The Legend of Belle's Bridge

Dear Ladies,

If you have crossed the River Farrow to the hamlet of Keywell this week, you will have noticed the flowers left there just at the middle of the bridge. There are always flowers at this particular time of the year, a sad tradition that has never quite been forgotten. It was over one hundred years ago this month, young Isabelle Graham was to be wed to John Truitt. A young couple looking forward to building a future together. The bridge over the River Farrow, Belle’s Bridge, is named for Isabelle, not to mark the happy occasion of her nuptials but rather her untimely demise, for it was on the very morning of her wedding she never made it across the bridge to St. Hildegard’s to make her vows.

Brides are usually all aflutter with their wedding preparations so no one thought anything was amiss when Isabelle did not show up quite on time. As the minutes ticked away, people began to talk amongst themselves that perhaps she had changed her mind or worse, something had prevented her from getting to the church.

Earlier in the week, Isabelle had made plans to go to her friend Ellen’s house in Amberliegh on the morning of her wedding, dress there and walk to the church with her father. On the morning of the wedding, Belle’s uncle, James Graham, knocked upon Ellen’s door informing her he had had a message from Isabelle asking if he would walk her down the aisle as her dear father had fallen ill. But Isabelle hadn’t shown up at Ellen’s to dress. Together Ellen and James Graham walked the short distance over the bridge to Keywell where they found Thomas Graham unconscious in bed and no sign of Belle. James Graham went and quietly told the vicar Belle hadn’t shown up as planned and that having been to his brother’s house could not say what had become of the girl. It wasn’t until later that day the body of Isabelle Graham was found at the foot of the bridge and to this day the truth has not been discovered. Surely someone must have even the smallest of clues.

For this swap, you will write the story of what happened on that fateful day. How did Isabelle Graham fall from the bridge? Was it an accident? Was she pushed? Did she jump? Tell the story as you believe it happened. Be descriptive and recount this tale as the legend it has become. Your sequence of events of the day should be at least one typed page relating the why and wherefore of Belle’s tragic end. I have made this an electronic swap and we’ll have one partner. I would like for each of the participants in this swap to read all the accounts so I would ask each in the swap to send me a copy of your story so I can make a collection of them to share with the other participants. After all the accounts have been read, each participant will choose the one they think tells the story as it was and the one most voted for will appear on our blog as “The Legend of Belle’s Bridge.”