THE HELL GATE

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Growing up in NYC, it was impossible to not hear the ghost stories and urban legends about The Hell Gate Bridge - the tales of kids going up there, seeing lights of trains that just never seemed to come, and when they did, they were filled with the lost souls of the Spanish and Dutch explorers who's boats legend has it, sank in the turbulent currents directly below the bridge for which it was named after. It is here that Long Island Sound, as well as the East and Harlem Rivers converge - making for currents that have claimed many a life and made the location an ideal dumping ground for victims of the Mafia over the decades. An occasional skull or bone has been known to wash ashore...

And while not drowning in the water below the bridge or being chased by demons on the bridge span itself, there were legends of a child molesting homeless rapist, who would grab kids and drag them into the massive chamber in the base of the bridge blindfolded. According to legend, when the police finally figured out where he was dragging the kids to and stormed the place, they found areas covered wall to wall of photos of said kids being raped. The sickly smell sent investigators out to the park to throw up in the nearest trash can.

With stories like these, if you were a male, grew up in Astoria at the time, and didn't have the balls to go up on the bridge, you just weren't as cool as you shoulda been, (not that I knew many who actually did ). The bridge was a right of passage. From boy to teen. It is important to note here that no other bridge in NYC that I know of shares this same near mythological status.

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