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Ripley’s Haunted Adventure

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ALAMO CITY GHOST TOURS

www.Alamocityghosttours.com

GHOST CITY TOURS

www.Ghostcitytours.com

NIGHTLY SPIRITS HAUNTED PUB CRAWL

www.Nightlyspirits.com

RIPLEY’S HAUNTED ADVENTURE AND TOMB RIDER 3-D

www.Phillipsentertainmentinc.com

RJA GHOST TOURS

www.Rjaghosttours.com

SISTERS GRIMM GHOST TOURS www.Sistersgrimmghosttour.com

By Susan Yerkes

Start with the Alamo, where hundreds of volunteer defenders and Santa Anna’s troops met brutal deaths in the famous 1836 battle for Texas Independence. It’s a ghost-hunter’s goldmine. Only months after the massacre, Mexican troops were dispatched to raze the fallen fortress to the ground. But they returned, terrified, to report that a legion of ghostly monks, whirling flaming swords, materialized before their eyes. When Santa Anna dispatched another group to complete the destruction, they, too, returned shaken, reporting that a towering spirit leapt at them from the chapel roof, holding flaming fireballs. Some claim that sculptor Pompeo Coppini memorialized that apparition as the winged Spirit of Sacrifice in the classical Cenotaph that stands in Alamo Plaza today.

Visit the plaza on a quiet moonlit evening when the old stones of the Alamo seem to glow from within, and you can almost hear an eerie, solitary bugle sound the notes of the deguello, Santa Anna’s signal to his soldiers to take no prisoners.

Haunted Alamo, courtesy of Visit San Antonio

October is the month the ghosts and spirits come out to play, and San Antonio is a ghost hunter’s paradise. The city’s history is rich with spooky legends and downtown is a hotbed of haunts.

Paranormal investigators say that strong emotions and violent acts create an energy that manifests in various detectable ways, and all of them have been reported at the Alamo over the years. According to “The Haunted Alamo–A History of the Mission and Guide to Paranormal Activity” by Robert Wlodarski and Ann Powell Wlodarski, ghostly footsteps of long-dead sentries and the loud sobs of grieving women have been heard many times over the years. A young blond-haired boy, perhaps the child of one of the defenders who was hustled out of the Alamo before the battle, appears in a window overlooking the old mission’s courtyard. A bushy-mustached gentleman in a top hat appears and disappears. A man in frontier buckskins carrying a long rifle and another in rough homespun clothes have appeared to Alamo Rangers. Ghostly murmurs emanate from empty spaces in the Long Barrack, and guards have reported their hair standing on end when mysterious, invisible presences brushed by them in the chapel.

Just south of the Alamo, the historic Menger Hotel is another famously haunted place with at least one famous ghost. To date, a whopping 32 separate spirits have been reported in the hotel, including an apparition of President Theodore Roosevelt who recruited volunteers for his troops in the Spanish-American War in the Menger Bar. The magnificent old saloon, built in 1887 to replicate London’s House of Lords Pub, has reportedly been a return destination for Roosevelt’s rambunctious spirit. The ghost of Sallie White, a chambermaid murdered by her husband in the hotel in the 1870s, has been spotted many times, wearing her antique uniform and an old bandana on her head, carrying clean towels through the corridors. The Menger is a frequent stop on a number of the city’s ghost tours, and the Sisters Grimm Ghost Tours company hosts special haunted dinners in the Menger dining room for the curious who want to dine with the undead. Another of the company’s popular tours for the brave explores the city’s most historic cemetery. Sisters Grimm is also the only outfit in town that offers a ghost tour by bus.

The Menger isn’t the only hotel with a haunting history. Nearby, the Emily Morgan Hotel, which once housed an early San Antonio hospital,

Spanish Governor’s Palace Tomb Rider 3-D

Gunter Hotel

is the site where some sad spirits are said to walk. Downtown’s historic Sheraton Gunter Hotel was the scene of one of the city’s most horrific modern murders. In 1965, a maid entered room 636 and found a man standing by a blooddrenched bed holding a dripping bloody bundle. She screamed and ran. When police arrived, the man was gone, leaving the room covered in gore with small pieces of flesh the only remnants of the body’s owner. Lawmen tracked the killer to the nearby St. Anthony Hotel where, barricaded in his room, he shot himself. Strange sounds still sometimes emanate from the Gunter’s Room 636, and a ghostly blonde woman has mysteriously appeared in photos taken there.

Alamo City Ghost Tours start in Main Plaza and focus on the south end of the downtown. The guides speak on “twisted history, gruesome tales and ghost stories,” from the legendary hanging tree in front of the Spanish Governor’s Palace to the site of an old city jail where the last legal executions in San Antonio took place. Stories of murder and mayhem, women and children found buried interred in walls and the spirits that still lurk are intermixed with quirky city history. Like several other companies, Alamo City provides ghost hunting equipment such as EMF (electromagnetic frequency detectors) to dowsing rods to give guests some interactive experience.

RJA Ghost Tours goes even deeper into the details of contemporary ghost hunting. The owners and most staff have actively investigated the paranormal activity in San Antonio and elsewhere, so they have their own first-hand stories of harrowing brushes with the departed. They take along the full array of ghost-hunting devices on their rounds of downtown’s bestknown haunted sites.

If all these ethereal spirits leave you shaking like a margarita machine, you might want to mix in the other kind of spirits to settle your nerves. The Nightly Spirits Haunted Pub Crawl takes guests ages 21 and over to historic haunts, with stops for libations at some cool cocktail bars with haunting pasts. If you like your ghost stories on the saucy side, Ghost City Tours offers a family ghost tour as well as the only R-rated ghost excursion. The company’s Madames and Mayhem tour focuses on adult themes and content, with stops in the old town’s former red-light district and other locations, with unexpurgated narratives.

If you’re craving even more spine-tingling fun, Phillips Entertainment’s Ripley’s Haunted Adventure and Tomb Rider 3-D, both just across the plaza from the Alamo, are a great place to find it. The Haunted Adventure’s walking path through a bevy of shocks and horrors is on steroids for October, with weekend Fright Nights bringing in extra actors and frights to pump up the scream factor. Tomb Rider 3-D takes folks on a ride into the ancient tomb of an Egyptian god, with laser guns to blast away at the attacking ghosts and ghouls. Even if you don’t hit a single one, you can stay and play free at the arcade at the end of the ride.

As Halloween and the Day of the Dead draw nearer, the spooks and spirits are stirring. That makes this month the best time to experience the chilling tales of San Antonio’s ghosts—if you dare.

WRITER’S BIO

Susan Yerkes is an award-winning travel writer and journalist based in San Antonio. She is still waiting to see her first ghost, and hopes if she does see one, it will happen on this side of the dirt.

Celebrate the Holiday season along the San Antonio River Walk

FORD HOLIDAY RIVER PARADE AND RIVER LIGHTING CEREMONY

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2021 The 40th Annual Ford Holiday River Parade is a San Antonio tradition that officially kicks off the city’s holiday season. Under a canopy of 100,000 bright and colorful lights draped over the towering bald Cypress Trees that line the River Walk, festive and lighted floats usher in the holidays in a spectacular one-hour parade. Themed “40 Years of Magic” for the 2021 season, two special additions are included in this anniversary edition.

San Antonio actor Cody Garcia will star as Grand Marshal Willy Wonka in a musical performance at the start of the parade, similar to those during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, and he will resume the role in the Majestic’s Broadway production of Charlie & the Chocolate Factory the following week, December 7-12. For a pre-parade show, illuminated kayaks, sponsored by Mission Kayaks, will cruise the river.

This ticketed parade begins at 6:00pm and is broadcast live at 7:00pm at the Arneson River Theater. Several free viewing areas are offered along the parade route (bring your own chair) on a first-come basis between Richmond Avenue and Pecan Street on the east side of the River Walk. Early ticket prices range from $15 -$40 and children 2 years of age or older will need a ticket. Strollers and carriers are not allowed on the River Walk for this event. ADA tickets are available in certain areas.

FORD HOLIDAY BOAT CAROLING

DECEMBER 2-23, 2021 Celebrate the timeless tradition of spreading joy with a San Antonio twist. Sing in the holidays by caroling with friends and family from your private, one-hour rented boat on the River Walk, and encourage spectators along the banks of the river to join in the fun as you drift by! Caroling boats are decorated with lights and holiday bling and include a driver, a USB loaded with popular Christmas music and folders with music lyrics. Each boat can accommodate a maximum of 15 people (children under the age of 2 are not counted toward boat capacity). Other types of festive holiday music such as mariachis, bell-ringers and bands are also welcome to book a caroling boat. With two timeslots on Mondays through Thursdays and three on Fridays through Sundays, merry songs fill every evening during the holiday season.

FORD FIESTA DE LAS LUMINARIAS

DECEMBER 3-19, 2021 Experience the holiday ambience of the San Antonio River Walk as you stroll along the lush banks guided by more than 2,000 glowing luminarias—the traditional Mexican Christmas lantern originally consisting of a candle set in sand inside a small bag. This centuries-old tradition begins at dusk Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for three weekends in December.

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