A middle school in Louisiana is using a local legend of a haunted bridge to help teach children about how to look up information in a fun way. Columnist Jim Bradshaw of The Daily Advertiser has the details:

The place they’re hunting for is known to them as “Mary Jane’s Bridge,” and they think it is in the New Iberia-Broussard area.

According to legend, Mary Jane was a young girl who was killed by her boyfriend and thrown over the bridge. Every year since then, she had been seen crying on the bridge on Prom Night, wearing her prom gown. The apparition apparently has no feet.

The kids want to know where the bridge is, and what happened to Mary Jane’s feet.

I’d also like to know more about the places you know about that are haunted.

I’m a believer. Photographer Pete Piazza and I had a close encounter with spirits of some sort at Albania Plantation, and a little old lady used to sit in a rocker from time to time in an old home my wife and I lived in for a while.

Wait until they find and visit the haunted site and are attacked by a dangerous ghost. Now that will be an education: in terror.

Some of the columnist’s readers responded:

But only one reader called to say that he had seen Mary Jane.

He’s a retired police officer who asked that his name not be used. He says he vividly recalls seeing her on the bridge during the summer of 1985.

He said he was driving when he “just knew there was someone in front of me.”

He stopped the car, got out, and saw a girl dressed in white with flowing brownish hair standing on the bridge.

“She just stood there and looked at me,” he recalled. “I asked her, ‘Can I help you?’ and she just stood there.”

It was at night in August. He’d turned his car lights off, but there was a full moon to illuminate the scene.

“And it was cold, very cold, on the bridge,” he said. “This was August, I think, but it was very cold.”

I have a premonition of frightened middle schoolers on a dark and lonely bridge some night soon waiting for Mary Jane.

I miss Mary Jane, by the way.

i’ve been to the bridge. its not hard to find. but nothing happened but it WAS during the day so next time me and my friends are going later in the night…woooo

Where is it?

Hi, my name is Anthony and the night before last I had a a VERY vivid dream about a girl my age on a swampy bridge in Louisiana. I’m 19 and I often have psychic dreams. I was wondering if anyone knows the particular date in which her prom was? She had the same dark hair and white muddy dress as reported. She also didn’t have feet.

In my dream I was leaving a prom and I was given the wrong car by the Valet service. I took the car anyway since it was nicer than mine. Although I soon realized that it only would accelerate, not brake. After driving for a few minutes I began approaching a bridge (one that I’ve seen befo4re only in other dreams) and it was over a shallow swamp. Then I saw her. She was bloody and covered in the swamp mud and was wearing a white dress. She had dark brown hair and no feet that I could see.

I kept driving and went through her only to instantly be in the middle of a street in Louisiana. Now, I’m from NY and have never been to Louisiana at all. I’ve never seen this girl in pictures or have I seen photos of this bridge.

But it can’t be unseen; her and her dress. I felt so awful in my dream and I began asking around for help on how to get home to NY.

Then I was told that the bridge I arrived on was cursed and I was cursed now.

Then I woke up, retaining every piece of the dream I had.

If anyone else knows anything AT ALL please email me at:

anewhall16@gmail.com

I’m very concerned for some reason.

Good luck, Anthony.

It’s on Stone Rd..use to go all the time to see if we could see her..grew up not far from there..It use to be a gravel road but I heard it’s paved now..the only thing that ever happened to us was some old man shot at us.