Debunking Helen

By Angela Pippinger

We have this beautiful old castle atop a mountain, Zelandia. History has it there was a fire and some of the estate was destroyed. It has since been remodeled and is now headquarters for a timeshare company. Now, rumor has it there was a death in the fire. According to rumor a peasant woman named Helen lived on the mountain and she had a daughter. For some reason the child was supposedly in the estate when the fire broke out, got trapped, and burned to death. Helen was so distraught that she hung herself on a bridge. Supposedly if you drive under the bridge, stop, and chant “Helen come forth” three times a few things might happen. One rumor is that you will see her in the rear view mirror, sitting in your backseat. Another rumor is your car break down. And yet another is that you will see handprints all over your car.

Several of us have done some research on the rumors. To start there are records of a fire, but no records of a death or even a childs death at any point in time on the estate. Further investigation shows that there are no records of any woman named Helen living on the mountain around the time of the fire. Even more interesting is that there is a Helen’s Mountain southwest of our county and there are rumors of a woman hanging herself after the death of her child. It get’s even better. I found a story in Illinois that was somewhat similar. A young woman named Helen had an affair with a married doctor. When he wouldn’t leave his wife, she hung herself off a bridge. Rumor has it you can see her hanging from the bridge during a full moon. If you ask residents who have lived here prior to 1970, they have no recollection of the legend of Helen’s Bridge ever being told.

Does that mean it’s not haunted? Personally, I am pretty sure something is up there. Twice now I have heard steady footsteps coming up a rock face that is next to impossible to climb in the dark. Actually, I have tried and it’s difficult to walk up it during the day and keep a steady rhythm without falling over. Another time I saw a tree branch literally reach out and touch someone. Almost Wizard of Oz-ish. Another time, when I took my husband up there, we got this horrible rotting smell. We looked all over the place and could find NOTHING rotting. Even weirder is no matter what time of day or year you go……you never hear any animals. No crickets, no birds, no rustlings of squirrels. You don’t even get bitten by mosquitoes’. I have watched dogs pee themselves when they look at the bridge. Something is there, it just isn’t Helen