A steel bridge that once crossed Siam Valley into the Stoney Creek Community was where young lovers would meet. The bridge has since been torn down, but that doesn’t erase history or even a ghostly tale.
The Watauga River Bridge was once known as the “Steel Bridge.” During the 1930s, Tom Jackson and Wanda Smithson, who lived not far from the bridge, decided to venture to the spot for a little late-night rendezvous.
Tom noticed a dark entity approaching them, but thought it was another local couple until the attacker stabbed Wanda to death in her chest. The figure turned his attention to Tom, who fought the assailant but was also stabbed multiple times. Tom could fight and free himself, eventually reaching the bridge, where a good pedestrian picked up the battered man. Tom opened the rear door and threw himself in. The young man was driven to a nearby hospital, barely clinging to life. He was able to relay the story to the local authorities before perishing.
The reports were followed up, but the body of Smithson or their attacker was never found, and the case remains cold as ice.
In 1977, a patrol deputy from Gate City, Virginia, reported that his passenger door flung open as he crossed the bridge and suddenly slammed shut. Quite unnerved by the incident, he turned the light on inside his cruiser and quickly noticed an indentation in that seat. He then noticed movement in his rearview mirror of a dark, shadowy figure standing on the old steel bridge.
The deputy leaped from his car to respond, but the figure abruptly disappeared.
Was this the spirit of Tom Jackson still trying to seek justice?
Over the years, numerous reports have been filed about similar activities.
Written By: John G. Clark Jr.
Source: Legends & Lore of East Tennessee.
Image Credit: Legends & Lore of East Tennessee