Crying Baby Bridge – State Highway five

This apparently true story was told to me by a woman working in a small roadside cafe that I stopped by for a short break in Taupo to grab brunch on the way to an overnight investigation with the team at the notorious Napier Prison. Typically, the Haunted Auckland t-shirt I wore caught her eye (such great walking billboards!)
She knew of us and had kept an eye on our activity via Facebook. Her daughter was also a fan.
As I waited for breakfast to be made, she told me a story about a bridge in the direction I was heading, with a sad history and an eerie reminder.
According to urban legend, a young couple was driving along State Highway Five, a lonely stretch of road between Rangitaiki and Tarawera, heading home from a leisurely day out sight-seeing with their baby. The great day’s weather soon turned sour, and they found themselves driving in a heavy downpour.
Approaching a bridge, they found it had flooded. The water quite a bit over the bridge height. With the water deceptively high, the couple took a risk and, keen to get home, drove slowly into the water. Halfway along, they realised their mistake. The car stalled and the water was now rising fast and had engulfed the car’s bonnet.
In a frantic panic, they both leapt from the car into the water to get to safety. A split second later, realising the baby was still in the car, now crying out loudly. The two doors they had escaped from were wide open. The car had filled within seconds as the water level splashed over the roof. The current was too strong for them to get back to the car. The couple helplessly watched as the car then flipped over the side of the bridge and was dragged downriver. The roar of the river torrent drowned out the baby’s final screams.
Urban legend states that the crying of a baby can sometimes be heard when nearing or crossing the bridge. Trampers and hitchhikers have told of hearing the eerie and traumatic frightened screams being carried in the wind.