Eighth Street at Tourman Street

History & local legend

Coulter’s version of the Thirteen Bends legend associates a road and cemetery with children from a former boys’ orphanage. Stories describe footsteps and figures glimpsed in rearview mirrors, usually explained through an alleged fatal fire. The orphanage really stood near Saint Patrick’s cemetery, although the local historical account says it was demolished rather than destroyed in that supposed disaster.

Clifford Warner contributed a different memory in 2021. In 1966, he and his friend Moe had slept at the cemetery at the road’s end in Moe’s black 1958 Cadillac limousine. They heard none of the crying or moaning described in the ghost stories.

In the morning, Warner awoke to an older man’s face against the window. The man suggested moving the black car into the shade.