering the story; she was more worried that I would think she thought it was true. There were pauses in her story telling as I wrote down what she said. She related the story with little emotion or suspense. The laughter in the background also affected the impact of the legend because it is difficult to be scared when there is laughter all around. My teammate also did not make a significant effort to enhance the effect of the story through hand motions or vocal tone inflections.
In April I sat down with a friend at my house and asked about any urban legends or ghost stories he had encountered. After a couple legends he had seen in movies, he mentioned a haunted bridge about ten minutes away from downtown. He is a twenty-one year-old White male; his father owns an appliance store and his mother helps out with the books. He first heard this story in the ninth grade from a couple of friends. Supposedly, they had heard from kids who had actually been to the bridge and heard strange things at night. The bridge is located off of Uniontown road, between a couple old farms. He has not encountered the bridge first hand but still remembers the story surrounding it:
Auteri, Steph. “How the Push for Abstinence Until Marriage Has Affected Teen Pregnancy Rates” Sexually Smarter. Planned Parenthood of Central and Greate...
On the 1950s, Wade Walker, a bad boy who is irresistible to girls, is known by the nickname of Cry Baby because he got the ability to cry with only one drop. He and his squad called The Drapes composed by his sister Pepper Walker, who is a pregnant single mother, has two more children; the exuberant Wanda Woodward, the defaced Mona Malnorowski also called “Hatchet-Face” and Milton Hackett who is Mona’s boyfriend. They study in a stereotypical vintage high school in Baltimore. During a mandatory polio vaccination at their basketball court, Allison Vernon Williams, who is a beautiful square immediately fell in love with Cry Baby.
Urban legends can be effective conveyors of entertainment and morals. We all have heard urban legends during our lives, whether it was in a dorm room, the dinner table, or around the campfire, but rarely do we take the time to fully appreciate the value of the stories. Urban legends have this rare ability to make us question reality. We have this feeling in our minds that says “Oh, this cannot possible be real,” but then our imagination questions that and reels us in and plants a lingering doubt. David Emery, a writer and follower of urban folklore, defines urban legends as “told [to be] true, and plausible enough to be believed.” Besides this lingering suspense, urban legends and similar folklore often have underlying morals that are hard to uncover, but when they are, the stories become clear. When collecting stories, the best and most unique one was a local story native to a town in New York State. I vividly remember how he told the story:
"Teen Sexuality and Pregnancy." Growing Up: Issues Affecting America's Youth. Melissa J. Doak. 2007 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Information Plus Reference Series. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 24 Jan. 2011.
For centuries, society has placed a remarkably large emphasis on protecting the young from the many perceived errors of growing up. Effective sex education is resisted in many locations across the country in favor of somewhat comical biblical suggestions for abstinence until marriage even while the majority of those targeted teens are viewing the world as a more and more sexual place. So many views are weaving in and out of teenagers' newly formed adolescent minds that any effective argument for responsible attitudes or analysis of sexual behavior in teens should be expressed with a certain minimal degree of clarity. Unfortunately, this essential lucidity of advice is missing in the short story “Where are You Going, Where Have You Been,” in which the misguided Joyce Carol Oates creates the character of Arthur Friend as a cliché personification of the inner demon of uncontrollably budding sexuality. Instead, the murky characterization of the antagonist presents nothing more than a confused and ambiguous view of the meaning of the story.
we are told that this story is about a girl or a woman and perhaps her
Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization that aims to provide healthcare for women and educate people of all ages about sexual education. Their website (www.plannedparenthood.org) allows both women and men to learn about reproductive health, find a health center, and discover more about the “mission” of Planned Parenthood. “Virginity” (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/teens/sex/virginity) is the title of one of the articles in the Info For Teens section of the website. This article loosely defines virginity and addresses some of the common fears teens may have about the subject. Another article, “Am I Ready?” (https://www.plannedparenthood.org/teens/sex/am-i-ready), serves to give advice to those who are thinking about having sex for the first time, or just being physically intimate with another person for the first time. Both of these articles leave very little out in terms of different sexualities, genders, and other minority groups. They also both explore the ways power relationships (in this case, boyfriend and girlfriend) can affect sexual relationships. As a result, Planned Parenthood creates information that can be applied to almost any person, male or female,
Pepper Schwartz opens Why is Everyone Afraid of Sex? with "In spite of the visibility of sex in the media and popular culture, despite a widespread acceptance of a variety of sexual practices, Americans still hold a deep-rooted fear of sex." (252) Schwartz then goes on to explain the surprising, but obvious truth. American society portrays a sexual attitude, but is actually hiding a fear of the activity. Schwartz does a great job of showing both sides of this argument. She mentions how sex seems to no longer be a completely taboo thing within the media and society today. Within television, magazines, articles, movies, etc, sexual themes are all over the place. Another factor is that premarital sex is becoming more and more acceptable these
Cry Baby Bridge is a local legend in my hometown of Carmi, Illinois. The stories of this bridge have been passed down from generation to generation. Our parent always warned us not to go to the bridge after dark. A young women once hung her child, and then proceeded to hang herself from the bridge. On any given night you can hear the cries of a baby who is struggling for its life. Those who have been brave enough to go out there have horror stories of the things that happened. This bridge is in the middle of nowhere with the nearest town being Carmi, and the closer you get to the bridge the less cell phone signal you have till you reach the bridge and have no signal.
Red and blue lights are flashing and the noise of the ambulance impels everyone to a point where they have to look outside and observe the situation, as if a mystical force was compelling them. From what they can see, the paramedic is holding a tiny hand telling her to hold on. As the stretcher rolls by, the onlookers notice a huge lump, or ball as a few may say, under the pallid cotton covers. What they also take note of is that the pregnant woman is not a woman at all, but in fact a teenager. As some are astounded that a child is being born from a child, others possibly will look at it as a “blessing in disguise.” The issue of teenage pregnancy is affecting our society in innumerable ways and has become one of our top social issues of all time. “The latest estimates show that approximately 1 million teens become pregnant every year” (East, Felice, and Associates 1). With this high number of teenage pregnancy, it is no wonder that many authors try to exemplify this common subject matter. Katrina L. Burchett, author of Choices, accurately and effectively depicts teenage pregnancy among female adolescents living with domestic issues.
What would be your reaction if you had a teenager come home pregnant? Many teenagers fear their parents if they have to bring home a bad report card. Others may have a fear if they get into trouble at school. Although these fears are substantial, young women experience a fear that young men do not. Becoming pregnant is a serious fear for young women that engage in sexual intercourse. Often times a teen mother’s answer to this situation is abortion or an illegal abortion. Teen abortion can be somewhat difficult to get in many states without having parental consent or notification. These laws make it unsafe for the teen mother and unborn child. Teen abortion should be allowed without having to have parental consent. The mortality rate of teen mothers and babies would decrease significantly if this were the case. Sadly, each year in the United States the age of young girls who are sexually active decreases. At this rate there are many unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. “One in three abortions in the U.S. are performed on teens” (Torr 91). That is a very high statistic that young women have created due to their adult decisions.” Teens are sometimes reluctant to practice birth control because it is not romantic” (Emmens 13). Teens tend to believe that they should not use birth control, because they do not think that they will get pregnant. The lack of birth control may result in pregnancy. Once a teenager gets pregnant she may not know what to do next. Teenagers usually become nervous and unsure of whether to tell someone or just keep the pregnancy a secret. When they keep the pregnancy a secret it puts them in danger as well as the unborn child. Planned Parenthood Federation of America is the nation's leading sexual and reproductive health care advocate and provider. “We believe that everyone has the right to choose when or whether to have a child, and that every child should be wanted and loved” (Suarez 2). Planned Parenthood allows a teenager to make safe decisions without including the teen’s parents. In many states where they have Planned Parenthood facilities the teenagers have more options. Teenagers that want birth control and/or an abortion can receive services, as well as information from a doctor. The doctors at this clinic encourage young women to tell their parents of their choice of abortion.
The glamorous side of sex is everywhere; music, tv shows, movies and social media. To a mature adult, it is easy to ignore the sexual messages in those outlets. However, to a teenager, going through mental and physical changes and peer pressure, it is extremely easy to fall for what is shown to “cool.” Everyone has fallen for half truths to be cool in their teenage life. It just so happens that teen pregnancies and STDs are not one of those things that one can simply walk away from. Babies and STDs leave a lasting effect on everyone involved. The National Conference of State Legislatures states:
Thesis Statement: Within America, there is a teen pregnancy epidemic across all socioeconomic backgrounds, presenting commonalities as to the causes and ramifications of adolescents emerging as a growing parental population.