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Texan-tricities (Texas Weirdness)

Charles_Green

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Apr 21, 2003
Messages
45
Anyone from the glorious Lone Star State have any stories to share about high weirdness?

I used to live in Midland, and there were persistant rumors of underground military bases (there was also an unusual number of military planes and people in uniform seen around the town.) This is strange in that, to the best of my knowledge, there are no military bases in the area.

I've seen a few weird things, and was wondering if anyone else something they'd care to share.
 
President Bush was born on July 6, 1946, in New Haven, Connecticut, and he grew up in Midland and Houston, Texas.

How weird do you want ?
 
There are quite a few strange reports from Texas, including sightings of bigfoot, winged humanoids/creatures, religious phenomena, UFOs, and ghost lights. Take your pick ;)
 
So, who's going to get the ball rolling then? The only Texan themed piece of Forteana I can quickly link to is the Cash/Landrum case, for me one of the most interesting UFOlogical cases there are.
Who else has some more lesser known Texan tales? Greens, you hinted at some more stories you had to tell - care to entertain us round the campfire? :)
 
For Midland I have this:

1955 - discovery of an archaeological site showing human occupation, c.7000 BC.
1957 - UFO (nocturnal light) seen.

If you'd like any more for Texas in general, let me know :) Giant bird reports and ancient unidentified walls seem to be a common Texas theme.
 
I know the guy who runs this site - strapline "How the West was Weird":

http://www.texastwisted.com

It doesn't touch on actual paranormal things but certainly has a lot of information on strange and unusual things.

Emps
 
The world's largest cowboy boot (46ft tall) is in San Antonio, but I suppose it's only fortean if we can locate the world's largest cowboy. ;)
 
I think there are at least three Texans who've been posting to the board recently, so perhaps they could help us out.

Quickly looking up in one of my books, the following seem notable:

The Marfa Lights are probably the most famous ghost lights/earth lights in the US.

Near Austin in the 70's there was something called Project Starlight International, a private UFO landing base built to greet the ET's. (Sadly I think it went kaput before the Space Brothers ever showed up ;) )

Near Del Rio in the mid-19th century there were persistant reports of a feral "wolf-girl". (allegedly captured, then escaped).

The largest of the crystal skulls from Guatemala was the property of a Houston couple, last i heard.

Lubbock was the sight of a major UFO flap in the early 50's.

There's another earthlight near Saratoga (The Bragg Road Light).

And *supposedly* the ghost of pirate Jean Laffite guards his buried treasure at LaPorte, just north of Galveston Bay (yeah, well..., it's a good yarn anyway)
 
Well, I can provide a list if anyone wants one.
 
lopaka said:
The Marfa Lights are probably the most famous ghost lights/earth lights in the US.
They even have their own official website -- http://www.marfalights.com/ -- and a viewing area with a historical marker.

There are ghost stories about the Governor's Mansion, and La Llorona stories from lots of places.

One of my high school teachers swore that his father had seen UFO-related things while in the Air Force and stationed in San Antonio, but never talked about them in any detail. There seems to have been a UFO flap there in 1965, but that's as close as I've ever gotten to finding more about that story.
 
JerryB said:
Well, I can provide a list if anyone wants one.

Well as no one else has answered - fire away (for future reference consider I want to know more unless otherwise stated ;) ).

Emps
 
No list is going to be long enough. This is the most Fortean state I've ever lived in.

I'll be posting more fully on this after I get some obligations cleared away, but I had a flawless revision day and can't resist putting out some teasers.

I can't name you a single building in downtown San Antonio that *isn't* haunted. Two of these buildings are haunted by the same murder.

Whitley Streiber used to get abducted from one of our ritziest areas.

That's the tallest *pair* of cowboy boots in the world, thankyouverymuch, but the tallest cowboy is in Fort Worth.

Madame Blavatsky, hidden treasure, giant skeletons, cave networks.

And that's just San Antonio. I love this town!

There's a goat man in West Texas.

See y'all in March.
 
Emperor said:
Well as no one else has answered - fire away (for future reference consider I want to know more unless otherwise stated ;) ).

Okay - the text file attachment is all the info I have. Only goes up to the early 1980s tho'!
 
I forgot to mention - there are a wide variety of UFO-related sighting from Texas, which I didn't include. I can always list them seperately if needed.
 
Okay then - here's what I have for Texas UFOs. Only goes up to 1978 tho'!
 
Couldn't think of a better place for this:

Courthouse lawn surrounded with mysteries



Nowhere in Grayson County have there been more historical mysteries that the Grayson County Courthouse Square in downtown Sherman.

We're not talking early day mysteries, we're talking mysteries in the last 75 years. These mysteries have taken place right under our collective noses and while one of them has been solved -- we think -- the second one gets deeper every day.

First let's explore the current mystery. On the southeast corner of the Courthouse Square in 1930, a cannon was placed on a platform with a plaque reading "This gun mounted through he generosity of the Sherman Democrat and the Grayson County Commissioners Court. MCMXXX, Charles R. Simmons Post XXIX, American Legion."

This is not an official Grayson County Historical Marker.

Some say it was a Civil War cannon, but the marker doesn't say that. The MCMXXX date is 1930 and no one we've found or John Ramsey, Grayson Tax Collector, has found remembers seeing the cannon.

The cannon that occupies the space on the platform, according to Ramsey, is a Japanese Model 992, 70 MM Howitzer, 1932 model. When and how it got there, nobody seems to know. What happened to the original cannon also is a mystery.

Ramsey, a courthouse historian, has been searching high and low for an answer to the mystery and so far has come up empty handed.

Another story was that it was removed because veterans protested it because it was a civil war cannon. No photos are known to be available to prove the type cannon and what it looked like.

The Howitzer was used extensively throughout World War II, according to Ramsey. It weighs 568 pounds and has a range of 4.075 yards and an impact burst of 40 yards.

The Howitzer could not have been the original since the first cannon was placed in 1930 and this model Howitzer wasn't manufactured until 1932 and it received action in World War II in the 1940s.

As of April 2004 it has been completely restored due to the efforts of Grayson County and the Red River Valley Chapter of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association. Ramsey said that Custom Sandblasting and Advantage PowerCoating did the actual work.

Ramsey surmises that a veteran's organization may have secured the Howitzer because surplus military equipment is available to them. So far, no record of this transaction has been found either.

Since the Howitzer has been restored, Ramsey said a proper plaque will be secured for it. Meanwhile he's looking for information about either cannon. He's love to hear from anyone who can shed light on this mystery, and we would too.

It seems ironic that the first cannon may have go to the scrap pile during the war effort to make bullets to shoot at the Japanese, now one of their cannons has found its way back into its place.

When the statue was dedicated in 1897, the soldier was holding a musket. Photos and writings give no mention a bayonet. Yet in about 1976 15th District Judge (now retired) R.C. Vaughan and the late County Judge Les Tribble were eating lunch one day at a café across the street from the courthouse.

Judge Vaughan was looking out the window and commented that the arm on the statue was turning brown. This intrigued Judge Tribble and he began to investigate. Sue enough, the brown on the statue was rust. Then came the question, "Why would a bronzed statue begin rusting?"

Judge Tribble, a former Sherman police chief, put his investigative experience to work and found that the bayonet was made out of tin and attached with bailing wire. The bayonet was removed and all sorts of questions and answers were pondered.

Then one day when Judge Tribble was speaking at Austin College, he

mentioned the mystery. After the meeting someone -- he didn't remember who -- came up to him and related the story of the bayonet.

He was told that about 10 years earlier, which would have made it in the mid-1960s, an AC student on a dare made the bayonet and under the cover of night took off his shoes and climbed the statue to attach the extension to the musket. The informant wouldn't reveal the "artist" to protect him from prosecution if it should be illegal to attach a bayonet to a Confederate statue. To our knowledge the full story was never learned.

Bob Porterfield, a veteran of World War I, heard of Judge Tribble's dilemma and volunteered to give him a bayonet he had brought home as a souvenir from the war. Porterfield had nickleplated the bayonet and thought the Confederate soldier's musket would be a fitting place for the bayonet to rest. It later was questioned that the bayonet might have been from World War II and we tried to locate a Porterfield in Sherman ofrDenison who might be a relative of Bob, but no telephone number is listed for a Porterfield.

Sherman Fire Chief at the time, A.C. Jones brought his ladder truck, retrieved the tin bayonet with its rusting wire, and attached Porterfield's nickel-plated bayonet.

The handcrafted bayonet which shows the craftsmanship of its designer, took its place among Judge Tribble's mementos until he retired. He then gave it to Judge Vaughan, who added it to his collection of historical memorabilia that decorated his office. One day he missed it and thought he had been relieved of it.

Then about a year ago when his office contents were being removed from the courthouse, his grandson, Chris Vaughan who was helping pack up the contents, found it where it had gotten mixed in with other items. It is now in a safe place to eventually become a part of Grayson County's history.

The phantom bayonet spent 10 undetected years guarding the courthouse until the sharp eye of a judge spotted the "rusty ring around the arm of the statue.

There still are some blanks that have never been filled in, but maybe one day the bayonet craftsman will reveal himself and tell the rest of the story. Who knows, maybe two people will come forward. One with more information on the tin bayonet found its way to the Confederate soldier's musket and one with information on how the Japanese Howitzer found its way onto the courthouse lawn.

http://www.heralddemocrat.com/cgi-bin/LiveIQue.acgi$rec=122081?news
 
Exploring 'shadows on the wall'

Aspiring Schertz writer delves into paranormal

SCHERTZ - "There are things in this world that some of us have never seen and never will. Maybe it's better that way, because not all of these things epitomize heavenly beings; in fact, many of these sightings seem to be the exxact opposite in nature."

-- "Shadows on the Wall"

Childhood is where Joline Lieck's journey into the unknown began.
In her first book, "Shadows on the Wall," Lieck explains how she encountered "a hideous creature with a brown face and sharp yellow teeth just leering at me with a sinister smile." Sitting in her bedroom at age 10, Lieck is visited by a troll. At least that's what the 21-year-old Schertz resident vividly recalls.
"It's one of those things where you think it can't be happening, but it did," Lieck says.
On the Web forum Mabus Revolution, Lieck describes another pre-teen experience in which she spotted an unusual aircraft - perhaps an unidentified flying object - over her back yard. The strange aerial sighting is immediately followed by what Lieck can only describe as the appearance of a shadowy figure featuring the classic space alien profile: large head, extended arm and long fingers.
The paranormal has been an interest for the 2001 Clemens High School graduate. The aspiring writer and Web designer now seeks to entertain readers with accounts of phantoms, monsters, UFOs and other unexplained phenomena.
"My family has been into this stuff. I've collected stories from them, friends and people I've chatted with online. I watch and read horror movies and stories. So I just wanted to write about my experiences and the other things I've heard about," Lieck explains.
Frustrated from a grueling post-high school job search, Lieck decided to put her creative skills and interests to practical use. She began assembling anecdotes about the paranormal into book form in February of 2003. In spite of the trials and tribulations that most beginning writers endure, such as finding the right publisher, Lieck completed "Shadows on the Wall" nine months later. Lieck expects book distribution to start this fall.
"There are chapters on ghosts, monsters, unexplained happenings and superstition. A lot of material is on my and my family's stories," she adds.
Her inspiration grows in part from paranormal myths and legends that most Texans are familiar with. One os the South Side railroad track where it is said that a train collided with a school bus full of children, killing all aboard.
As the story goes, the youngsters' spirits linger at the rural intersection. Some people say small handprints appear on powder sprinkled on the trunks of cars that are parked in neutral atop the track. Lieck's research turned up reported sightings of thunderbirds in Texas, the Chupacabra, infamous apparitions around the San Antonio area, strange lights, demonic dogs,"gateways of Hell," among a myriad of oddities.
The personal journey into the unknown also coincided with the development of Lieck's interest in the Goth lifestyle. Coping with the typical social challenges that teenagers face in high school, such as being an outcast, Lieck got into Goth prior to graduation as a means to improve her self-esteem and self-respect.
"I realized that being different wasn't a bad thing and Goth helped me to embrace those differences while still making me feel like I was a part of something," she says.
Through her personal Web site, Lieck strives to dispel misperceptions that many people have about Goth - one being that all Goths are perennially depressed, black-clad, antisocial loners who are into dark, prurient matters such as Satanism.
"Each person has his or her interpretation of Goth. It's about being your own individual, staying true to yourself," Lieck says, adding that not all Goths are obsessed with death or antisocial behavior.
"Some people already have Goth in them, but don't really show it until later on. Some do it as an image thing or just to get attention. All in all, it's about not having to fit into a social stereotype and making yourself happy."
Lieck also says parents should not bbe concerned if their child begins to act and look Gothic unless "the person is showing suicidal/homicidal tendencies or engaging in destructive behavior. Otherwise, a little black eyliner never hurt anyone."
As for her future, Lieck hopes for lots of positive feedback on her first book. She is pondering a sequel if enough stories are compiled, and would like to formally research paranormality in a broader scope.
"I think there's something out there of a supernatural nature, but I'd like for people to have an open mind reading about the unknown," she says. "If there's a logical answer to something to something specific, I'll put that forward in discussion. I try to talk about all this in a rational manner."

http://www.geocities.com/suavesuccubus/interview

There are exceprts and stuff too on her site:

http://www.geocities.com/suavesuccubus/shadowsonthewall

Emps
 
Texas, my Texas

I can only think of a few instances of strange things that have happened to me personally during my stretch in Texas.

1. I lived in Crowley, a little town south of Fort Worth, for a while, and the house my family lived in was full of strange things. The things that stands out the strongest in my mind was one night, while i was home by myself, I was in the bathroom, doing what you do there, and I heard voices and footsteps go past the bathroom door. (It was a good thing I was in the position I was in, actually.) I went out and looked around the house, but all of the doors were locked, and I could find no one inside. While I was standing in the living room, I heard someone laugh, and everything on the fireplace mantle fell off at the same time.

2. Years later, we moved to Midland, whihc is just about the nastiest place I've every lived. One night, I was coming home from my GF's house, and I ran out of gas. At the time, we lived about 15 miles out in the middle of nowhere, but I wasn't far from home so I was hoofing it. It was a clear night, rather cool, and the light from the moon was bright enough to see pretty well. After about 20 minutes on the road, I heard something move close by to my right. I turned and jumpd, and laughed when I realized it was my 2 days beard growth rubbing aginast the collara of my jacket that had made the noise. I was about to head off when I saw something move off to the left of the road.

It was some sort of human shaped figure, all hunched and stooped over. It appeared to be in the process of clambering over a barbed wire fence that seperated some ranch land from the road I was on. I recall very clearly it making a sort of meeping sound, and that it's eyes glower greenish yellow in the gloom. Anyway, it was about half way over the fence when a car turned onto the road I was on. It flinched at the headlights, looked back at me, and jumped off the fense. It ran hunched over, sort of loping along, and was soon lost in the darkness.

Naturally, I flipped out, and ran most of the way home, convinced it was cirling around to catch up with me. About 100 yards from my house, my mom actually pulled up and offered me a ride. She was just getting off the late shift and had seen my car along side the road. I told her what happened, and she just sort of looked at me, not like I was crazy, but like she knew something. I need to talk to her about it again sometime....

Anyway, that's all for now. I'll post more later, but I'm at work.
 
RE Music

Have you ever heard of Calvin Russell (Austine)plays rock/blues/ballads.
Friend of me and Willy(Nelson that is)
Greetings
Bill
 
I lived in Austin for seven years and my friends and I often visited the green belt that surrounds the city. One night, I think it was the summer of 2001, about five of us went into the Barton Springs area of the green belt around midnight. My friend Chris wanted to show us this cave he found in one of the creek ravine walls. He was one of those crazy outdoors types who would crawl into any space he could find.
I don't know how he found this cave entrance in the dark surrounded by miles of wilderness, but he did. The hole was only big enough for one person at a time and you had to lie flat on your stomach and pull yourself along with your elbows. I'm not terribly good with distance, but I'd say this tunnel was probably 15 to 20 yards long before it opened into the cave. Inside there was room for 4 people to sit. We had two of those plastic lightsabers for light(we spent the rest of the night running around like idiots fighting each other in the woods.)
What was so amazing about this cave though was on the back wall were about 9 or 10 intricately carved stone demonic faces. The detail on these faces was exquisite. Alongside these were about 4 more primitive faces that were more human but simple. The demon faces however obviously took a lot of time and I suspect some kind of power tools had to be used. It was very eerie to be sitting in a cave in the middle of Austin being stared at by stone faces under the light of a Jedi lightsaber.
Just thought I'd relate that since although they were modern it was still odd nonetheless.
 
I'm not a "native Texan", but I've been a Texan since 1990. I've seen a few strange things in my life...not a LOT, but some....mostly not in Texas though. One thing I DID see while here in the Lone Star State was a strange shadow on the wall that didn't belong there. I'd read of people seeing such things and never believed it a hundred percent, but I had just gotten up for work at 0400 and was in the kitchen getting my lunch bucket ready to go. I glanced up and just caught seeing what looked like the shadow of a person walking past the wall in the living room. In a heartbeat it was gone, but there was no doubt in my mind what I'd seen. I have no explanation for it. Either it was really there for some reason I can't understand, or there is more to the human psychology than we can presently explain....and I don't think there are any doctors or scientists who would deny THAT.

For a little added Texas Forteana, visit http://www.texasbigfoot.com
 
Emperor said:
I know the guy who runs this site - strapline "How the West was Weird":

http://www.texastwisted.com

He has just brought out the latest in the "Weird ..." series: Weird Texas now available to preorder:

Barnes & Noble

Weird Texas

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Think you know Texas? Sure, there's the Alamo, the Cowboys, armadillos, Longhorns, Aggies, chili, the Space Center, and lots and lots of bluebonnets. And everybody knows not to mess with us. But there's something else, something we've got more of than any other state-we've got a whole lot of...weirdness. Yep, the Lone Star State has a vast amount of strange people and unusual sites, and they burst forth from every page of the biggest, most bizarre collection of Texas stories ever assembled: Weird Texas

Our weird quotient is so high that it took three expert chroniclers of the weird to put this book together. With notepads and cameras in hand and steeds of one sort or another at the ready, Wesley Treat, Heather Shade, and Rob Riggs traveled the highways, byways, back roads, and all roads in between in search of the odd and the offbeat. They tracked down impossible-to-believe tales only to discover an odd grain of truth that gives the stories just enough credibility to make one feel a little...uncomfortable. Whether it's a goatman, a mystery airship, haunted cemeteries, or bouncing ghost lights, our authors have researched and chronicled the stories and present them here for you, fellow admirers of the weird.

So turn the pages and visit the Munster Mansion, chat with the Big Thicket Wild Man, coast up Austin's Gravity Hill, and drive down Demon's Road (after that road trip, see if mysterious handprints appear on the outside of your car). Check out the Lonely Ghost of Old Greenhouse Road, lean against the Leaning Tower of Texas, motor on out to Cadillac Ranch, enter the cave of the White Shaman, get healed in Sour Lake, and travel across, if you dare, the Screaming Bridge.

A brand-new entry in the best-selling Weird series, Weird Texas is packed with all the good stuff your history teacher never taught you. So join Wesley, Shady, and Rob on their great adventure. You won't regret it. And that's a Texas-style promise.
 
:( Can we please get back to the"Ancient unidentified walls"Please.
Please.Not that I'm ever going to Texas.

Y'aaaalll taaalllkk toooo slooooow.

sorry

Exit's over there,right?
 
Texas definitely runs a close second to Florida for general weirdness. Crazy things happen in the Lone Star state. :confused:
 
I've added the timeline for Texas to my 'Fortean Timeline' site (the link's in my sig).
 
JerryB: Thanks for that :)

----------
Mighty_Emperor said:
Emperor said:
I know the guy who runs this site - strapline "How the West was Weird":

http://www.texastwisted.com

He has just brought out the latest in the "Weird ..." series: Weird Texas now available to preorder:

Barnes & Noble

Weird Texas

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Think you know Texas? Sure, there's the Alamo, the Cowboys, armadillos, Longhorns, Aggies, chili, the Space Center, and lots and lots of bluebonnets. And everybody knows not to mess with us. But there's something else, something we've got more of than any other state-we've got a whole lot of...weirdness. Yep, the Lone Star State has a vast amount of strange people and unusual sites, and they burst forth from every page of the biggest, most bizarre collection of Texas stories ever assembled: Weird Texas

....

Now available through Amazon:
www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/14027 ... ntmagaz-21
www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1402732 ... enantmc-20

He is currently doing book signings around Texas - details on the first page:

www.wesleytreat.com

If anyone goes to one tell him Emps sent you (not that you'll get money off or anything but it'd amuse me) ;)
 
KEEPING TEXAS WEIRD

February 26,2006
Kate Lohnes
The Monitor

Give yourself a quick quiz. Texas is home to which of the following things?

a) Armadillos.

b) The Alamo.

c) The Cockroach Hall of Fame.

Believe it or not, the answer is d) all of the above.

Many Texas residents, regardless of whether they grew up here or not, are familiar with the state tree (pecan) or the state’s many slogans (among them "Don’t Mess With Texas" and "The Friendly State"). However, not many people know the array of oddities to which the state plays host. According to historians and writers, Texas is more than a little weird beneath its rough-and-tumble exterior.

The offbeat nature of Texas is completely natural, said John Kelso, a columnist with the Austin-American Statesman and author of Texas Curiosities.

"I think there’s more eccentricity in Texas than in other states," he said. "It’s a free-wheeling, free-thinking kind of place. If you’re big enough to get away with it, people will pretty much let you do it."

From locations to people to urban legends, here are a few things you might not know exist in the Lone Star State:

LITTLE-KNOWN LOCATIONS

Within the Texas borders, travelers can find a number of quirky pit-stops. According to Wesley Treat, co-author of the book Weird Texas, the heart of oddness is Austin, which uses "Keep Austin Weird" as the official slogan. Treat said the city prides itself on originality, but one of its most interesting attractions is the Congress Avenue bat colony, the largest urban bat colony in North America. The colony roosts under the bridge that crosses the city lake, Treat said, with the number of bats totaling around 1.5 million.

Other big cities in Texas have their share of weirdness, Treat and Kelso said. Houston, for example, has the National Museum of Funeral History. However, the weirdest spots in Texas are found mostly in small towns. The Cockroach Hall of Fame is in Plano, while Fort Stockton is home to the world’s largest roadrunner.

The Rio Grande Valley is not without its quirks. According to Kelso, a prime example is in Elsa, where in 1993 a man named Dario Mendoza noticed the Virgin Mary in the left rear panel of his Camaro. Mendoza decided to make the Camaro into a shrine to the Virgin, Kelso said, creating an altar and a makeshift chapel around the car.

Elsa isn’t the only weird place in the Valley, Treat said. Los Fresnos has Little Graceland, a tiny museum off Highway 100 dedicated to Elvis Presley, and Hidalgo has the world’s largest killer bee, a statue that sits behind the public library.

ECCENTRIC PERSONALITIES

Colorful doesn’t begin to describe the people you meet in Texas, Treat said.

"Texans are characters," he said. "It’s the cliché that everything is bigger, and so are the personalities. Texans aren’t afraid to show a person what they’re like."

One of the state’s pseudo-celebrities is Leslie Cochran, a cross-dresser who frequents the intersection of 6th Street and Congress Avenue in Austin. Cochran is a local personality who in 2000 and 2003 ran for mayor. His 2003 platform included a plan to house the homeless in teepees.

According to Bob Bowman, historian and author of Bob Bowman’s East Texas: 124 Stories You Might Not Know If You Didn’t Read This Book, Texas was also home to Adah Menken. In 1860, the actress performed in a play in which she stripped to apparent nudity (in reality, she wore flesh-colored tights). Thus, Menken is credited as the inventor of the strip tease.

In Eastland County, the most notable figure is not a person, but a horned toad named "Ol’ Rip." According to texasescapes.com, in 1897 the Eastland officials entombed a live horned toad in a time capsule, which was placed in the new court house cornerstone. Thirty-one years later, the court house was replaced and the time capsule opened, revealing a still-living toad. "Ol’ Rip" became a sensation, featured in a "Ripley’s Believe It Or Not" newspaper column and visiting with then-president Calvin Coolidge.

URBAN LEGENDS

Texas also has its fair share of urban legends, said Rob Riggs, co-author of Weird Texas. One of the longest-running legends is "the wild man," or East Texas’s version of Big Foot. Rumors of an ape-like creature that allegedly inhabits the wilderness northeast of Houston have circulated in Texas lore for at least 100 years, Riggs said.

"Most people have heard about the Bigfoot, but that’s specifically in the Pacific Northwest," he said. "What people don’t know is that there’s a long history of similar sighting in the Deep South, particularly in Louisiana, Arkansas and East Texas.

Texas also has the "ghost lights," a celestial phenomenon that occasionally appears in the sky over Bragg (a ghost town) and Marfa. According to Riggs, the ghost lights are bright orbs that appear from seemingly nowhere in the sky. The ghost lights have been documented for centuries and have never been fully explained by science. The Bragg Lights and the Marfa Lights are two of the best-known appearances of the ghost lights in Texas, Riggs said.

Source
 
Weird Texas was one of the books I picked up at ALA last month, but I haven't finished reading it yet. It's more anecdotal than authoritative (not that there's anything wrong with that) - compare the entry on the Elmendorf "chupacabras" to the news stories, for example.

And I am bothered by the fact that they don't seem to have used an illustrator who was from Texas. I refer specifically to the La Llorona illustration which features a saguaro cactus on the outskirts of San Antonio. We don't have them. I doubt they'd grow - too damp, and the soil's too heavy. The iconic Texas cacti are prickly pear and yucca.

However - the box of blood and bones on the bridge! Now that's a creepy story!
 
Yoo hoo, Peni! :)

Bigfoot in Texas lecture

"Bigfoot in Texas?" lecture

The "Bigfoot in Texas?" exhibit and speaker series at UTSA's Institute of Texan Cultures evaluates findings, beliefs, folklore and methods of scientific investigation of the Bigfoot phenomenon. The lecture, "Evidence, Collection and Examination of Bigfoot," features: Jeff Meldrum, associate professor of anatomy and adjunct associate professor of anthropology at Idaho State University and researcher of Sasquatch; Jimmy Chilcutt, forensic consultant and retired Conroe, Texas, police officer with nearly two decades of fingerprint and crime scene investigation experience; and Rick Noll, longtime researcher of Bigfoot and principal member of the expedition group that found and collected the Skookum body cast in 2000. Admission is $7, adults; $4, children seniors and military personnel with ID; free for UTSA students, faculty and staff with UTSACard.

Start: May 6, 2006 1:00 PM
End: May 6, 2006 5:00 PM
Location: UTSA's Institute of Texan Cultures, 801 S. Bowie St.

Contact: Willie Mendez
Email: [email protected].
Phone: (210) 458-2330

*Unless otherwise noted, all deadlines end at 5 p.m on the specified date.
*When a deadline falls on a weekend, the deadline is extended to the following business day.
*Dates listed are subject to change.

© The University of Texas at San Antonio 6900 North Loop 1604 West, San Antonio, TX 78249, (210) 458-4011
 
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