What began as an investigation by fellow ghost hunters to hear and see the Bostian Bridge ghost train on the 119th anniversary of its wreck, has ended in a horrifying accident. Christopher Joseph Kaiser, age 29 from Charlotte, was struck by a train and pronounced dead at the scene on Friday morning, August 27th at 2:50am during the paranormal investigation.

The ghost hunting group consisting of a dozen people were walking on the train tracks in Statesville, NC near the infamous location of the Bostian Bridge train wreck on Buffalo Shoals Road, an area which is reported to be very actively haunted. According to witnesses, during the paranormal investigation, a train operated by Norfolk Southern Railroad came around the corner on the tracks, approaching the ghost hunters, who were walking along the track trestle of the bridge. The train conductors attempted to stop the train and blew the horn in warning to the people on the track. Most of the group was able to run and get off of the track to safety with the exception of the last two of the group, which were Christopher and an unidentified young woman. Witness reports state that Christopher pushed the woman out of the way to safety before being struck by the train and knocked over the side. The woman survived the fall and was taken to Iredell Memorial Hospital and then airlifted to Carolina’s Medical Center in Charlotte, NC. Her current condition is not yet available.

The location is the scene of one of the worst disasters in North Carolina railroading history, which occurred on August 27, 1891. On this date, a west bound passenger train, No. 9, was enroute from Salisbury, NC to Asheville, NC , when it derailed off the tracks, hurling the train almost 70 feet off of the Bostian Bridge, killing over 20 people and injuring many more. Rescuers worked for hours to remove bodies from the scene as some of the cars had submersed under water, trapping the sleeping occupants inside. The area has been reported to be haunted by the passengers from the wreck and over the years, the haunted site has become a popular area in North Carolina for ghost hunters and paranormal enthusiasts to visit on the anniversary of the accident.

Paranormal reports state that if you visit the Bostian Bridge on the anniversary date of August 27th, you will see the ghostly train make its arrival and experience the crash like it occurred, hearing the squeal of the brakes from the train, the sound of the crash from the bridge, the moans of the injured and reportedly, full body apparitions of some of the souls appear including the conductor from the train. The first reports of ghostly activity began on the first anniversary of the train wreck and have continued through to this day.

——————–

More about Kala Ambrose: Kala Ambrose is an award winning author, intuitive and talk show host of the Explore Your Spirit with Kala Show. Her new book Ghost Hunting North Carolina will be available in 2011.
More information about Kala at: www.ExploreYourSpirit.com

****************************************************************************
Enjoyed this article? Kala welcomes your comments and reads them all. Don’t miss a thing!
Subscribe by clicking the button at the top right corner of this article. By doing so, you’ll receive e-mail updates every time a new article by Kala Ambrose is posted – and it’s free! To read archived articles by Kala Ambrose, visit her main column page as the National Haunted History Examiner.

Leave a Reply