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

Faust Hotel (New Braunfels)

"In the western literary and occult traditions the name 'Faust' has an ominous connotation, and many people assume that the historic hotel in New Braunfels bearing this moniker received it as a tribute to the paranormal activity associated with the site. It is, however, named for its founder, flesh-and-blood local businessman Walter Faust Sr., rather than a figure out of German legend. 

Over the past few decades, the Faust Hotel has increasingly gained a widespread reputation for being haunted and has attracted the attention of various paranormal investigative groups. I have visited the hotel a number of times since 2009 and, among other things, have spent the night at it and conducted investigations on or around Halloween twice and appeared as a guest on the PSI-FI Radio show from it. It has, in fact, become one of my favorite sites in the Greater San Antonio area, not just for the strange things associated with it but also for its colorful history." 

Those are the opening words of my chapter on the haunted Faust Hotel for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country! I have investigated it a number of times and even appeared on the Psi-Fi Para Radio show from it and it is one of my favorite sites in the area. Above right is the lobby of the Faust Hotel as it appears today, below left is a historic image of the hotel as it appeared shortly after it opened in October 1929, and below right is developer Walter Faust Sr. 

 

Gruene Historic District (Comal County)

"Anyone who has visited the historic village of Gruene on any given Saturday or any evening in the summer, when it is thronged with tourists and local revelers alike, might be surprised to learn that it was once a genuine ghost town. Gruene was, however, virtually abandoned for more than two decades, from around 1950 until the early 1970s, when it was restored as a tourist attraction, and today it is a district within the city of New Braunfels. While the living have returned, however, the ghosts of former residents have nonetheless remained ... "

Those are the opening words to my chapter on the Gruene Historic District of New Braunfels for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country! Two of the reputedly haunted place in the village are the Gruene Mansion Inn bed-and-breakfast and the Adobe Verde restaurant (below and bottom, respectively). It is also the home of Gruene Hall, the oldest continuously-operated dance hall in Texas! 

Annual Halloween Ghost Hunt

Just got back from my annual "world's fastest ghost hunt" at the haunted little German cemetery in the wooded valley below my house and was stunned at how active it was tonight! This is especially striking when compared with last year, when it was almost completely inert, and I am trying to figure out what might be accounting for these differences. 

It was a very dry, clear, cool night, in the 50s, completely moonless, giving perfect visibility of the stars but very little usable light (although I avoided using my flashlight at all). I spent about 20 minutes between the cemetery and the nearby ruined house and during that time took 76 photos. Following are the ones with the most profound anomalies, all orbs as far as I can tell -- some of them very profound. 

This was the second picture I took and initially seemed to confirm my theory that it is sometimes possible to "surprise" ghosts and get images of them immediately upon arriving at a site. I felt a presence and corroborated it with photos, however, throughout the duration of my visit. 

 

Evidence of a spiritual presence is as associated with the trees at this site, at the orb in the upper right corner suggest, as they are with the actual burial plots. 

I have on numerous occasions gotten anomalies around this tree and wonder if it was used for a hanging at some point; it really does almost feel as if a ghost was living in it. 

I heard noises and got a creepy vibe south of the cemetery, toward the seasonal stream that was running strongly as a result of the recent heavy rains, and am not too surprised to have caught these orbs in my photo. 

This shot I took during my departure from the grove containing the cemetery seems to reveal something watching me! As with a number of things associated with tonight's investigation, this was the first time I have noted this happening at the site. 

I was stunned when I saw this image, which almost seems to seethe with spiritual energy! I have never caught anything of note at this ruined structure previously so this came as a bit of a surprise. I did sense some sort of a presence as I passed it during my approach to the cemetery but decided to reserve flash photography of it for my exit from the area. 

A small orb can be seen hovering over the ruined farmhouse in this alternate view of it. 

As is often the case with investigations in which I was exposed to spiritual entities, I was very hungry by the time I made it back home. Also, apropos of nothing peculiar to tonight's venture, it occurred to me that, for whatever reasons, I have never captured a partial orb cut off at the edge of a picture ... 

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

"One of the first places I explored after moving to Texas Hill Country was the Devil's Backbone, a haunted highway that runs along a ridge line that used to serve as a cattle trail and now corresponds to Highway 32. Parts of this road seem mysterious and haunted under the best of conditions, and it is little wonder that it should have ghostly lore associated with it. 

Lone hunters and hikers exploring the trails that wind along the slopes of the Devil's Backbone have reported seeing the apparitions of Indians following closely behind them. Some local residents also claim to have seen ghostly cattle ranchers driving their herds through the hills or the ghosts of Spanish monks. Yet others have told of spotting phantasmal troops of Confederate cavalrymen and hearing the sounds of pounding hooves outside their homes but afterward finding no evidence that any horses were actually present." 

That is an excerpt from my chapter on the Devil's Backbone Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country. This road is about 23 miles long and, while most of it runs along the northern edge of Comal County, its western end is anchored in Blanco County and its eastern end in Hays County. I have driven along it many times and investigated it in whole or in part on a number of occasions. Most of the pictures that follow are from a mobile nighttime investigation of the road that I conducted on the evening of March 28 leading into the morning of Good Friday, March 29, 2013, while the ones of the Devil's Backbone Tavern are from a visit on September 8, 2014. 

  

Left: This is the western end of the Devil's Backbone, where it intersects with Highway 281 -- and where I was welcomed on journey by an orb that turned up in my very first photo! Right: Numerous memorials along with Devil's Backbone are devoted to those who have perished on the winding country highway. This one is at Green's Hollow, about six miles from the western end of the road and one of four convenient places for investigators to stop.

The historic hamlet of Fischer is located about halfway along the Devil's Backbone -- and, incidentally, some six miles from my house -- and is another of the convenient places to stop along the road. Its main features are a post office and an old general store that is now run by the Fischer family as an antique shop.

  

Several memorials, some dating back to at least 1991, are established at a picnic area about four miles from the eastern end of the Devil's Backbone. This is the third convenient spot for investigators to conduct operations along the highway. Presumably the people whose deaths are remembered at this location did not all actually die in the rest area and are instead memorialized here because of the ease of visiting the spot and maintaining shrines at it. 

 

The Devil's Backbone Tavern, located near the eastern end of the road that is its namesake and one of the four convenient stops along it, is itself haunted and has a wealth of paranormal stories and incidents associated with it. Incidents people have reported include the jukebox coming on and playing songs people were talking about, pictures flying off of walls and striking people, and disembodied footsteps. It is also the subject of the irreverent "Ballad of the Devil's Backbone Tavern" by musician and comedian Todd Snider, who during a performance explained how he came to write it: