MICHIGAN TALES : Rockford

Hell's Bridge
All the photos on this page are taken by J. Moyer
March 30, 2021

In the northwestern part of Kent County, Michigan, and still just a little northwest of Rockford, lays a footbridge that crosses over Cedar Creek, a tributary of the Rouge River, which claims to be one of the most haunted bridges in the United States. Paranormal groups from around the country make their way to this footbridge in hopes to discover supernatural phenomenon that ties into the legend. In fact, listverse.com has listed Hell's Bridge as #9 for the creepiest haunted bridge in the country. Clickondetroit.com even calls it "Michigan's creepiest urban legend" in an article written by Ken Haddad in October 2018. The legend maybe a little fabricated to make a good story, however, a person cannot help but feel a little uneasy when approaching this location. But if the story is false, the county sure added to it by naming the street after the murderous villain, Elias Friske.

To discover this location for yourself, just north of Grand Rapids on 131, take exit 97 and head west to Algoma Ave, which is just on the other side of the highway and head north. Go 2 miles until you come across 12 Mile rd and turn east. A short distance away on the north side of the road is Friske Dr. If you cross the river you went too far. A short drive down on the east side of the road is a dirt parking lot and a trail that heads into the woods. There is a brown sign at the beginning of the trail but nothing is labeled on it. That is the beginning to Hell's Bridge.

In the mid 1800's, Rockford was formally known as Laphamville, a lumbering town after the founder Smith Lapham in 1839. The town sprang up, lumbering about 6,000 feet of lumber per day. Many people flocked to this area for opportunity as the area was quickly developing. But with a large amount of people moving into an area, crime soon followed. Groups of children were being abducted and no one could figure out where the children went. They vanished without a trace. Elias Friske, an elderly gentleman, was either a preacher or he just gave a good sermon about demons taking the children at a town meeting that the towns people became quite fond of him and built their trust in him. The towns people knew they would need every eye to search for the missing children so they asked Friske to keep an eye on the children while they went out to look.

Friske took out a large rope and started to tie the children together. One towns person inquired about it and he said he wanted to make sure the children all stayed together and no one wandered off. At the time it made logical sense as there were several children missing already. Friske, being very dependable and trustworthy, what could possibly go wrong?!

As the towns people left the area, Friske guided the children down a little wooded path. Friske would look back at the tied up bundle of children and flash an evil smile as the children huddled closer to one another with a discomfited feeling brewing inside of them.

As they walked along, a disturbing smell started to linger in the air. The children never smelled anything so putrid in their entire young lives. Sounds of groans and dry heaves made Friske even more anxious as he tugged on the rope for the children to hurry up. He would make excuses for the smell that was overpowering the children's noses saying it was God's way of punishing them for being naughty and God wouldn't have them smell the good things in life.

Friske came upon an old tree near the creek and tethered the children to the tree. He walked over to a pile of fallen leaves and brushed the leaves away. Under those leaves were the remains of the missing children, skinned and limbs chopped off. The children screamed in horror; Friske laughed with delight knowing that the town's people were no where within earshot of them.

One by one Friske chopped the remaining children with an axe right in front of the other children still tied to a tree. He wanted the children to hear the deathly screams and to hear their bones break until silence filled the air. The eerie silence where not even a bird dared to chirp. Friske laid down in the heap of blood, guts, and bones and bathed himself with the remains of the children, rubbing the remains all over his body, laughing as much as a mad man could.

The town's people came back into town, feeling hopeless that they could not find those responsible for the abduction of the children and noticed the town being too quiet. They ran to the church and other buildings calling out Friske's name, and calling out the names of the children they left behind. Only silence echoed back. It was at that moment they knew the truth. The truth about the children. The truth about Friske. They quickly ran into the woods opposite of their return in desperate search for answers, in search for Friske.

Friske could hear the shouts of the towns people off in the distance and he realizes he is about to be apprehended. He starts tossing the bodies of the children into the creek. The creek turns red from the blood and guts of the children he just brutally murdered. The town's people quickly came upon the scene and discovered the horror themselves. Anger took over their emotions and they decided to take law into their own hands.

The town;s people found Friske hiding a short distance away. They dragged the old man back to the bridge (at the time it was a stone arched bridge, not the metal footbridge we see today), kicking and screaming. Friske declares he was possessed by demons and it was the demons that made him do it. Using the rope Friske tied the children up with, the town's people used that to make a noose to hang Friske over the edge of the bridge. The swinging of his body caused the rope to snap and his body fell into the creek and was carried away to the river before anyone could grab him. His body was never recovered.

They say at night, upon the midnight hour, a person can hear cries of the children or the diabolical laugh of Mr. Friske. Some have even claimed to see apparitions on the bridge and eyes glowing off in the woods. Faces of children will even appear in the waters below. If a person is brave enough to sit on the bridge, it is said you can feel tugging on your feet, as if an evil spirit is trying to pull you down. Visitors have also had bruises and scratches on them as well as rope burns around their neck.

The day I went, I was brave enough to lay down on this tilted-framed, footbridge. I laid there and listened for a moment. I couldn't hear anything out of the normal. The area was busy as there were a group of women canoeing down the river and another family came to check out the haunted Hell's Bridge.

As I got up my friend noticed blood dripping down my arm. I did not feel myself getting cut or scratched but it was bleeding pretty good. I can only assume I was scratched by the bridge. But in desperate desire to have something happen, I dropped a few drops of my blood into the creek and waited. Nothing happen.

Looking back over my pictures I took that day I did notice a face of a child looking down towards the bridge. I tried to enlarge the image in the picture. The large forehead is towards the bottom of the picture and the dark eyes are looking up at the bridge. The hands are near the bottom of the jaw line.

For the record, the name of Friske does not show up in the census for this area until 1910. There are also no reporting's of groups of children missing during the mid 1800's. Something that significate would be reported in the newspapers, especially that close to Grand Rapids. But it does make a person wonder.

SOURCES:

https://listverse.com/2016/06/14/10-haunted-bridges/

https://www.clickondetroit.com/all-about-michigan/2018/10/10/michigans-creepiest-urban-legend-according-to-thrillist/

https://vocal.media/horror/10-haunted-hot-spots-to-visit-in-michigan

https://99wfmk.com/hellsbridge2018/

http://michigansotherside.com/hells-bridge/

https://www.rockford.mi.us/PublicSafety/ABOUTUS/DepartmentHistory/tabid/10789

https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/michigan/haunted-streets-mi/

https://mix957gr.com/the-legend-of-hells-bridge-steves-stories/

https://dudegerald.angelfire.com/HELLSBRIDGE.html

http://www.migenweb.org/kent/towns/rockford/centennial/reminiscences.html

LOCATION:

4500 14 Mile Rd

Rockford, Mi 49341

North of Grand Rapids on 131; Exit 101; Head east on Hwy 57 less than a mile; south side of the road.

Growing up in the 70's and 80's, a person will probably remember the old Bounty Paper towel commercials with Nancy Walker (1922-1992) as Rosie the waitress, in a New Jersey metal dining car, boasting about how Bounty is the "quicker picker upper" for spills. This is the story of how the diner came to Michigan and how it is now in a state of ruins.

Notice the background in the video.

A look through the window at Rosie's Diner
Photo by J. Moyer
May 10, 2020

A peek through the window at Rosie's Diner.
Photo by J. Moyer
May 10, 2020

Notice it is the same backdrop. But how did a diner like this make its way to a town north of Grand Rapids, Michigan?

THE STORY

The diner, owned by Raphael Corrado was originally known as Silver Dollar Diner, located in Little Ferry, New Jersey, opened for businesses in the 1940's. After the Bounty commercials became a hit with viewers, the owner's decided to change its name of the diner to the fictional waitress Rosie, hence becoming Rosie's Diner.

In the meantime, in 1987, Jerry Berta, loved the once popular metallic dining cars and purchased a dining car out of Flint, Michigan and moved it to Rockford, Michigan as a place to sell his artwork called the Diner Store. Fate stepped in shortly after that in New Jersey. Corrado was cleaning up when he seen Berta taking pictures of the dining car. They talked for a moment and Berta mentioned he had one in Rockford, Michigan. Corrado had already sold the land the dining car was on and he needed to sell the dining car itself. He offered it to the Smithsonian Institute but they turned down the offer. Corrado knew time was running out and he couldn't think of a better person to sell it to than Berta. In 1990, for a purchase of $10,000, the 24ft by 60ft building and a little over 700 miles later, the famous Rosie's Dining car was next to the other dining car in Michigan.

With pretty much no advertising, Berta tried his hands at the diner business, alongside his art business. On July 5, 1991, Rosie's was back open for business. He eventually added in a third dining car, from Fulton, New York, which would serve as the sports bar and banquet room. It only took 5 years to serve it's one millionth customer. Business was looking good for Berta.

Berta wanted to concentrate in his artwork again and in 2006, Berta sold his business to Randy Roest and Jonelle Woods where business was doing good for a little bit. Staff was told that on October 2nd and 3rd, 2011, the diner would be closed due to repairs. The doors never opened back up and the staff was left without an explanation or pay.

Aaron Koehn won the property with the dining cars on an online auction. He is not interested in going into the restaurant business and is not sure if he will sell the cars or keep them on the property. It is sad to see these historic dining cars just become a roadside stop for abandoned places.

Pictures of Rosie's Diner from May 10, 2020 by J. Moyer

MINI-GOLF

The story doesn't end at the dining cars. In 1993, Berta wanted to provide entertainment to the community and opened up an 18 hold mini-golf course where customers would have hit the ball around large pieces of food and artwork to land in the hole. The mini-golf was abandoned in 2002, but then restored in 2007 and permanently abandoned when the diners closed in 2011.

The following images are after 9 years of neglect. Photos taken May 10, 202 by J. Moyer.