Treue der Union Monument (Comfort/Kendall County)

"One of the strangest, bloodiest, and most heartbreaking episodes in the saga of a violent state took place during the Civil War and has been known since among most people as the Nueces Massacre (a dissenting minority of people who applaud or are indifferent to this tragedy somewhat disingenuously refer to it instead as the Battle of the Nueces). A memorial to this terrible event, known as the Treue der Union or 'Loyalty to the Union' monument, can be found in the historic Hill Country village of Comfort. There is every reason to think it might be haunted by the spirits of those whose deaths it commemorates and whose remains it marks." 

That is the first paragraph of my chapter on the Treue der Union monument that will appear in Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country. It is one of about 30 sites that receives feature treatment in the book, along with about 40 that are more briefly covered in an appendix of Additional Haunted Sites. 

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 ...