What Was Thrown Off the Tallahatchie Bridge?

The reason I started this post is because two weekends ago I saw Lucinda Williams. She was great. Did primarily older material, but also did 4 or 5 new songs. Says she has enough recorded material for two new albums. Anyway, her final encore was "Ode to Billie Joe". It just got me thinking about how conroversial the song was when it first came out. A song about suicide with a mystery element. I'm not sure it really matters what was thrown off the bridge. It's kind of like all suicides, even if there is a note, you never really understand why.

A baby. How exactly is someone going to see a ring being thrown off a bridge?

Inquiring minds want to know just what exactly happened ‘The Night the Lights Went out in Georgia”. Was it similar to that fabled “Afternoon Delight”?

With their eyes is how exactly someone would see a ring or anything else thrown off a bridge. It's the throwing MOTION your arm makes that one see's. Who throws babies off of bridges anyway?