The Flying Streetcar of Portsmouth -- Ghostly Tale From 1893

Construction of streetcar line began in 1877.

“Ill winds mark it's fearsome flight,
And autumn branches creak with fright.
The landscape turns to ashen crumbs,
When something wicked this way comes...”

– Ray Bradbury

“Mystery.” The Portsmouth Times – December 30, 1893

Were supernatural powers at work? Did witchcraft cause an inexplicable phenomena? Or, was there some logical explanation for what happened one cold December night in Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1893?

The article appeared right there in the local paper for everyone to read.The street car Kanawha had taken flight forty feet in the air and flown clear over Harper Trestle to light again "fair and square" on the track at the other side of the trestle. Strange and mysterious times, indeed. This must have been the talk of the town as speculation of what had occurred swept the area. 

The events certainly surprised Will Harper, who had filed an injunction to prevent the electric railway company from running its cars in front of his premises. The case was tied up in the courts, and in the meantime Harper had the cars stop at the trestle although the track and the trolley had been completed to New Boston. 

Yet, there it was for all to see -- the car was discovered on the far side of Lawson's Run beyond the trestle despite the Harper injunction. The conductors and the motormen say the car “got away” from the crew and couldn't be stopped until it reached the other side.

How could this happen? Some residents had further details. Ed Kirby said the car left the track just above Clay Street, rose up in the air, and did not light until it reached the other side. Wash Hoskins believed the wind “blew the car over” the trestle while motorman Cronch blamed “lunar attraction” during that night's full moon for the seemingly impossible feat. 

Whatever the case, the car was there and doing good business, as passengers were given transfer tickets at the trestle and walked around or over it to the car on the other side. So, it seems, the spooky occurrence, however it happened, worked out for street car company and its passengers.

What do you think happened? Here is the original article preserved in the best state  I can render. Read it and decide for yourself. I think you will agree that the Portsmouth Times was, at one time, a delightful newspaper with a quaint and playful voice.