Meems Bottom Covered Bridge and the Birth of an Urban Legend
Happy Friday 13th! This post describes a macabre real-life event so you may want to stop reading if you’re squeamish about death and murder. It’s also a look at how urban legends are created. Meems (or Meem’s) Bottom Covered Bridge is the longest covered bridge in Virginia (204 feet). It’s also the only covered bridge in Virginia that allows regular traffic through it (there are size and weight limits). The bridge was built in 1894 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It spans the North Fork of the Shenandoah River. It was last rebuilt after vandals set fire to it on Halloween 1976. The bridge is located in a peaceful and bucolic area with rolling hills, flower-filled meadows and lumbering livestock. There weren’t really any ghost stories associated with it, unlike other historic sites … until 2003, with the murder of Brenda Paz. Paz was the girlfriend of an MS-13 gang member. She was killed on July 13, 2003, after she became a police...