Want to look at a whole other side of San Antonio? Just steps away from some of the city’s most visited attractions–and even IN some of the attractions–ghostly happenings occur with regular frequency. Take a step through haunted San Antonio…if you dare…
Behind a home built over 200 years ago, a night watchman hears the sound of a woman’s cries coming from the depths of a sealed well. A museum’s former curator still roams his former place of employment. And in an art center, a photographer feels a hand on his shoulder and turns to see a dark shadow in the room with him.
These are just a few examples of the spirited encounters which have occurred in San Antonio and the nearby area. “San Antonio is a very haunted city,” says Docia Williams, an author and tour guide who leads groups on night excursions of the city’s “occupied” buildings.
The lively guide has interviewed policemen, night watchmen and residents of private homes throughout the city and searched the library’s archives. She has gathered documented material for her “Spirits of San Antonio” bus tour and for two ghostly tomes, Spirits of San Antonio and South Texas and Ghosts Along the Texas Coast.
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The Alamo–Hauntings Date Back to the Days of the Fateful Battle
One of San Antonio’s oldest buildings, the Alamo, is also reported to be one of the most haunted.
Today’s night watchmen have heard unexplained sounds in the old mission, but the hauntings date back to the days of the historic battle.
Following the battle, Mexican soldiers were said to have run from the Alamo shouting “diablos” (devils). The reference could have been to their opponents – or to some other presence in the mission.
Another story deals with the order that was issued to burn the Alamo following the Battle of San Jacinto.
Soldiers entered the old building, but soon fled, refusing to carry out their mission. Their leader came to speak to the men.
Entering the building, he was met by six ghosts holding swords of fire – rumored to be the ghosts of the Spanish priests who built the Alamo.
Southwest School of Art and Craft’s Mysterious Occurrences
The priests who haunt the Alamo are in the company of nuns not far away at the Southwest School of Art and Craft, located at 300 Augusta at Navarro. Today a gallery and working studio for many San Antonio craftsmen, the building was once a girls’ school run by cloistered nuns.
“The only men ever allowed here were the doctor, if someone were very ill, and the parish priest who said the mass on Sunday,” says Williams. “No other men were allowed. Now there are all these male teachers and security guards.”
So from a ghost’s point of view, it’s not surprising that some strange occurrences have taken place.
“The photography teacher was in the darkroom not too long ago, and he came out and felt a hand on his shoulder kind of shoving him,” says the tour guide. “He turned around and there was nothing but a dark shadow.
About a month or so later, the same thing happened to him, but this time it was a misty white shadow.” The dark shadow was explained as a nun’s habit, but what about the white apparition? That second incident took place in the summer, a time when the nuns of the school always changed into a white habit.
UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures’ Haunted Hearse
Several San Antonio museums are also rumored to be haunted. The UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures is supposedly haunted by the ghost of its former director, a pipe smoker.
Williams says late night employees still report smelling his tobacco smoke.
And, when night watchmen make their rounds, they often find the doors of the hearse in the Castroville exhibit mysteriously open. They close the hearse doors, make their rounds, and return to find them open once again.
Casa Navarro’s Mysterious, Moving Furniture
Another allegedly haunted museum is Casa Navarro, the historic Jose Navarro house at 228 South Laredo, home of one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Located next to the jail, the home is said to have cold spots, rocking chairs that move without human help, and furniture that rearranges itself.
Spanish Governor’s Palace’s Haunted Well
Not far away, the Spanish Governor’s Palace, built in 1749, is supposedly haunted by the spirit of a former servant in the home.
The woman was killed by robbers, and her body was thrown into a well behind the home. Today the well is capped, but night guards still report hearing her moans, says Williams.
Although the itinerary of San Antonio’s haunted tours varies, one thing remains constant: all tours are conducted at night. The reason is simple, says Williams. “No self-respecting ghost would be out in daylight.”
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