Unboxing 'Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country'

My Favorite Haunted Road Trip Project

Periodically someone will ask me what my most and least favorite book projects have been and the answer to both questions is the same: my most recent one.

As contradictory as that might sound it is very true. My latest project is inevitably the one I have been most excited about and engaged with recently, for which the endorphin rushes received from finishing the various elements are most immediate, for which any exciting fieldwork I did is most memorable. That project is also the one for which I have suffered the most recent stress, for which I can most acutely feel physical rigors like lost sleep, for which other things have suffered because of my disproportionate use of time and other resources. This is the strange dichotomy of book authorship.

Its immediacy aside, I can nonetheless say that, of all the projects I have worked on for the America's Haunted Road Trip series of travel guides, Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country has definitely been my overall favorite. This is true for a variety of reasons.

One is my love for the American Southwest of which Texas is a part and the unique, violent, and colorful history that makes it such a fun subject for research, writing, and roadtrips and a likely locale for haunted places. Good subject matter counts for a lot.

Another reason is the almost iconic distinctness of the places I selected for inclusion in this book, which include everything from wilderness areas that have existed for time immemorial to ancient missions, grand hotels, and great public buildings. This variety of locales made the book stimulating to work on and that is the sort of thing that translates into a into a more enjoyable experience for readers.

Finally, a big reason is the improvements we have made in the format of this book so that it would be even more useful resource for the people using it as a guide on their own haunted road trips. Foremost among these improvements is a robust section of Additional Haunted Sites, which contains entries on 60 locations and effectively triples the number of places covered in earlier books in the series.

All these things have made not just me feel good about what I have accomplished with Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country — they have also made me very confident that the effort I have put into it will make it a valued resource for readers and one of their favorite volumes in the series as well. 

Beyond Texas: Spirits of Fort McHenry (Baltimore, Maryland)

Just across the Inner Harbor is Fort McHenry, the object of the battle immortalized in Francis Scott Key’s The Star-Spangled Banner, America’s national anthem. A symbol of freedom when it prevented British invasion during the War of 1812, the fort came to represent oppression to many pro-Southern Marylanders when the Federal government occupied it and used it to help maintain its grip over the local area during the Civil War.

With such history and passions associated with Fort McHenry, it should not be too surprising that it has also long had a reputation for being one of the most haunted sites in a very haunted city. Over the years, all sorts of paranormal activity have been reported at Fort McHenry, including sightings of spectral figures on its earthen ramparts, disembodied voices, footsteps in empty areas, spots of unnatural cold, and furniture that levitates and otherwise moves around. Some investigators have even postulated that the fort’s shape — that of a five-pointed star — has some occult significance and might play a role in the preponderance of supernatural events that have occurred at the site.

A number of specific ghost stories have also been associated with the site and recounted in numerous articles, television shows, and Internet postings.

One of these involves the ghost of U.S. Army Lieutenant Levi Clagett, who, along with some of his men, was killed when a bomb burst not in the air but in their gun emplacement. Numerous people have seen walking along the top of the star point sometimes known as “Clagett’s Bastion” both a spectral figure and a man dressed in a uniform appropriate to the period at times when no costumed people were present in the fort.

Another named ghost associated with the site is that of Private John Drew, a soldier who was reportedly confined in one of the fort’s cells after he was caught sleeping while on guard duty and who, in shame, killed himself. His specter has been seen both in his cell and on the ramparts where he walked his last post, forever trying to correct the mistake that ended his military career and his life.

Some of the most dramatic paranormal events at the fort involve attacks on people by what has been variously described as a woman, a white figure, and an invisible entity that has reportedly done such things as push some people down stairs and knock others unconscious. Some believe this spirit is that of the wife of a noncommissioned officer assigned to the fort whose children died during an epidemic in the 1820s.

One ghosthunting group that recently visited the site and experienced things there is Maryland Tri-State Paranormal. Founder Ana Bruder told me that while they were there, her friend Laura suddenly said, “I feel like I am being watched.” Ana, who is sensitive to the presence of spirits, turned and saw the ghost of a uniformed soldier staring at her friend, just one of several spirits she detected while at the site.

Numerous other ghost stories and episodes of paranormal activity have also been associated with the site.

Many of the accounts of ghostly activity at Fort McHenry were originally reported by park rangers assigned to the site, and that remained the case up until a couple of decades ago. Today, however, in what they say is an effort to keep the site from being regarded as a “haunted fort” and to instead emphasize the nonsupernatural history of the National Monument and Historic Shrine, the managers of Fort McHenry decline to directly comment on phenomena that are still regularly reported by visitors.

Potential ghosthunters should also expect to have anything they ask to do at the site be curtailed by red tape. A favored tactic at Fort McHenry is to require application of a “special use permit” for anything its managers don’t really want people to do — the major exception to this being, it would seem, historic reenactment, for which the site has become a virtual playground. The important thing to remember is that the site is public property and that very little of what is involved in most investigations should actually require any sort of permission anyway. 

Acknowledgements for 'Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country'

While writing is a solitary pursuit in so many ways, a striking number of people nonetheless played a role in the completion of this project and deserve recognition here. 

Foremost among those who warrant thanks is my wife, Diane, who accompanied me on visits to many of the sites that appear in this book and, perhaps even more importantly, allowed me to make working on it a priority.

Three people who have encouraged the development of this project and given me an opportunity to speak about it publicly are Donna Stewart, Laura Schier, and Sharon Kincaid of Psi-Fi Radio, a paranormal-themed show I have appeared on many times over the years. All three of them even ventured out to Texas in May 2014 to do presentations and broadcast the show from the Comicpalooza fan convention in Houston! 

Comicpalooza itself, for which I serve as the paranormal track coordinator, has also been a terrific venue for talking to people about haunted sites in Texas, the America’s Haunted Road Trip series, and paranormal investigation in general. Its organizers have always been very helpful and encouraging. I am especially grateful to John and Patty Simons, Ginger Simon, J.R. Warren, and Dawn Washington.

Another convention that has given me the opportunity to talk about haunted places in the Lone Star State is Dallas Comic & Pop Expo, which is owned and operated by impresario Zachery Taylor McGinnis, who I always enjoy working with.

I also have had the opportunity to work with a number of paranormal investigation groups while writing this book and would like to thank the members and organizers of San Antonio Ghosthunters, Dawn Paranormal, the Pasadena Paranormal Research Team, and the Dallas Area Paranormal Society. People in those groups whom I have particularly enjoyed working with include Jill Benoit, Christy Briones, John Delgado, Alan King, Glenn Martinez, Coy and Lori McCollum, and Kristen Stout.

Special thanks are due to Lauren Swartz and Allison Lindhorst of Sisters Grimm GhostTours, whose historical roots in San Antonio, paranormal research in it, and work on the subject provided me with lots of useful information and some unique perspectives.

Karen Holmes, someone whom I have worked with off and on in some capacity or other since moving to Texas in 2009, deserves thanks for encouraging me in this and other projects and discussing the history and folklore of Texas with me. She also gave me the opportunity to visit or spend time at a number of the sites described in this book, including Enchanted Rock, the Texas State Capitol, the San Antonio Missions, and the Devil’s Backbone (the first three of which I visited with her and students from Fischer Schule Haus Christian Academy, and the last of which is the area where that school is located).

I do not want to neglect to thank the publishing, editorial, and design staff at Clerisy Press for the work they did on this book at their end. I am especially grateful to acquisitions editor Tim W. Jackson, who served as de facto project manager for this book and as my main point of contact with the company while I was working on it; to marketing and publicity specialists Liliane Opsomer and Tanya Twerdowsky Sylvan; and to publisher Richard Hunt. Molly Merkle and Marie Hillin at the Keen Communications headquarters have also always been helpful and a pleasure to work with.

A number of the proprietors or staff of various sites I visited or people I encountered in the process of doing so deserve my thanks as well, and these include Jo Ann Rivera of Victoria’s Black Swan Inn, Doug Blank of the Faust Hotel, staff members at Hotel Indigo and the Emily Morgan Hotel in San Antonio and the Driskill Hotel in Austin, the staff of Ye Kendall Inn in Boerne, the management and staff of the Austin Pizza Garden, and bartender Lincoln at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern.

I also would like to thank all of the editors, colleagues, family members, business associates, and friends who patiently — or, in some cases, not so patiently — waited for me to fulfill my obligations to them while I was focusing so much of my attention on this project.

Finally, if there is anyone I have left out of these acknowledgments, I would like to sincerely beg their forgiveness and thank them for the roles they played in the completion of this book as well! 

Contents for 'Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country'

Following is the outline for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country as it stands now! These contents for the book are subject to some revisions and additions and as I do my final research for the book over the next couple of months but at this point are at least 90% reflective of what it will contain. Many items are hotlinked to previews or chapter excerpts posted to this site. 

I) FOREWORD

II) INTRODUCTION

III CITY OF SAN ANTONIO

            San Antonio Missions (South and Downtown San Antonio)

            Alamodome (Downtown San Antonio)

            Alamo Quarry Market (North Central San Antonio)

            Old Bexar County Jail (Downtown San Antonio)

            Comanche Lookout Park (Northeast San Antonio)

            Crocket Hotel (Downtown San Antonio)

            Emily Morgan Hotel (Downtown San Antonio)

                 SIDEBAR: "The Yellow Rose of Texas"

            Menger Hotel (Downtown San Antonio)

            San Fernando Cathedral (Downtown San Antonio)

            Sheraton Gunter Hotel San Antonio (Downtown San Antonio)

            Spanish Governor’s Palace (Downtown San Antonio)

            University of the Incarnate Word (Alamo Heights/Midtown San Antonio)
            Victoria's Black Swan Inn (Northeast San Antonio)

IV) GREATER SAN ANTONIO

            Faust Hotel (New Braunfels/Comal County)

            Gruene Historic District (New Braunfels/Comal County)

            The Mansion (Boerne/Kendall County)

            Ye Kendall Inn (Boerne/Kendall County)

V) AUSTIN

            Austin Pizza Garden (Southwest Austin)

            Driskill Hotel (Downtown Austin)

            Richard Moya Park/Moore's Crossing Bridge (Southeast Austin)

            State House (Downtown Austin)

            University of Texas Tower (Downtown Austin)

VI) TEXAS HILL COUNTRY

            Devil's Backbone (Blanco County, Comal County, Hays County)

                 SIDEBAR: Devil's Backbone Tavern

            Enchanted Rock  (Gillespie County, Llano County)
            Jacob's Well (Hays County)

            James Kiehl River BendPark/SA&AP Bridge (Comfort/Kendall County)

            Treue Der Union Monument (Comfort/Kendall County)

VII) Visiting Haunted Sites

VIII) Additional Haunted Sites

            City of San Antonio (Alamo Methodist Church, Brackenridge Villa Mansion, Brooks Air Force Base, Cadillac Bar, Chinese Graveyard, Christus Santa Rosa Hospital, Comanche Lookout Hill/Comanche Park, Crown Plaza St. Anthony Hotel, Donkey Lady Bridge, El Cameronsita Dance Hall, El Cameronsito/Player's Club, Empire Theater, Fort Sam Houston, Hemisfair Park, Hot Wells Motel, Huebner-Onion House, Indigo Hotel, Institute of Texas Culture, Lambermont, McNay Art Museum, North Star Mall, Oak Valley Vineyards, Old Stone Ridge Road, Our Lady of the Lake University, Plaza Marriott, River Center Mall, Riverwalk, San Antonio River Headwaters, San Pedro Park, Santikos Century Plaza 8 Theater, Stinson Field Cemetery, Trinity University, Tower of the Americas, Tro Bridge, University of the Incarnate Word)

            Greater San Antonio (Aumont Hotel [Seguin/Gaudalupe County], Bulverde Area Volunteer Fire Department (Bulverde), San Marcos River (Entity) [Luling/Guadalupe County], Seguin Palace Theatre [Seguin/Gaudalupe County], Seton Edgar B. Davis Hospital [Luling/Guadalupe County] , Texas Lutheran University [Seguin/Guadalupe County]) 

            Austin (Bertram's Restaurant/Clay Pit, Buffalo Billiards, Carrington's Bluff, Congress Street Bridge, David Grimes Photography Studio, Eanes-Marshall Ranch, Fado Irish Pub, Governor's Inn, Governor's Mansion, Hideout, Inn at Pearl Street, Jacob's Hill, Littlefield Building, Littlefield House, Mugshots, Neill-Cochran House, Old Stone Ridge Road, Omni Austin Hotel, Paramount Theatre, Tavern Restaurant, Zachary-Scott Theatre)

            Texas Hill Country (Schreiner University/Delaney Hall [Kerrville], Kerrville Courthouse [Kerrville])

IX) Further Reading/Bibliography

X) Ghostly Resources
            Comicpalooza
            Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours

XI) Acknowledgments

XII) About the Author

Texas Capitol (Downtown Austin)

"Few if any places in a particular state are cauldrons of so many conflicting passions, beliefs, and motivations as their capitol buildings and there is not one that has not over the years acquired a reputation for being haunted. It should thus hardly be surprising that the capitol of a state that has historically been so marked by violence, corruption, and zealous ideologies as Texas should have a wealth of ghostly lore and strange phenomena associated with it. 

'The capitol is haunted day and night,' Fiona Broome, a psychic, ghost hunter, and author of The Ghosts of Austin, Texas said in a 2008 interview. 'If you've got a nice, misty day there, people see ghosts walking up the path to the capitol building all the time.'" 

Those are the first two paragraphs of my chapter on the Texas Capitol for the Austin section of Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country! Below left, the statue of David Crockett in the south foyer of the capitol building with the rotunda in the background; below center, the floor of the rotunda, a whispering chamber where the spirits of workers killed during construction are sometimes seen; below right, the domed ceiling of the rotunda more than 300 feet above. 

  

Varhola Appearance on December 13 'Paranormal View'

If you missed my appearance in the December 13 episode of the Paranormal View, you can now check it out in archiveon the Para-X radio network! Thanks to co-hosts Henry Foister, Kat Klockow, and Geoffrey Gould for running such a terrific and enjoyable show (and posting a useful synopsis of it). Among other things, we discussed my Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country, next title in the America's Haunted Road Trip series of travel guides, and places I visited and investigated while working on it. 

Comments are welcome!