Roads to hell are paved with good intentions

Recently I have began preparations for some items that I will be selling in my online shop this fall in time for Halloween. Even though October is a little less than five months away, this is the time for me to start working on such projects. And then my mind, as it is often wont to do, began drifting into some other spooky subjects. I thought about vampires, specifically the original classic story that set the stage for modern literary, film and stage adaptions of that subject. But there is a compelling aspect of the Dracula story, which is the notion of someone traveling abroad and bringing back with them something evil, destructive and terrifying. I’d imagine that most people have seen at least one or more adaptions of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula, such as the 1930’s Bela Lugosi version or one of the more modern films. In those that follow the book closely, the protagonist Jonathan Harker travels to Eastern Europe, specifically to Transylvania, for business. This is where he runs into Count Dracula, and also where the Count sees a picture of Harker’s wife Mina. Once Harker heads for home, Dracula follows him, seeking out Mina along with other sources of fresh blood. Harker unwittingly brought something hideous home with him, that which brought about death and horror.

While Dracula and other blood sucking reanimated corpses are fictional, many years ago someone actually did unwittingly bring something sinister back from a far away land. And that thing became associated with death, horror and bloodshed, and still is so linked to this day. But this was at first an idea; a plan to create something that turned into a nightmare. Unlike a stalking vampire, this idea was willingly embraced but it inspired folly. No one knew the danger that the spawn of said notion would pose. That is, until the idea, with its dastardly design, was turned into reality.

This real life horror story begins here in the US, back in the early 1980’s. Instead of Johnathan Harker, we have as our unwitting main character Florida’s governor at the time, Bob Graham. At the heart of the plot was a trip that ended up leading to a sort of business deal, not unlike that undertaken in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. At some point earlier, Governor Graham had traveled to Europe, though he went to France, and not Romania. There became enamored of a particular sort of structural design, that which had never been seen here in the US. That sinister architecture was embodied in a particular bridge located in France, named the Brontonne Bridge.

There incubated the dark seed, the fever dream, that would lead to mega cable stayed monsters like the Sunshine Skyway Bridge rapidly proliferating in the Americas. Florida’s governor wanted the next version of the Skyway to replicate this freaky looking French span. But no, he couldn’t have just gone with a standard truss or suspension bridge which had always been tried and true. At the time these were the only sorts of very large bridges that were ubiquitous in the new world. No, he just had to have this French monstrosity meticulously copied; its demonic doppelganger was erected right next to what remained of the original Skyway that was partly demolished by a ship strike.

So, the governor got his wish, and the metal and concrete monster was constructed, being a larger (and much nastier) version of the French nightmare. Building it close to the spot of the previous disaster didn’t help, but its devilishly seductive design really sealed the deal. Over the intervening years an ominous cloud of death and destruction has hung over the Skyway in much the same way as it did with Count Dracula. Dracula was able to mesmerize and draw in his victims, as does this evil structure. By its infernal beauty the Skyway draws people to it, and not just those who find it to be a convenient route across the bay. Most can admire (or fear it, as the case may be) from afar, or while making the drive across it, but there are just some who cannot resist its lethal allure. In Dracula, Mina’s best friend Lucy became a target of the creepy Count. Harker and his friend VanHelsing did their best to try and keep the blood sucker away from her, but to no avail. Swept up by Dracula’s powerful pull, she removed her cross, ditched the garlic and opened the window so that the evil monster could enter and drain her blood for the last time. By doing so she sealed her fate, which she was unable to resist. Likewise there have been many who could no longer fight the seductive draw of the metal and concrete monster lurking in the Tampa Bay. And so they mounted its apex for the last time before leaping into the void and embracing death. Clearly Lucy was not in her right mind when she chose to invite her killer in. Likewise disturbed are the minds of those who willingly choose a hideous demise as they plunge from the highest point of the demon bridge’s deck.

So when we get near the end of Dracula, Harker manages to protect Mina and save her life. He and VanHelsing then track down and slay the bloodthirsty ghoul. The ending, as it were (which isn’t an ending at all, as the story is still ongoing) of the Skyway Bridge story is a bit different. There is no VanHelsing to drive a stake thru the cold, hard concrete heart of this freeway monster. So at this point we can borrow a page from werewolf stories instead. The Wolf Man and other such tales often feature the cursed individual being locked up when the moon is full to prevent him from killing while in wolf form. The Tampa monster has also been so restricted, which has had the effect of keeping most of its would be victims safe. The ravenous beast has been chained. It would be as if Lucy had to take a hacksaw and cut thru a steel grate on her windows in order to let Dracula in. That surely would have forestalled, if not outright prevented her demise. Harker and VanHelsing might have had time to rescue her. If Dracula’s victims had been so protected, there would have been far fewer of them.

But there is an epitaph to this tale. A vampire creates more of his (or her) kind by biting victims and turning them into creatures of the night. And thus spreads the curse. Where there was only one, now there are many of that hideous kind. The Skyway was just the beginning… there are many more like it out there, and a half dozen or so with the very same sinister pedigree. This includes the bridge in Maine that I will be visiting in shortly. It may be a while before I will undertake a journey to see the Tampa horror in person, but in the mean time, soon I will be gazing upon one of its creepy kindred bridges. And I won’t be just looking, but I’ll be entering its tower to take in an elevated view of the rest of the monster and its habitat. Then there is the steel cage that’s apparently (based upon a recent news story I read) being built to separate this monster from its victims. Even if it isn’t completed by the time I am there it will still be a disturbing sight as it will be a visible reminder of the monster’s deadly past. I don’t know how I will react to seeing it. As the old saying goes, I suppose I will “cross that bridge when I get to it”!

Speaking of chained monsters, from my web search of pictures it appears the French bridge has likewise been bound. This demonstrates unequivocally that at some point it turned into a death trap and that lives have been lost there.