Since I will be traveling
to Texas in about two months I thought I'd do a piece about hauntings
in Texas, maybe even visit a site or two when I am there. In my mind
Gothic stories and ghost stories go together, and while I have a lot
of curiosity about ghosts and ghost stories I honestly think I would
be be scared to death if I ever encountered a haunting. I have no
desire to investigate a haunting, I just like reading ghost stories
(whether real or made up). I chose a few random spooky things to talk
about from the Lone Star State.
Whether you believe in
haunting or not it seems that any place associated with strong
emotions, especially sad emotions, has the potential to become the
site of a haunting. All three of the places discussed seem to be
locales that have lots of emotions attached to them and the residue
of those emotions is what seems to make the places what they are,
along with their resident ghosts.
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| Old Stagecoach Road, Marshall, Texas |
This road is said to be
built over the remains of an old Native American trail, so the place
has seen many lives lived over a long period of time. Just about
every kind of paranormal experience and experiences with cryptids (or
supernatural animals and persons) have been associated with this
road. The stagecoach became a primary mode of transportation roughly
during the 1850's and remained so until the advent of the railroads
which then made stagecoach transportation irrelevant and very
inconvenient afterward.
Stories are told of a
"Death Coach that is seen, drawn by four black horses. If you
see it you are doomed to die soon. Witnesses report seeing strange
lights while on the road, if they park their cars they feel pressure
and see hand prints on their vehicles after going there even though
no people were seen while they were there. The east Texas Bigfoot,
chupacabra, vampires, and a goat-man have also been reported in the
area. There is a graffiti covered bridge along the road and folklore
says that vampires and strangers were buried near the bridge to keep
them away from the town nearby. The goat-man also supposedly buries
his victims by the bridge. A weeping woman called La Llorona,
wanders around looking for her lost children after murdering them in
a fit of insanity after being spurned by her lover, when she finally
realized what she did. There is also a woman dressed in white, who
was a civil war nurse who appears on the road because she was killed
in a stagecoach accident during the heyday of stagecoach travel and
an murdering ax-man has also been known to make his appearance on the
road as well.
With just the stories of
Old Stagecoach road there are a myriad of ideas for budding authors
out there who want to try their hand at writing a ghost story
inspired by all the events that have taken place on this road.
The more I read about Old
Stagecoach Road the more I think I want to stay away from it!
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|
The Baker
Hotel- Mineral Springs, TX.
|
There are stories of
numerous hauntings in the Baker Hotel in Mineral Springs Texas. Rumor
has it that the hotel is being restored after closing down in 1970.
The first reports of
haunting came from hotel employees who said there was an apparition
of a woman on the seventh floor. The woman is believed to be the
mistress of the hotel manager and she stayed in a suite of rooms on
the seventh floor. She became distraught because something happened
with her lover and dramatically leaped to her death from the top of
the building. Hotel staff and guests report they smelled her perfume
and that she was also known to flirt with males she found attractive.
Hotel maids reported that even though no one stayed in her former
room, lipstick marks were found on the drinking glasses in there.
The basement is said to be
haunted by a former employee who died in a tragic elevator accident.
Psychics and ghost hunting teams have investigated the place and it
is said to be haunted by many spirits. They say not all of the
spirits stay because something tragic has happened to them, some of
them come there because in life they enjoyed being at the place and
they have good memories of it so they return.
An interesting story is
told by persons who worked in a bank across the street from the old
hotel during the 1990's: The bank windows looked out on the hotel and
day after day the employees noticed that windows in the place would
be opened and the next day different windows were opened and the
previous ones were closed. They thought someone was living in the old
hotel as a caretaker. They did not find out until after observing the
windows for a period of time that no one lived there and that there
was no caretaker! Who was opening and closing all the different
windows then? I guess the ghosts wanted a bit of fresh air. Hundreds
of mysterious orbs have been photographed in the hotel.
Presidio La
Bahia-Goliad,TX
This was a fort
which was built over an old failed French fort in 1721 by the Spanish
Army. It was the only Spanish fort built on the Gulf Coast of the
USA, and is known as a fine example of Spanish architecture in North
America. It was the scene of two battles during the Mexican War of
Independence. The fort eventually became part of the new "United
Mexican States" in 1821. In 1835, during the Texas revolution,
insurgents marched on the fort. The Mexicans surrendered and the
Texans now controlled the fort, it was renamed "Fort Defiance".
When Santa Ana
led the siege against the Alamo, which is about 90 miles away from La
Bahia, the Alamo commander sent word to La Bahia that he needed
reinforcements. The commander of La Bahia, a man named Fannin was not
too thrilled about the request and half-heartedly put together a
relief party. The reinforcements were badly outfitted, they took a
long time to get ready and were pretty incompetent while trying to
travel the 90 miles to the Alamo. Their oxen ran away, they did not
bring adequate food and it is doubtful such badly prepared
reinforcements would have been any help at all to those besieged at
the Alamo anyway, but the reinforcements abandoned their attempt at
offering help and went back to La Bahia. When the Alamo fell, General
Sam Houston ordered the garrison at La Bahia to leave the fort and
fall back to a safer position. Again the garrison delayed, half
halfheartedly prepared to leave and were caught just outside the
walls of the fort by the Mexican forces. The garrison was captured
and imprisoned there. (It appears that General Fannin was a man who
could not really make up his mind about anything and his delays
resulted in hardships and death for his men.)
After
imprisonment, the garrison members were all taken outside the walls
and executed by the Mexican forces in what is now known as the Goliad
Massacre. Given the circumstances, it is not hard to imagine that you
hear the screaming and crying of soldiers who have been imprisoned by
an enemy and murdered there. There is no trouble understanding why
this place is said to be haunted by all the soldier's spirits who met
there demise after many battles and after being massacred by their
enemies. The bad karma hangs about the place.
What will you
visit when you are in Texas? It is a generously sized state that
prides itself on doing things the big Texas way. There is a generous
history of folklore and numerous accounts of hauntings and ghost
stories across the whole state. If you do happen to see a Texas
ghost, let me know if it was really bigger than the other ghosts you
have seen!
