(The following report appeared on the New York Post website on August 27, 2010.)
NEW YORK — As a dozen amateur ghost hunters in North Carolina waited for a “ghost train” before dawn Friday, a man in the group was killed by a real one, WCNC reported.
The group gathered on the 119th anniversary of the Bostian Bridge train wreck, an accident that has sparked well-known ghost stories, according to the local news channel.
But they did not hear the eastbound Norfolk Southern train barreling toward them until it rounded a nearby bend.
Christopher Kaiser, 29, was struck by the train and killed at about 3:00 am, Iredell County Sherriff Phil Redmond told WCNC.
Several incident reports alleged that Kaiser pushed a woman out of the train’s path before he was hit. She was seriously injured and airlifted to Carolinas Medical Center.
The ghost hunters were apparently caught on a trestle near the site of the old Bostian Bridge, and all but Kaiser were able to run to safety.
Deputies reportedly found his body under the trestle at the bottom of a steep ravine.
“They say on the anniversary that it replays in front of you or you hear the accident or you hear the train wrecking,” a witness told WCNC.
Other versions of the story include ghost sightings of a railroad worker, one of the 22 killed in the 1891 wreck.