Kurmaičiai Bridge: a place of war ghosts
In the Mažeikiai district, in Kurmaičiai, the railway bridge over the Venta River, built in 1904-1905, became not only a strategically important object during the war, but also a place about which mysterious stories about the ghosts of soldiers and inexplicable phenomena circulate.
The old bridge, the remains of which can be seen under the new one built a decade ago, bears witness to the intense hostilities - the walls are riddled with bullets, four-story turrets with machine gun nests remain. "I have no words to describe what was happening there in the evening before midnight. Through the window we saw some kind of image that was difficult to see. Then someone threw a stone at me... It seemed like something was strangling me. I started to gasp for air, tears started to flow," says one of the witnesses. Another visitor recalls: "I heard, like my friends around me, scared when we saw soldiers marching like shadows. I still don't understand what happened there, but it seemed very real." The area, now called the "Valley of Ghosts", is associated with the massacres and torture of World War II. "I don't really believe in myths, but I believe I don't feel comfortable there. When walking there, you can find crosses made of branches or sticks. They say that this is how people protected themselves from ghosts," says a local resident.
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A Set of Railway Bridge Structures in Kurmaičiai
In this place, there are two metal bridges (the old and the new) next to each other over the river Venta. They are located in Kurmaičiai village, Mažeikiai district, about 7 km northwest of Mažeikiai, 2 km east of the Venta (Pumpurui) railway station, 2.8 km east of the road 219 Bugeniai–Pikeliai, near the garden community. A reference to the object of interest is placed at the entrances.
The old metal railway bridge with 2 brick watchtowers is abandoned, nicknamed the ghost bridge. Movement takes place on the new Kurmaičiai railway bridge constructed nearby.
The first wooden bridge over the Venta River was built in 1871-1873, during the construction of the Liepaja-Romnai railway. Important goods for the needs of tsarist Russia were transported on the bridge, so in 1904-1905 it was replaced by a stronger wooden bridge that was blown up during World War I in 1915. April.
in 1918 the bridge was rebuilt, this time its structures were replaced with metal ones, the work was done by the Germans. The new bridge became one of the longest wide single-track railway bridges of that time, its length is 70 meters.
During the Second World War, due to its strategic importance, the bridge was one of the most protected objects in the Mažeikiai region. The brick watchtowers on both banks, with firing holes spaced across the perimeter, are riddled with bullets, testifying to the gunfights that took place near the bridge. It is said that in 1941 German soldiers may have shot about 4,000 people in the vicinity of the bridge. The bridge was also carefully guarded during the Second Soviet occupation, as an object of strategic importance, the military guarded it until the 20th century. 7 Dec.
The new bridge, which is still in use, is built over the remains of the first blown-up bridge, so it is possible to see bridge structures from three different periods in one place. The abandoned old bridge is shrouded in legends about the sounds of gunshots and soldiers playing near it at night.
The old railway bridge from 2007 is included in the register of cultural values of the Republic of Lithuania. Next to the bridge there is an information stand in Lithuanian and English.
