Sunday, September 20, 2009

Haunted Places In Texas

Texas is a huge state and there is a lot of history there. Over the
years there have been many stories about ghosts being
seen,places being haunted, and odd lights and sounds where they
shouldn't be. If you believe in ghosts or spirits you may have
experienced or seen what you believe to be of a paranormal
nature.
You were probably alone so getting others to believe you
may have been frustrating, leaving you doubting what actually had
occured. However,there are many places that have more than one
unusual event witnessed by several over a period of years and
decades that cannot be dismissed as hoax or hysteria. It would
take an entire book to cover them all and the legends behind them,
so this is a look at some of the most well known hauntings in the
Lone Star State.

- At the Alamo in San Antonio many visitors have reported seeing
various shadows and visions as well as voices, shouting where no
one was and cold air in some of the spots inside. Close to 200
Texas fighters and many Mexicans died here.There are other
places around San Antonio as well that creepy things have
occurred.

- San Antonio's Bexar Juvenile Hall has had many reports by
officers and juvenile inmates alike of smells such as wood burning
and smoke. Faces peering into the windows at night and kids
waking up at night screaming of indians in thier dorm. Part of the
place was built atop an old indian tribal burial ground.

- The old Cadillac Bar in San Antonio is said to be inhabited by a
malovent spirit. Supposedly, a woman named "bea" that used to
work there long ago.She is said to toss kitchen objects across the
room and turn on water faucets. She and the ghost of a previous
owner have been spotted many times by employees.

- In Wichita Falls there is an abandoned Mental Asylum. It has been
vacant for over 30 years yet water can be heard dripping
downstairs, yet there has been no water service there for a long
time. Ghostbusters that stayed there in the early nineties heard
footsteps,and machines running late at night as well as voices in
the walls.

Granbury,Texas Courthouse Square is reportedly haunted in many places. On occasion a figure of a man can be seen hanging from the clocktower. In the trees behind the old jail bodies were seen hanging by 3 different visitors on separate occasions. Horses can be heard in a nearby park and confederate soldiers walking around late at night.....John wilkes-Booth reportedly faked his death and resurfaced here as John St. Helens, a tavernkeeper.

- At Randolph Air Force Base,a pilot crashed his plane many years
ago. Lights can be seen at a watertower along with voices being
heard and apparitions seen in one of the buildings.

- On the Thompson Bridge in San Marcos a civil war confederate
soldier has been spotted patrolling the bridge he guarded in the
1800's.

- In Victoria,Texas there is a grove of oak trees that have been the
site of many apparitions.A popular picnic spot, Suttons Mott was
named for a sheep herder that lived there in the mid 1800's. He
was murdered at a nearby church and people have reported seeing
bodies hanging from the trees, as well as loud whispering after
dusk.

In Lipan, Texas there have been many reports over the years of ghosts and orbs off Starr Hollow road on WD ranch road. There have been sightings of indian spirits at Robinson creek there also.

- In Edgewood near Van Zant there is a woman that has been
picked up along the road by travelers. She gets out at a long ago
deserted house,she goes in but no lights ever go on.

-In Sweetwater,Texas there is a bed and breakfast called Mulberry
manor that was a Civil War battle hospital and later a mental
hospital. Stories of footsteps,visions of soldiers and objects being
moved around have been related by many people staying there.

-In Liberty,Texas there is an old historic place called the Ott Hotel.
During the days when oil was king in the 30's, the town prospered
as well as the 50 room inn. In the early 1990's the place was sold to
new owners and a restoration project was started. Strange things
began to happen such as loud banging, footsteps and doors
slamming. Reports of loud arguing by a couple in an empty room
have been checked on by staff only to find no one there. Guests
have reported seeing figures such as a red-headed woman,a tall
top-coated man, and a woman in a nightgown vanishing through a
door. In one of the rooms a female guest reported a spirit figure of
a man standing at the foot of her bed every evening during her stay.

What is interesting and different about this haunting is that the
hotel security cameras have shown doors slamming, sounds such
as arguing (man and woman)and an occasional gunshot. Visitors
to the hotel have captured glowing orbs and a figure of a well
dressed woman moving through a corridor. Old timers have said
there was a couple shot there in the 30's following a quarrel.

There are many other places in Texas that are believed to have
spirits wandering about. It would take years to visit them all but it
would be an interesting journey indeed.