(PCM) On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1933, a mysterious, yet friendly visitor to the town of Willoughby, Ohio walked directly in front of a moving train and was tragically killed. No one in the area had any idea of the young woman’s identity and she was only referred to as the “Girl In Blue”, based upon the color of her clothing at the time of the incident. She was wearing a blue dress, coat, scarf and hat all in the same color of blue.
The young woman was struck by a New York Central passenger train and upon inspection of her belongings the only thing authorities could find was a mere ninety cents in her purse and a ticket to Corry, Pennsylvania. The young woman was staying for a few nights in a local boarding house, but revealed nothing about herself to any of the local area residents.
Reports at the time say that she spoke to a couple of people while out walking that December night, then she seemed to simply step in front of the speeding train for no apparent reason.
The town felt so horribly bad about the incident and the fact that she was remained unidentified at the time that they gathered together enough funds to give the young woman a proper burial and headstone, while 3,000 locals came out for her service and to pay their last respects. The headstone at the time read “In memory of the Girl in Blue / Killed by Train / December 24, 1933 / Unknown but not forgotten”.
Her headstone to this day remains the same, however a new plaque has been placed at the foot of the grave in 2002, as due to continued investigation into the mystery, her true identity has now been revealed. Thanks to the discovery of the train ticket to Corry, investigators dug into tax and property records in Warren County, PA near Corry. It took until 1993 for anyone to figure out the young woman’s real name which was Josephine (she went by “Sophie”) Klimczak, although the official death record still only cites her as the “Girl in Blue”.
Her grave site continues to be embraced in the town of Willoughby and people still stop by visit leaving flowers and small trinkets in her memory. She has become a legend in the town, despite the fact that her true identity has been revealed, as we may never know what caused her to walk into the path of the train on the fateful night.
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