This story has been making national headlines, and it unfortunately shows the dangers of “ghost hunting” while trespassing. A North Carolina-based ghost hunting group was at the site of the Bostian Bridge train wreck on the anniversary of the crash (which took place on August 27, 1891). They were on the bridge in the early morning hours last Friday when an actual, non-ghost train came suddenly around the corner. With nowhere to really take cover, three people were struck by the train, killing 29-year-old Christopher Kaiser immediately. Two women were injured, one seriously.
We joke a lot here at The Occult Section (especially me), but this tragedy is very serious. If you are in a paranormal group, please, please take this story as a warning. If anything good can come of it, let it be that it will make other groups think twice about trespassing for the sake of chasing the paranormal. The risk is not worth your life!
An outing Friday morning to see the reported ghost of a train that crashed in 1891 ended in tragedy for a group of ghost hunters.
Christopher Joseph Kaiser, 29, of Charlotte was pronounced dead at the scene of the famous Bostian Bridge train crash on Buffalo Shoals Road.
A woman, whose name has not yet been released, was airlifted from Iredell Memorial Hospital to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Her condition was unavailable.
Kaiser and others were apparently on the trestle when an eastbound Norfolk Southern train, containing three locomotives and no cars, approached.
Capt. Darren Campbell of the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office said most of those on the trestle were able to run to safety, but Kaiser and the woman were not. Various reports said Kaiser pushed the woman from the front of the train before being hit.
An ambulance was called to treat a third person. That person was not transported to a hospital.
The train operators tried to stop the train and blew the horn to warn the people on the trestle, Campbell said.Campbell said a group of about a dozen people gathered at the site on Buffalo Shoals Road shortly before 3 a.m. Friday in what has become an annual ritual for some ghost hunters.
A train fell off the trestle around 3 a.m. on Aug. 27, 1891, killing 30 people. Stories of paranormal activity started on the first anniversary of the crash and have continued since.
In 1991, when the 100th anniversary rolled around, nearly 300 people crowded into the field where the 1891 wreck came to rest to celebrate and, some, in hopes of seeing the ghost train return.
No ghost train appeared that night.The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office, the N.C. Highway Patrol and the Norfolk Southern Railroad Police are investigating the incident.
Campbell said the sheriff’ s office is still hoping to interview those who might have been at the site Friday morning but left before the arrival of law enforcement.
Campbell said the incident appears to be an accident.
[…] and many of these stories deal with the ghost hunters getting hurt accidentally, and sometimes even killed. But after reading this story, it’s apparent there is a new danger to ghost hunters […]