Solving The Frog Bridge Mystery
The picture above is a gigantic frog on a spool of thread that stands at one corner of a bridge spanning the Willimantic River in downtown Willimantic, Connecticut. There are identical frogs on the other three corners as well, each one costing a cool fifty-grand. It’s a newer bridge; it officially opened back in 2000. I’ve always wondered what the story was with those frogs. I had some extra time this afternoon so I stopped by the local library and spent a good thirty minutes researching it in an encyclopedia I found. One night back in 1754 the good people of Willimantic awoke to a terrible noise. I mean EVERYONE woke up, that’s how loud it was. Some folks ran into the streets carrying muskets, others prayed and a few probably ran around shouting, “Oh my God, the Russians have arrived!” The source of their rude awakening could not be determined. After the chaos had died down, everyone went home and back to bed, except for a few who saw no point in trying for more sl...