STATESVILLE, N.C.-- Christopher Kaiser, 29, of Charlotte was part of a group hoping to hear the sounds of a ghost train Thursday night on an isolated railroad bridge just outside of Statesville.
What Kaiser and the others never heard, apparently, was a real train coming around the corner onto the same bridge.
Kaiser, and a woman with him, were the last of the group to try to run off the bridge ahead of the train.
They would not make it.
Kaiser, in an attempt to save the woman, pushed her off the side, then he was hit by the train and knocked over the side as well.
The woman, who has not been named, survived the fall.
Kaiser was pronounced dead.
The group on the bridge was taking part in what has become an annual tradition here of sorts.
Watching to see and hear ghosts from a previous train wreck at the same bridge on August 27, 1891.
A woman who did not want to be identified, but who was part of the group of on-lookers, said, "We were there looking for what people say happened. You hear the train wreck or hear people screaming. We were just watching."
The woman said she would never have gone out on the bridge, especially since she had her young son with her. "There's good fun and there is safety and they were not being safe."
Captain Darren Campbell from the Iredell County Sheriff's Office said the hunt for ghost train has gone on for years but nothing like this has happened before.
"As of right now we don't see anything as far as the death that occured as being criminal," Campbell said.
Kaiser's mother said the family is too upset to say anything at this point.
The name of the woman who was injured has not been released and her condition is not known.
She is bring treated at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.
