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

Old Bexar County Jail (Downtown San Antonio)

"Presumably, we will never see a commercial in which someone, when asked if they are a ghosthunter who spent the night in a haunted jail, replies with 'No, but I did stay at Holiday Inn Express last night!' On the other hand, it would be quite reasonable for someone to answer that question in the affirmative if they had just spent the night in the Holiday Inn Express Riverwalk Area, which is located in what had been the Bexar County Jail for nearly a century. 

... One of the most common phenomenon is rooms that remain unnaturally cold, even during the summer or if the heat is turned on. Other activity includes beds that are indented as if someone is laying on them, but then abruptly have the indentations disappear; people hearing whispering in their rooms that stops when the lights are turned on; objects being pulled out of people's hands and thrown across the room; and the breakfast area being rearranged and disheveled during the night. Most horrifying among the things people have reported, however, are in the rooms where the gallows were once located, where people claim to have seen apparitions fall through the ceiling as if just hanged!" 

That is a preview of my chapter on the old Bexar County Jail for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country! People can become inmates for the night at the former detention facility, which is now a hotel in the heart of downtown San Antonio. 

 

Above left: Allison Schiess of Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours talks about the Old Bexar County Jail from the parking lot of Penner's, an iconic San Antonio clothier. Above right: Brutal murderer Apolinar Clemente, who lived in the jail for a year-and-a-half before dying there at the end of a rope. 

Alamo Quarry Market (North Central San Antonio)

"Admittedly, I tend to be more than usually skeptical when I hear reports about shopping centers and the like being haunted and to give a hard look at whether there is, in fact, a credible reason why they would be. In the case of the Alamo Quarry Market, however, it does not take too much digging to reveal that, being located just a few miles from the headwaters of the San Antonio River, it has been continuously inhabited since time immemorial. More than 10,000 years ago Paleo-Indians hunted and gathered throughout the abundant area and every people who have followed them, from Apaches and Comanches to Spaniards, Mexicans, and Anglo-Americans, have availed themselves of its riches as well. Prior to being adapted for commercial use, in fact, it was the site of the sprawling Alamo Cement Company factory, and many elements of the old industrial complex have been retained and even incorporated into the shopping center. So, Alamo Quarry Market has got more than enough history behind it to make a case for it being haunted." 

That is the opening paragraph to my chapter on Alamo Quarry Market, and the movie theater located there, for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country. 

Victoria's Black Swan Inn (Northeast San Antonio)

"Built in the late 19th century on the site of a battlefield where Texans fought to maintain the independence of their short-lived republic, the mansion now known as Victoria's Black Swan Inn is one of the most historic and haunted places in San Antonio. It is also one of the most famous sites of paranormal activity in the area, has been featured in numerous books, articles, and television programs on the paranormal, and is a popular venue for ghosthunting groups. One of those is the local San Antonio Ghost Hunters, and I had an opportunity to visit the inn for the first time in June 2014 as part of an overnight investigation with them." 

That is the opening paragraph for my chapter on the amazing and incredibly haunted Victoria's Black Swan Inn that will be appearing in Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country! As things stand now, this is the largest chapter in the book and details both its history and my experiences at it. 

 

 

Top left: Victoria's Black Swan Inn owner Jo Ann Rivera told me about the many paranormal things she has experienced since acquiring the property in 1987. Top right: Two investigators, including San Antonio Ghost Hunters founder John Delgado, examine a door that kept locking itself! Bottom left: Old cars like this one, along with carriages and even a bus, are among the things that ghosthunters have the opportunity to investigate at the property. Bottom right: San Antonio Ghost Hunters under the direction of Glenn Martinez use a Kinect gaming component to track spiritual activity. 

Comanche Lookout Park (Northeast San Antonio)

"Although one of San Antonio's smaller municipal parks, 96-acre Comanche Lookout Park has the sense of being a microcosm and frequently seems more isolated than it really is despite being surrounded by major roads, shopping plazas, and housing developments. Those who visit it during normal business hours are likely to get an accentuated sense of this and, other than a few headphone-wearing people who jog by wraithlike and without acknowledgement, are likely to have the place pretty much to themselves. That, of course, can be the best way to explore and appreciate this profoundly historical site, to investigate the legends associated with it, and to possibly come into contact with some of the many ghosts who have long been believed to haunt it. And, as strange and haunting as it might feel on its face to the casual visitor or ghosthunter, an investigation of its history will reveal some genuinely strange things about it." 

This is the  first paragraph for the chapter on Comanche Lookout Park that I wrote for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country! It is a very mysterious and interesting site and, as I learned more and more about it, became the basis for the largest chapter in the book. 

 

 

Spanish Governor's Palace (Downtown San Antonio)

"Soon after the Spanish viceroy founded the city of San Antonio in 1718, Martín de Alarcón, governor of Coahuila and Texas, established the Presidio San Antonio de Bexar. This fortress served as the center of Spanish military power in Texas and as defense for the San Antonio de Valero Mission (known later as the Alamo) ... Plans for the house that became known as the Spanish Governor’s Palace originated as early as 1722 and, upon its completion in 1749 — the date given on the keystone above the front entrance bearing a carved, double-headed eagle — it served as the commandancia, the office and residence for the captain of the presidio. ... In 1772, the importance of the presidio grew when the capital of Spanish Texas moved from the presidio at Los Adaes, east of Nacogdoches, Texas, to the settlement at what is now San Antonio. From this point onward the Spanish governors stayed in the commandancia and it was thereafter referred to as the Spanish Governor’s Palace." 

That excerpt is from the chapter on the Spanish Governor's Palace in San Antonio that I wrote for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country," the travel guide on haunted sites in the title area that I am working on for Clerisy Press's America's Haunted Road Trip series. Pictured above is Allison Schiess of Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours. 

Haunted Oak Valley Vineyards

Even when I am not looking for haunted places I seem to discover them! Last Sunday my wife and I had dinner for the first time at Oak Valley Vineyards (aka "The Vineyards"), a place at the northern edge of San Antonio that we have had our eye one and been planning on going to for about five years. We had a wonderful meal there and, in the course of it, had the opportunity to chat with proprietor Beth Colley. When I told her I was a writer working on a book about haunted places in and around San Antonio and Texas Hill Country, she mentioned that her establishment had caught the eye of a number of local ghosthunting groups and that they had detected various paranormal phenomena at it. As things stand now I will therefore be including an entry for the Vineyards in the "Additional Haunted Sites" of Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country and am looking into whether or not to devote an entire chapter to it. 

An Evening with Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours

SAN ANTONIO -- Had a great time with Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours and guide Allison Schiess on Saturday, January 25, visiting haunted places downtown in the Alamo City! About half of them were places that I have investigated previously in the course of my research for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country, the title I am currently working on for the America's Haunted Road Trip series of travel guides. A number of the sites were completely new to me, however, and I learned a number of interesting things about all of the ones we visited. 

We kicked off the evening by enjoying a great steak dinner with our guide and fellow tour goers in the elegant formal dining room of the famous and very haunted Menger Hotel. We then proceeded to explore the haunted histories of it and several other sites, including the Alamo, Casino Club Building, Cathedral of San Fernando, Spanish Governor's Palace, and old Bexar County Jail. 

Above left, Allison set the tone for the tour by being attired in authentic 19th century garb. Above center, Diane Varhola checks out the spot on the outer wall of the Roy Rogers Suite that was once used to give fodder to Rogers' horse Trigger! Above right, the original bedstead in the King Ranch Suite where Captain King died and around which his spirit is sometimes seen. 

Above one of the sumptuous lobbies of the Menger Hotel, as viewed from the third floor. Above right, I have no idea what is causing this particular anomaly, but am well aware that a heavy spiritual presence can wreak havoc on electronic devices. 

Above left, this particular photographic anomaly caught me eye because it affected only Allison -- clearly a spiritual magnet of some sort -- and not our two friends from Canada or anything else! Above right, a view of the Riverwalk in which can be seen a couple of orbs, one left and the other above of center. 

Above left, outside the Casino Club Building, a historic structure now used for private apartments that has any number of ghosts sharing space with its living residents. Above center, a statue associated with the old Aztec Theater -- I have no reason to think it is haunted but think it would be cool if it was! Above right, front of San Fernando Cathedral, built in the 1700s by Canary Islanders and today the oldest continuously-operating cathedral in North America. 

Above left and center, the exterior of the 18th century Spanish Governor's Palace, once the seat of government for San Antonio and a bastion against Comanche and Apache raiders. Above right, the old Bexar County Jail, which now houses visitors to the city in the guise of a Holiday Inn Express! It remains haunted by the spirits of men executed on its third floor. 

All in all, we had a great, informative, and sometimes spooky evening with Allison and Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours! Anyone interested in learning more about the sites we visited should do the same and check out grim sister Lauren Swartz's terrific Haunted History of Old San Antonio (and, of course, my own book when it comes out in October).