10 Unusual Facts You Didn’t Know About The Tay Bridge Disaster
6. The First Victim To Be Found Was Rumoured To Have Been Murdered
The first victim of the Tay Bridge disaster to be discovered was a 53 year old women named Ann Cruickshanks. Her body was recovered from the river on the Monday morning following the collapse of the bridge on a sandbank close to Newport-On-Tay. However, no other bodies were recovered for over a week with the majority being discovered in the vicinity of Broughty Ferry on the other side of the river.
Stories soon began to circulate that Miss Cruikshanks had in fact left the train at St Fort Station with the intention of crossing the river to Dundee by ferry. Four men also reported hearing a woman’s screams on the night of the disaster and shortly afterwards reported seeing two men fleeing the area in which the screams had been heard. This area was also the same area that Miss Cruickshanks body was discovered. The rumour soon emerged that the screams belonged to Miss Cruickshanks and that she had been abducted and murdered as she made her way to catch the ferry.
The police ruled out this rumour as fantasy saying that they had discovered no signs of foul play on Miss Cruickshanks body. However, the source of the screams and the reason that Miss Cruickshanks was discovered so much sooner and farther away from the other victims of the accident remains a mystery.