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THE RICHMOND VAMPIRE
A somewhat recent urban legend, this one takes us to Richmond, Virginia in the 1920s. Specifically, Church Hill Tunnel.
The tunnel had been abandoned in the early 1900s. Tunnel reconstruction and repairs booted up in '25 when the railroad hoped to expand rail lines and restore the tunnel to working condition.
On October 2, 1925 after supposed sightings of a creature stalking around the tunnel itself, disaster struck. A locomotive was parked inside the tunnel with 10 flatcars behind it. Workers shovel the dirt into the flatcars, and the locomotive takes it away.
However, due to the state of the tunnel, the workers were making the condition worse. Bricks began to collapse from the top of the tunnel, and electrical connections that had been set to give the workers light were destroyed and severed. Darkness fell, and death approached.
Workers raced for the exits, but were unable to outrun their fates. Over 200 feet of the tunnel western entrance collapsed in on the train. The damage was colossal, and four men lost their lives instantly. It is here that the legend is born.
Sifting through the rubble was a tall, muscled creature with bits of flesh hanging off its cerise skin. It clawed through the rubble, pulling up the bodies of dead men and bringing its sharp, fanged teeth near them.
Surviving workers rushed to the scene from the eastern entrance of the tunnel. The mysterious creature saw them, and made a break for the James River. The workers gave chase, trying to stop whatever the hell had emerged from the destruction.
But the damned thing was fast, and led them to Hollywood Cemetery. Specifically, toward W. W. Pool's mausoleum. It was here where the legend says the creature ducked into the mausoleum. The workers built up their courage, and entered the crypt, but found it empty...
It is there where the story mostly ends, with some saying the workers went back to the collapsed tunnel to try and recover the deceased. A chilling end, but there might very well be a more realistic explanation to it all.
Benjamin Mosby, a railroad firefighter working in the tunnel managed to hide under a flatcar and crawl his way toward the eastern tunnel. However, his body was horrifically burned, and many of his teeth were broken during the destruction. In a state of mania and panic, he ran.
He made his way to a local hospital, where he succumbed to his terrible injuries, and died. Mosby is indeed buried in Hollywood Cemetery, but some claim his death is up for debate. Some say he died in the collapse, and that his body was found after the disaster.
After the collapse, rescue teams were sent in time and time again, but the danger of another collapse loomed over their heads like the rotting tunnel itself. Eventually, the search was called off. It was too dangerous to continue.
At least two men are still buried in that tunnel. While it may all be a sensational urban legend, some say there is a sliver of truth to it. Perhaps that truth is that the tunnel collapsed, which it most certainly did. Perhaps some workers really did chase a figure off.
Today, the western entrance is closed off to prevent others from harming themselves in the possibility of further cave-ins. The eastern entrance is open, but mostly flooded and fully abandoned.
Whatever the case of this supposed vampire, it remains another tale that intrigues us. This isn't the first supposed vampire to exist in American history, either. Nor was it the last. But that of course, is a story for another time.
