Goose River Bridge Investigation Report

Location: Rockport, Maine

Date: Saturday night, October 6, 2001

Moon Phase: unknown

Solar Weather: M class flares, geomagnetic storms

Investigators present: Hillary M., first-time investigator Candi B.

Equipment: Olympus C-3000 digital camera, RCA digital voice recorder

History: The following is probably a legend, and I cannot swear to its validity. Unfortunately, this is really all that I know about the location. The Goose River Bridge is a small bridge along the coast in Rockport. The original bridge is gone, but you can still see where it once stood. The new bridge stands far above where the old one stood. Anyway, as legend has it there was a man named William Richardson who actively fought in the Revolutionary War. When the war ended in 1783, the town of Rockport (then known as Goose River) celebrated. Mr. Richardson led the way by rolling out the barrels of ale, passing around the pitchers, and pretty much getting toasted.
  Some people say that, while wondering around in a drunken stupor, William Richardson fell over the bridge and drowned. Others say that, alone in the dark, he ran into some British sympathizers who murdered him. Either way, it is believed that William Richardson is the man who haunts this bridge. He is known by many as the "Pitcher Man" and has been sighted stopping cars and offering the passengers a swig of beer…sometimes even shoving his pitcher in through open car windows.

Investigation: We arrived at the bridge about 6 p.m., a half hour before sunset. After taking several pictures of the bridge itself, we discovered some wooden steps leading to the area below the bridge. This area has been turned into a park, complete with picnic tables and a small footbridge, and is quite lovely. After checking out the area, I felt drawn to the bottom of the steps, so I took a picture. Right at the base of the steps was a nice bright orb, which I was able to track in three consecutive pictures. Knowing that William is rumored to be a very friendly spirit, I asked him to please pose for a picture beside my friend Candi. Sure enough, he did. I took another picture of Candi, and there was no orb beside her. After several minutes, I asked William to pose again in the same spot. Once again, I got a nice bright orb in the picture.
  I then decided to take a look around the park, and crossed halfway over the footbridge to take some pictures of the old bridge abutments. Soon after, Candi followed. When she reached the place in which I was standing, she said "take a picture, something is following me". She was right. Whatever was here seemed to like Candi.
  We then decided to try an EVP session near the bottom of the steps. Unfortunately, we did not get any EVPs that night. Also, whatever had been following us seemed to be gone now. So, we headed over to the picnic table by the old bridge abutment. I sat down to look at some of the pictures I had taken on my digital camera. About ten minutes later, as Candi was standing at the edge of the abutment, she asked "Does it mean anything if your arms start tingling?" I immediately raised my camera to take a picture, then realized that the camera was on preview mode. I switched the mode as quickly as possible, and took a picture. The picture revealed an orb high over Candi's head, drifting out of the frame.
  It was getting quite dark, and we decided to try once more for an EVP. At about 7 p.m., influenced by a barking dog, we decided to call it a night.

Conclusion: I believe, based on our impressions and pictures obtained, that the area under the Goose River Bridge in Rockport, Maine is haunted. I don't know if it's the ghost of William Richardson, but whoever it is, they seem very friendly and very willing to have their picture taken.

Submitted by Hillary Murdoch