Zealandia / Helens Bridge

Helens Bridge

Or should we say Zelandias Bridge as it was originally called? To understand why the bridge had a name change we first have to travel back in time to the 1800’s.

An underrated man John Evens Brown traveled a shit ton during his short 68 years of life. Traveling around the states and out. In 1849 he chased the gold rush to California. John kept a vivid diary of the journey, hardships, and deaths that accompanied the trip. He lived in New South Wales, Australia, and even settled in New Zealand for a time. He married twice. When he married his first wife Peacock he became quite a prominent member of society.

During this time away he even became a Parliament member and named his district Swannanoa after a river in Asheville. His second marriage was a contract with Mrs. Martin in 1883.

North Carolina postcards North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Then in 1888, (some sources say 1884) John E Brown came back to Ashville North Carolina. Upon his return, he bout 5 acres of land on top of Beaucatcher Mountain where in 1889 he built a brick gothic revival castle that he named “Zealandia” mansion in honor of his adopted home New Zealand.

Circa 1890 John Evens Brown is shown standing on the porch of his finished Zealandia mansion

In 1895 John Brown died at Zealandia mansion and was buried at Riverside Cemetery in Asheville.

The home traded hands MANY times through the years. In 1904 Sir Philip S. Henry purchased it. After the tragic death of his wife, Henry moved his daughters to Asheville and became a huge member of the community. Including giving Asheville its first art museum. Henry quickly started to make improvements to his new home and in 1908 contracted a $50k addition. Totaling in 62 rooms and 3 stories. The work continued through the 1920s only halting when Henry returned to England during the war. By this point, the home more closely resembled an English manor house (Tudor style) with a cottage and stables separate.

Zealandia was built on the north side of what was known as Beaucatcher Gap. At that time that was the major route through the mountain from Asheville to other communities to the East. There was another mansion built on the South side of the gap known as the Beaumont.

1998 photo from the Asheville times news paper

So you might be asking what does all of this have to do with a bridge and having its name changed. Well in 1907 or 1909 Depending on the source the stagecoach bridge was built. At the time it was called the Zealandia Bridge. Built from wood and quarry stone. To connect the 2 mansions.

In 1998 Mark the city public work director petitioned the city council to demolish the bridge on the grounds of public safety. He received pushback from the city Historic Resource Commission and Asheville/Buncombe County Preservation Society. Because of the age of the bridge and some explosion work the city had done on the mountain they would need to investigate if the foundation was sound. They estimated 8-10k just to secure the bridge to get in there and check things out. And like everything else it came down to money. The "preserve" team was concerned it would be a costly save and turned to fundraising and private donations as well. A man named Robert from the NC Preservation Foundation on the spot donated 5k of his own funds to go towards the project of reserving the bridge.

Estimates to restore the bridge were originally 350k it ended up being much less due to well craftsmanship from back in the day. Costing only 70k to completely restore this historic landmark.

But the story doesn't end here...

The reason this beautiful bridge got a name change is for a devastating reason. There are serval variations to the legend but they all revolve around a woman named Helen.

A Lady in White Tale begins.....

Legend one:

Helen was working in the Zealandia mansion kitchen when a fire broke out down the hall, where her daughter was reading in the library. The fire killed her young daughter. Unconsolable by grief Helen Hung herself from the bridge.

Legend two:

Helens daughter was at Zealandia playing with Philips daughter (whos daughter is speculagtion) and a fire broke out killing Helens daughter and when she went to retrieve her daughter at days end Helen found out her daughter was lost. Helen was so grief-stricken she hung herself from the bridge.

Legend three:

Helen lived in a small house up around Zealandia and one evening she was cooking dinner and the house caught fire, she went to get her daughter and passed out due to smoke. Firemen were able to pull them both from the house but was only able to resuscitate Helen. When she came to and realized her daughter was lost she was so upset and grief driven she hung herself from the bridge

Legend four:

Helen had a mental health issue and one day she had a mental break killing her own daughter and when she came out of it she had no memory of doing the act and once again was so unconsolable by grief she turned to the bridge and hung herself.

Regardless of which legend you go with they all have the same basis of Helen losing her daughter and being grief-stricken to the point of hanging herself from the bridge.

Alternative legend:

Says Helen lived at Zealandia for a time while she had an affair with a man and after being knocked up and rejected by this mystery man Helen was so upset that she chose to end her and the unborn child's life rather than live unmarried and in shame.

Interestingly enough there doesn't appear to be any actual evidence of Helen living around the area nor any of a Helen hanging herself from Zealandia/Helens bridge. So where did the legend actually come from? No one seems to know.

The Legend goes till this day that Helen haunts the bridge looking for her daughter.

People have reported seeing Helen wearing a long white gown and asking where her daughter is, of car trouble while driving under the bridge and even days later. Some claim they see the ghost of Helen hanging from the bridge. Even being physically touched and scratched have been reported.

Most haunted bridges only give you issues while you are there but some people claim to experience car trouble even days after visiting. Some people have even reported there is more than just Helen lurking at the bridge and these others are less benevolent than Helen. And can be seen out of the corner of your eye even after you've left the bridge behind.

It is said that if you go to the bridge at night and call out to Helen saying her name 3 times (like freaking bloody Marry) then she will appear.

Many people have gone to see this historical landmark even some news crews and we were no different we took a long drive out to Asheville NC to see for ourselves if the legend of Helen was real. We even bared the pouring rain and storm in a tent and had an encounter with a bear.

We made 2 trips while out that way. Once during the day and again at night. After all, got to check out the haunt in question at night time. During the day visit we found an old pretty ivy, vines, and nature cover stage coach bridge. We visited Urban Orchard Cider Co. and spoke with a local regarding Helen's bridge it was he who let us in on the local legend (#4). He was also kind enough to entertain some of my random questions about the place. Helens Bridge has some very “dark and creepy” extra entities with it according to locals.

It is clearly a place vandals enjoy to hang out. There were so many beer bottles and cans on the bridge the top had been completely defaced with paint. The day visit didn't produce anything spooky or paranormal though the area had a very back-in-time, ghostly feel. A question that has been running wild in my mind is was Helens death planned? Did she carry the rope with her or was there a strong enough vine in the area to do the trick and it was more spur of the moment in grief...

On the night of the new moon, we ventured out. The most spooky thing we found was there is Zero light at the bridge. The 2 street lights at either end do nothing to illuminate the road or bridge. We hung out and tried to summon Helen to no avail. The rumors of "dark entities" lurking in the shadows I feel would be more imagination than anything else. Your mind is a powerful thing and when you are standing in pitch black darkness looking out at light I can see how your mind would make up dark entities lurking.

Helens Bridge and all its paranormal haunts might make for a good tourist trap but sadly we believe that is all it appears to be, However, don't let that stop you from visiting this beautiful bridge and taking a step back in time.

The road going under the bridge is crazy freaking busy so if you go be careful and aware. It was a tad less so at night but not by much. The site is in a spot where you can not see very far down either side of the road.

Sadly Zealandia is not open to the public anymore but the property truly does have an interesting history. If that is your thing I recommend looking into it.

Be sure to check out the companion video at:

The Eclectic Mystic on YouTube

Companion video