I’ll bet the people in the Charleston, SC area are thankful for their brand new Cooper River bridge just now. The old one might have been perfectly sound, but it seemed to be getting creakier by the year. For what it is worth, the old Cooper River Bridge itself suffered a tragedy when it had 240 feet taken out by the freighter Nicaragua Victory in February 1946, with one car going off the bridge:
Ghosts
Chilling encounters may continue long after bridge is gone
BY KATIE AVON MILLER, Of The Post and Courier Staff
Shortly after the new Cooper River bridge opens, both of the old bridges will come down. But what about the spirits that dwell on them? Will they vanish or relocate and haunt the new bridge?
On Feb. 24, 1946, the Nicaragua Victory was anchored upstream from the John P. Grace Memorial Bridge. The engines were shut down as the 12,000-ton freighter awaited repairs from an earlier accident. A thunderstorm began to rattle the ship. The night officer ordered the anchor chains loosened; instead, the anchors were accidentally yanked out of the mud. The freighter drifted downstream, picking up speed as it moved toward the bridge. With the engines shut down, steering or stopping was impossible.
On the bridge at this time were two cars and an Army mail truck. The ship struck the bridge, but the span didn't fall right away. The first car made it safely to Charleston. The driver of the mail truck leapt from his vehicle and ran back down the bridge. The Lawson family was not so lucky. When the Grace Bridge began to fall, the family's dark-green 1940 Oldsmobile had just reached the highest point of the bridge. Elmer Lawson was driving. His wife, Evelyn, was in the passenger seat. His son, Robert, daughter, Diane, and mother, Mrs. Elmer R Lawson, were in the back seat. An onlooker said that Mr. Lawson stopped the car, then began to drive, obviously unsure of what to do. The green sedan plunged 150 feet into the cold water of the Cooper River. It was not until March 19, 1946, that the car was discovered, with all five bodies still inside.
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Disasters in date order
Point Ellice Bridge, 1896 - 47/53/50—60 died (reports vary), overloaded tram car collapses central span.
Appomatox River Drawbridge Bus Accident, 1935 - 14 killed when bus drove across the drawbridge when it was open.
King Street (Melbourne) bridge 1962 – collapse of one span, no deaths.
Heron Road Bridge, 1966, Ottawa - 9 killed
Benjamin Harrison Bridge, 1977 - no fatalities, ship strike
Granville railway disaster, 1977 - 83 killed when derailed train knocked down a road overbridge.
Tjörn bridge, 1980, Sweden - 8 killed - ship strike.
Hyatt Regency walkway collapse, 1981 - 114 killed, more than 200 injured
Glanrhyd Bridge, Carmarthen, 1987 - Train washed off railway bridge by flood waters, 4 killed including 1 school boy drowned trying to rescue passengers.
Hatchie River Bridge (Hwy US-51) collapse, 1989, Tennessee - 8 killed when a 3 span section of the bridge failed due to scour of the bridge foundations.
San Francisco Bay Bridge, 1989 - 1 killed when Loma Prieta earthquake caused upper deck of eastern truss to collapse onto main deck carrying traffic.
Cypress Street Viaduct, 1989 - 42 killed during Loma Prieta earthquake.
Winkley Bridge, 1989 - 5 killed when 1912 bridge collapsed from 40 students swinging on it.
Big Bayou Canot train disaster, 1993 - 47 killed when railway bridge hit by barge.
Seongsu Bridge, 1994 - 32 died and 17 injured.
Koror-Babeldaob Bridge, 1996 - at least 1 killed following strengthening work.
Maccabiah Bridge Tragedy, 1997 - 4 killed
Interstate 794 Hoan Bridge,Wisconsin, 2000 - Partial failure, no injuries
Hintze-Ribeiro Bridge, Portugal, 2001 - 59 killed in three cars and one bus after the collapse of the bridge.
Kadalundi River rail disaster, India, 2001 - 57 drowned when 140-year old rail bridge collapsed.
Rafiganj rail disaster, India, 2002 - 130 died when terrorists sabotaged rail bridge, causing crash.
The I-40 Bridge Disaster, 2002 - 14 killed in barge strike.
Interstate 95 bridge over Howard Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut, March 2003 - Fire resulting from fuel truck crash melted the bridge superstructure, resulting in partial collapse. No fatalities; driver of the truck escaped with minor injuries.
Sgt. Aubrey Cosens VC Memorial Bridge, Latchford, Ontario, 2003 - Partial failure, no one hurt.
Veligonda rail disaster, India, 2005 - 114 killed when flood washed rail bridge away.
Autoroute 19 Overpass Collapse, Laval, Quebec,Canada, 2006 - Five dead, six injured
Run Pathani Bridge Collapse, 80 km east of Karachi, Pakistan - Bridge collapse during the 2006 monsoons.
Guinea - Bridge collapses in March, 2007 under a weight of a truck packed with passengers and merchandise in southeastern Guinea - killing 65 people.[4]
Oakland, California - Tanker explosion melts sections of the MacArthur Maze, causing them to collapse on April 29, 2007. The damaged sections are repaired and reopened by May 24, 2007.
Minneapolis, Minnesota - Interstate 35 bridge connecting Minneapolis and the University of Minnesota inexplicably collapses on August 1, 2007. (Minneapolis I-35W bridge collapse.)