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What
with all those ghosts gadding about on TV shows, it’s beginning to
look a lot like Halloween year-round.
Eerie music swells in the background as re-enactments of paranormal
events depict strange goings-on, running the gamut from a departed
granny floating into the kitchen to bake cookies again to a long-dead
piano player startling a sleeping family at midnight with hits from
the Fifties.
Mysterious lights bounce around rooms, pictures fall from walls and
tables and chairs levitate, all of which makes one wonder, “Who’s
doing all that stuff?”
I would like to think the movers and shakers are the TV producers,
script writers and directors with over-developed imaginations, or
maybe the unexplainable is being outsourced. (Can you say “boo!” in
Bombay?)
I’m not saying the spooks are not out there. I guess they are -- some
of them anyway -- based on reports by people who claim sincerely and
sanely that they saw what they saw.
Personally, I’ve never seen a ghost in my life and I hope I never
will.
According to myriad encounters reported over the years, however, I’ve
been where the ghosts are; we’ve just never met.
Numerous
times I’ve driven at night on Highway
281 between Blanco and Johnson City but, thank goodness, never
noticed a shabby, blood-stained hitchhiker with a two-foot-long butcher
knife and a mean look on his face.
Word on the street is that he’s a ghost with issues. During his earthly
existence, he went on a rampage, stabbing several relatives to death.
(Was it something they said?)
Anyway, if you happen to spot the Slasher when he’s trying to hitch
a ride to Johnson
City on a dark and lonely night, don’t stop. Just keep driving.
Faster ... hurry.
A
well-known hotel in San
Antonio where I’ve never seen a ghost, in spite of numerous reported
sightings, is the historic
Menger. On several occasions I’ve stayed in the older and presumably
the most haunted section of the hotel but never got even a glimpse
of Sallie White, the chambermaid murdered by her husband in the 1800s.
The ghost-watchers say Sallie walks the hotel halls carrying fresh
towels. So, just sayin’, if you need extra towels while staying at
the Menger,
call Sallie. |
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The Menger
apparently has been the scene of many other apparitions and one of
them is supposed to be Capt. Richard King, founder of King Ranch.
The captain doesn’t bother to open doors but glides right through
them, ever so quickly. Wish I could do that, especially when struggling
with those key-card door openers.
The Menger,
I’ve heard, also has been host to the ghost of President Teddy Roosevelt.
The story goes that he’s still in the hotel bar, recruiting Rough
Riders for the Spanish-American
War. Now T.R. is one ghost I wouldn’t mind meeting. I bet he’s
a bully-good ghost, speaking softly, carrying a big spirit stick.
While
the Menger
may be America’s most haunted hotel, Galveston
claims to the most haunted city, the Top Ghost Host, with spirited
attractions ranging from pirates and hurricane victims to the rich
and famous. |
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Ashton
Villa, Galveston
Photo
courtesy of Lou Ann Herda |
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As a frequent
visitor to the island, I’ve dropped in on Bettie Brown’s mansion,
Ashton Villa, a number of times but apparently she’s never at home
when I’m there. Oh well. I read that Ms. Brown likes to travel.
The Galvez Hotel is reported to be haunted, too, but you couldn’t
prove it during the time I stayed there. I guess the Galvez ghosts
were out on the town, shmoozing with their kindred spirits on The
Strand.
Ever heard about that creepy face on Ewing Hall at the University
of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston?
According to legend, the image is that of the original land owner
who warned his family not to sell the property after he died. They
did and he came back to … uh … face them.
I clicked on a web site that showed a photo of the building and
... whoa! Unless the photo was doctored (no pun intended, UTMB),
there is a man’s face.
Oh my. If looks could kill.
© Wanda Orton
Baytown
Sun Columnist
"Wandering"
June 10, 2013
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