Closing "The Troll Cave" Case | Kenduskeag i95 overpass, Bangor

Bangor Explorer's Guild

There are a great many places within the city of Bangor that give that provide a nice backdrop against which things that go 'bump' in the night may go 'bump.'  One of which is a hollow highway overpass.

Considering the city's role in the Cold War with its bombers, fighters, nuclear weapons stores and missile base it would stand to reason that tales of hidden rooms, top secret pipelines, passageways and subterranean bunkers would easily tickle the imaginations of anyone who may catch wind of them. Cue the (unfortunately now defunct) Bangor Explorer's Guild. They had documented a particular bridge based on a tip received in the early 1990s: "someone told one of our agents that interstate bridges were hollow inside so the military could hide tanks, weapons, and emergancy (sic) supplies inside secret rooms."

While the Kenduskeag valley overpass is indeed hollow, the purpose was unrelated to Civil Defense. The notion of military/CD use is a symptom of an inter-generational game of telephone -- the Bangor Explorer's Guild for all their chutzpah never had access to an invaluable research tool for this sort of thing: Facebook. Or rather, Facebook users. There's a fantastic group (for locals) dedicated to memories of those who grew up in the area.  I'd asked and had this misconception cleared up in rather short order: The design of this bridge isn't for storage, it's so that air may act as an insulator that would prevent the bridge from freezing before the rest of the highway.

Its purpose may seem somewhat mundane considering whispers of preparation for the doomsday that never came, the bridge isn't without its own *bumps* in the night. Several graves had to be moved for the construction of this bridge in the nearby cemetery, and in 1980 two teenagers had a fatal (and horrific) accident which involved a Corvette flying off of the bridge at 100+ mph, through the trees into the cemetery with the largest recoverable component being the engine block. 

Apparently it was also quite the part location during the 1960s and 1970s until Bangor's homeless problem caused the site to become too dangerous. It is effectively off limits today.

Note: If I have quoted you/used your story and you'd like to be credited please contact me using the links at the top of this page. Also I don't normally make a habit of blogging about things I find on Facebook, this is intended as a third party follow-up to the Bangor Explorers Guild entry on this structure.