Aaron Mahnke

Running to the river, she jumped in and was never seen again.

Well, alive at least.

But ever since, she has stalked the land, seeking to exact vengeance on her violent husband.

Some variations on her story do include an actual donkey, though.

In one, the family owns a donkey that a stranger beats.

He's ultimately chased off by the woman who lived there, but he returns later that night to burn the house down.

Even after the house is reduced to ashes, the woman, now disfigured, treats the donkey as her own child.

In another version, her donkey bites a child who taunts it.

When confronted by the village, the donkey lady blames the boy and the villagers, enraged, drown both the woman and her offending beast.

Whatever the variations, though, most of the stories typically end the same way.

A woman survives a fire in which she loses everything and then haunts the place where it happened, whether due to enduring pain or a bottomless desire for revenge.

As a result, locals have believed the area around the bridge to be haunted ever since.

Various witnesses have reported a strange change in the air as you approach the bridge, as if the air were heavier, or as if someone was watching you.

It's common for visitors to the bridge to hear strange sounds, too.

A woman wailing, or the brain of a donkey.

Sometimes it's the sound of approaching hooves in the dark.

In one incident from 1989, a group of friends were out joyriding when they decided to pay the legendary donkey lady a visit.

Pulling up to the bridge, they turned the headlights off.

Slowly advancing across the river in near-black conditions, there was suddenly a figure in front of them.

When they advanced, perhaps trying to nudge the figure out of their way, it suddenly just disappeared.