By Randy Jamie Davis
Come and enter some of San Antonio's most haunted locations
The only Haunted Palace Tour in South Texas. I was there. and I happened to go with ghost hunting great and The Great Texan American Necromancer Lisa Lee Harp Waugh. We took the The Original Alamo City Ghost Tours daytime ghost tour.
San Antonio--home of the Alamo, the NBA's Spurs and, perhaps, a legion of ghosts. They don't mention it in the tourist brochures, but this Texas city has long been a hot-spot for spectral sightings.
Hear the convincing, troubling story of the businessman who received an unwelcome guest from beyond the grave. Learn the saga of the beautiful Sallie White, gunned down in March of 1876, who has wandered hotel hallways ever since. Meet people who claim to have been visited by a flirtatious spirit in the Alamo theater who some say is the ghost of a popular actress from the 1920s. And examine the numerous accounts of the bloodied fighters of the Alamo reliving their epic, futile battle against the forces of Santa Ana. Texas tall tales or spirit central?
HAUNTED? San Antonio to decide for yourself.
Spanish Governor's Palace
105 Military Plaza
210-224-0601
Lisa just happened to be taking the ghost tour the same day as I was. And I recognized her from her photos on the internet.
On the superb walking tour, Waugh walked behind the group. I went and introduced myself to her. And told her I was a great fan of her paranomal work in the field.
Always gracious this big heart gal slapped me on the ass then took me by the arm and said "Well lets go hunt some ghosts, Honey".
We walked along with the tour group to the very first Capital Building of Texas, the great Spanish Governors Palace, built in the early 1700's. This is probably the most Haunted House in San Antonio Lisa said as she grasped my arm tightly. "Talk to the people who live with the paranormal activity in their daily lives like myself and you will learn a lot," she chuckled to me.
The Spanish Governor’s Palace, (the Guide began speaking loudly) is a National Historic Landmark in the city of San Antonio, Texas.
It is considered the sole remaining example of an aristocratic early Spanish house in Texas. The National Geographic Society has called the landmark “the most beautiful building in San Antonio”. And we call it haunted!
The Presidio de San Antonio de Bejar was the result of a rivalry between Spain and France in the early 1700s for dominance of the territory that is now a part of the southwestern United States. King Philip V of Spain ordered Don Martin de Alarcon, along with fifty soldiers, to build a mission and presidio between the San Antonio and San Pedro rivers. Upon Alarcon’s arrival in 1718 he found an Indian village encamped at the head of the San Antonio River and San Pedro Springs. On May 5th of that same year he established the Presidio de San Antonio de Béjar to protect the newly established Mission San Antonio de Valero.
As we toured the Palace Lisa would tell me snap a picture now. And so I did and in this article you will see the many real ghost phots I took results.
San Antonio Governors Palace Ghost Photos
In 1722 the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo, Governor of Coahuila and Tejas, moved the Presidio to its current location. The original compound, as envisioned by the Marquis, was to be a large square with pointed bastions at each corner. Based upon a letter from the Marquis to His Majesty, dated June 13, 1722, 25,000 adobe bricks and 40 additional laborers were needed for the construction of the compound. The keystone above the front entrance is marked with the coat-of-arms of Spanish King Ferdinand VI and the inscription ‘año 1749 se acabo’ suggesting construction of the Presidio, albeit much smaller, was completed in 1749.
This building, traditionally known as the Spanish Governor’s Palace, was the original Commandancia (residence and working office) for the Captain of the Presidio. After the threat of French encroachment in East Texas was gone, King Carlos III appointed the Marquis de Rubí inspector of frontier presidios. Rubí’s inspection resulted in the Royal Regulations of 1772 that ordered the capital of Spanish Texas be moved from the Presidio at Los Adaes, east of Nacogdoches, Texas, to the Presidio de San Antonio de Béjar. Rubí’s orders also stipulated that the captain of the presidio at Béjar serve as Governor of Texas.
By the time Spain lost control of Mexico and Texas in 1821, the Presidio had ceased to function as a military post. However its owner and former captain Ignacio Perez and his descendants continued to use the building as a residence through the mid-1800s. The building’s function changed from residential to commercial in the mid-1870s and through the 1920s it housed a variety of businesses including a pawn shop, a wholesale produce store, saloons, and a clothing store.
The City of San Antonio purchased the property in 1928 and completed the restoration between 1929 and 1930. It is currently maintained by the Downtown Operations Department of the City of San Antonio and is open to the public as a museum.
The Spanish Governors Palace sits in an area that has seen as much death and murder per square foot as any where in the country. Hear about the Murders and the Ghost sightings that have taken place in San Antonio's Oldest Haunted House. Walk amongst the spirits. Talk to the people who deal with the spirits on a daily basis. The Haunted Spanish Governors Palace sits in an area that has seen as much death and murder per square foot as anywhere on earth. Walk by what the locals call the "Tree of Sorrow". The tree was properly named after 26 known people came to a vicious and violent death swinging at the end of its branches. See the faces in the trunk of the tree that are starting to appear. Their eyes popping out from the sockets, just like the day they were hung, kicking and jerking to the end. The Haunted Palace is furnished with furniture from the time it was the Capital Building. A hand carved secretary belonging to the famous Alamo Defender James Bowie is on display in the Spanish Governors Palace. We will also visit the final resting place of Davey Crockett, James Bowie and many other Alamo Defenders. You can reach out and touch the tomb were they rest today. We will see the O'Heny House, the home of famous short story writer William Sydney Porter, built in the late 1850's. Lots more seen along the tour route. Just way to many places to mention!!!
This tour of our Downtown Historical District is like stepping back in time during the Battle of the Alamo. Tour the actual building that many of the orders were made from by Santa Anna himself during The Battle of the Alamo.
San Antonio has had 12 battles fought in and around in the downtown area over control of its land. That makes this some of the most fought over land in the United States. Just that fact alone may be why we are considered one of the most haunted cities in the world. Battle Fields, Hospitals, Cemeteries, and old Hotels are the best places to find ghost. " Yes" this tour route has them all. The true ghost stories are known to be part of the folklore of San Antonio.
http://www.alamocityghosttours.com/default.asp
I suggest to everyone if you see lisa Lee Harp Waugh go talk to her she will make you laugh and maybe find a ghost or two.
For text links use http://www.alamocityghosttours.com Remember to contact us about a possible reciprocal link.
http://www.alamocityghosttours.com/
San Antonio Ghost Tours ghost stories about San Antonio Texas. Walk through Graveyards or ride in your Own Private Limo. San Antonio Ghost Tours offers the Ghost and Graveyard Tour. Creep through the night alongside the graves of San Antonio's past citizens. Experience for yourself, walking through some of San Antonio's oldest graveyards. Listen to true ghost stories about San Antonio's dark and wicked past. See the gravestones and hear the stories about some of San Antonio's earlier citizens. If you think you would like walking through Old Graveyards while you are being driven around on your own Private Limo Tour. Then this is the tour for you. Old Graveyards are one of the best places to hunt ghost. This a once a month tour
Alamo City Ghost Tours offers a daily day and night ghost hunt in downtown San Antonio.
The Alamo Ghost Hunt Tour, our evening tour, was the most broadcasted Ghost Tour in San Antonio for Halloween of 2006. We visit 13 haunted locations, starting beside the Official San Antonio Information and Visitor Center, located at 317 Alamo Street, and ending in the Market Square Area. You will see two of the cities Oldest Hanging Trees, an Old Spanish Palace, Battlefields, Old Hotels, Cemeteries and the Alamo Plaza Area. We bring ghost-hunting equipment for people to use so the whole crowd can have a ghost hunting experience while hearing about the ghosts.
Haunted Palace Tour, our daytime tour. The Haunted Palace Tour is a ghost tour that allows us to enter some of San Antonio's most haunted locations. Tour can be booked to fit your schedule. The Haunted Palace Tour click here
WWW.NANCYBRADLEY.ORG
Little is known about why
or how hauntings occur. Thousands of hauntings
have been systematically investigated by researchers
and parapsychologists since the late 19th century.
Many explanations have been proposed, but there
is no conclusive evidence to support one more
strongly than another. Federic W. H. Myers,
one of the founders of the Society For Psychical
Research (SPR), London, who did extensive research
of apparitions in the late 19th century, believed
that most hauntings are fragmentary and meaningless,
the bits and pieces of an energy residue left
by the living after their death. Others who
have built on Myers' theory propose that hauntings
do not involve ghostly personalities, but are
those recordings of energy that take on personalities
to percipients who are psychically sensitive.
Psychic sensitivity may account for diverse
experiences phenomena and another does not.
There are several important
things to consider when embarking on this traditional
attempt to reach the “Other Side”
– simple signposts on a road less traveled
that can mean the difference between success
or failure, contact and a waste of time.
First and foremost there must be a defined PURPOSE.
This should be established at the start and
should be clearly defined so that all participants
are absolutely certain that they understand
the reason or need for the séance. These
reasons could vary – contact with a dead
relative, contact with the spirit world for
purposes of divination, guidance or comfort
– but they should be defined and, most
importantly, adhered to throughout the process.
Equally important is the talent
and skill of the conducting MEDIUM. This should
be a person whose abilities have been proven
in prior séances; this can usually be
determined by word of mouth recommendations:
remember, cost does not always determine quality
in this process and some very skilled mediums
offer their services for nothing, or next to
nothing. Other important qualities to look for
are evidence of compassion and sincerity on
the part of the conducting medium as these are
important to the contact process. In the event
that such a qualified medium is not available,
a person who displays the highest level of empathy,
sensitivity and seriousness can sit in as a
reasonable substitute. This must be someone
that all agree upon and who has demonstrated
at least circumspectly the ability to make contact
with the Other Side.
In the 21st century we have
come to know that the worlds paranormal mysteries
still surround us. From objects to places nothing
haunted nowadays goes un noticed. Haunted dolls
on Ebay, printings books and equipment to find
ghost. Television movies and paranormal news
from around the world. Courses in Ghost hunting
and of course the very real haunted internet.
And many skeptics say it's
all fake.
