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Skip to content. The Ghosts of San Antonio. Share on facebook. Share on google. Share on twitter. Share on linkedin. Share on pinterest. Share on print. By Cindy Perman Posted 12 Oct There are several fault lines under Portland, Ore.
The Shanghai Tunnels, which run beneath the buildings and streets of Portland, were used in the s to kidnap people and ship them off to Asia as slaves and prostitutes.
A saloon owner may get you properly drunk, the lore goes, and then send you down a secret hatch -- never to be seen again. Some say those spirits still roam the tunnels and during tours, visitors have reported hearing whistling, smelling fragrances — or even being touched.
Its employees have reported smelling smoke when there is no fire, being overwhelmed by the smell of cheap perfume, and even flying objects. San Francisco, like Portland, has fault lines and water working in its ghostly favor.
The Cameron House in Chinatown, once a hiding place for immigrants to escape the brutality of the police, was burned down with people inside — and some say they remain trapped there, even turning up in photographs now and again. A police officer is said to roam Golden Gate Park and a former head mistress is thought to be presiding over her old girls school, now the Queen Anne Hotel.
And at Alcatraz, the damp, punishing island prison where some of the most notorious prisoners were sent, some say there are inmates serving not just life — but eternity. Visitors have reported hearing voices — and the sounds of cell doors closing. Chicago, where gangsters and Confederate soldiers once roamed, sits on several fault lines as well as Lake Michigan, which makes it a perfect corridor for the paranormal.
Gangsters used to like to dump the bodies here and some say you can still hear screams from the Clark Street Bridge. There are over 6, Confederate soldiers buried at Oak Woods Cemetery during the Civil War, and strange figures have been reported there.
Plus, two rivers run through it, providing liquid fuel for a ghostly fire. At the Brick House and the Thirteenth Step, legend has it that the ghosts of scorned lovers linger. Official records and later archeological excavation's conducted at the Alamo seem to contradict the engrossing story of General Andrade's encounter with the six phantom monks.
Factual evidence suggests that Andrade successfully leveled many of the walls of the fort and dismantled or burned the wooden palisade that had been erected in front of the church and along the south wall of the compound.
Apparently General Andrade was not as scared by the fiery giant as the previous story suggests. During the late 's, the ghostly activity at the Alamo was big "news" in San Antonio.
In , the City of San Antonio pressed the mission into service as a police headquarters and jail. It was not long before, prisoners housed in the old barracks started to complain about all kinds of ghostly activity there. Several articles printed in the San Antonio Express News in February , and August , seemed to confirm that paranormal activity was in fact taking place on a regular basis at the Alamo.
The articles detailed fanciful tales of a ghostly sentry said to walk from east to west on the roof of the police station. The ghostly manifestations, which included mysterious shadows and moaning sounds were said to be so prominent that the guards and watchmen refused to patrol the building after hours.
This caused quite a stir at City Hall. Many of the councilmen felt that making prisoners sleep with ghosts was "cruel and unusual punishment". A short time later, the City of San Antonio abandoned its plans for the Alamo in favor of a jail site that was less haunted. The paranormal incidents reported in and seem to unabashedly replay themselves over and over even today.
Several recurring stories tell of a phantom sentry that has been observed walking frantically back and forth across the top of the Alamo. Some witnesses believe the ghostly guard is looking for a means of escape while others are certain that the specter stands watch over the missing treasure of the Alamo.
In addition to the presence of the ghostly sentry, tourists, park rangers and passers-by have reported seeing a myriad of grotesque man shaped forms emanating from the very walls of the Alamo itself after hours. Sometimes this paranormal menagerie is accompanied by disembodied screams and yelling of men trapped in the throws of an invisible conflict. Members of numerous tours groups, ghost hunters and psychics who have visited the site claim that they have felt invisible eyes watching them as they traveled down the dark corridors of the Alamo.
Ordinary people insist that they have heard voices and whispers that seem to filter through the very walls of the mission as if they were attempting to communicate with the world of the living. Others tell lesser stories about their encounters with vanishing lights, eerie cold spots and a multitude of unexplained noises.
In one instance, a park ranger at the Alamo encountered the ghost of a man dressed in attire from the 's. It was a really hot day in late spring when the ranger first viewed the suspicious man on the fort grounds, walking towards the library. As the ranger hurried after the man, he observed that the he was wearing tall boots, a plantation hat and long overcoat. To the ranger's surprise, the puzzling man faded away into obscurity when he neared the chapel. When the ranger investigated further, he could not find any evidence of the strangers passing.
Others have alleged to have seen the same apparition numerous times in the courtyard of the Alamo, both during the day and at night. Generally the most often repeated ghost story about the Alamo defies all logic.
It focuses on the spirit of a little boy who is rumored to haunt the parks gift shop. Both visitors and park rangers alike claim to have seen a blonde haired little boy, ranging in age from 10 and 12 years of age, staring out into the courtyard from one of the stores high inaccessible windows. The small boy is only visible from the waist up and has never become a full-bodied apparition.
Rangers who have searched the gift shop in hopes of catching the ghostly prankster have come up empty handed. In each instance they have concluded that there is no way that a real person could perch him or herself in the window without something to climb up on or some way to support themselves. The mystery only gets more convoluted when you consider the fact that the gift shop was not built until the 's.
Legend says that during the last days of the siege of the Alamo, a small boy was evacuated from the Mission. It is believed that this little child returns to the same spot where he recalls last seeing a loved one alive.
The ghostly child may appear to be looking out of the down from the window at curious onlookers when in fact his eyes only search for a comforting glimpse of a father, brother, or another other family member who made the ultimate sacrifice there at some point in the Alamo's tumultuous history.
One of the more interesting ghosts encountered at the Alamo is that of the "Duke" himself. In an effort to make the movie as historically accurate as possible, Wayne personally toured the original Alamo site and consulted actual blueprints of the fortress. While filming the movie, Wayne became obsessed with the sequence of events that led to the fall of the Alamo. This preoccupation with historical accuracy drove the Duke to spend a fortune bringing the Alamo to life for the silver screen.
The Alamo set was so detailed that it became a tourist attraction in its own right. Shortly after his death, the "Duke's" ghost was observed at the real Alamo, walking the grounds. He has also been observed visiting and talking with the spirits of the forts patriotic dead. The story was so telling, that a psychic was enlisted to confirm the rumors that John Wayne's spirit visited the Alamo on a regular basis.
The psychic substantiated the fact the Duke's ghost stops over at the Alamo about once a month but could not shed any light on where he manifests himself the rest of the time. Many believe that the Duke put so much energy and enthusiasm into the making of his movie that it seems only natural that he left a little bit of himself there when he himself passed into the afterlife.
We could not in good faith delve into the various hauntings that are known to take place at the Alamo without discussing the most prominent ghost to make his presence known at the mission throughout the years. At various times during the year, park rangers have observed a transparent figure dressed in buckskin clothing and sporting a flintlock rifle, standing guard near the chapel.
This is believed to be the spirit of none other than Davy Crocket himself. Other people, who have seen the phantom vigilantly standing at attention at various locations around the Alamo, describe the phantom soldier as wearing a coonskin cap, buckskin shirt and moccasins. In several instancing the figment has been observed by several different people, from different angles at the same time.
These observations in themselves prove that the ghost, most generally associated with Davy Crocket, is not just an optical illusion. Could Davy Crocket's heroic death at the Alamo be forever immortalized in a haunted vignette? One of the grizzliest phantom images to play itself out at the old mission occurs in the Long Barracks. It has all the characteristics of a "Residual" type haunting but it is also very similar to the "fictional" way Davy Crocket was said to have perished. One night, a ranger entered the barracks and observed a hideous scene.
There, leaning against a wall was a man, wearing buckskin clothing typically worn by frontiersmen during the 's. To the ranger's trained eye, it appeared that man's torso had been riddled with bullet holes! Before the ranger could react, the spirits of several Mexican soldiers stepped from the darkness and encircled the stranger with their bayonets at the ready.
In , self-proclaimed dictator, General Santa Anna, was determined to conquer the rebellious Texans of San Antonio and marched towards the settlement with a force of more than 1, troops. For the next 13 days, a raging battle ensued, between the Texans, under the joint command of William B.
Over this two-week period, the Mexicans continued to fortify their numbers until as many as 4, men were bombarding the Alamo. The Texans also struggled to fortify their numbers, resulting in approximately men defending the Alamo. Though victorious, the cost to Mexican forces was enormous, as 1, Mexican soldiers lay dead. To reinforce the victory, several non-combatants were spared so that they might inform their fellow Texans of their potential fate should they continue to thwart the Mexican authorities.
Today, the Alamo is one of the best-known monuments in the United States. Also, its remaining buildings and the surrounding area are one of the most haunted places in the nation. With its long history and the many deaths that have occurred at the site, tales of apparitions at the old mission have been reported for almost two centuries. Before the Battle of the Alamo, the ground that takes up most of the Alamo Plaza today was utilized as a cemetery between and It is estimated that about a thousand people were buried here during those years.
In addition to those pre-Alamo bodies, most of the men fighting on both sides of the battle were also buried in the area. Even today, construction and utility workers often turn up skulls and other bones when excavating in the area.
The first reported sighting of the ghostly activity happened only weeks after the Battle of the Alamo. In retaliation, Santa Anna sent messengers to order the destruction of the Alamo. Some say these entities were Alamo defenders, while others say they were monks protecting the mission. When Colonel Sanchez, who was tasked with leading the destruction of the mission, reported back to General Andrade, he recounted the tale of six Diablos devils coming out of the front doors.
The general only scoffed, thinking the story ludicrous. However, not one of the men of the first task force would return to the Alamo.
Frustrated but undaunted, the general gathered another group of men and returned to the Alamo, determined to burn the Long House Barracks. Standing above the Mexican soldiers, the entity was said to have held two flaming balls of fire in its outstretched hands.
At the sight of abnormality, the soldiers fell to their knees and covered their eyes. Fleeing once again, the Mexicans refused to return, and for the next ten years, the Alamo lay in ruins.
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