torical — surrounding the Alamo, the Menger and Emily Morgan hotels, the old jail where infamous child-killer Clemente Apolinar was hanged, and many more. Upcoming new tours feature a daytime lunch/brunch tour at a haunted hotel, followed by a bus ride to haunted locations including some of the oldest graveyards in the city.
A Haunting
We Will Go...
More ways to get your goosebumps on. Check into a haunted hotel, check out a grisly murder book, tour a haunted harbor, or just for fun, do your own ghostbusting at home — or anywhere you dare.
Murder in Room 636
The “incident” was the 1965 murder of an unknown woman, whose dismembered body was taken by the suspect as he fled the hotel, later committing suicide at the St. Anthony Hotel before he could be arrested. “The victim’s remains have never been found,” says Fuentes. “Maybe someday someone will come across them.” For more info: Gunterhotelroom636.com. Reader and viewer discretion advised.
Ghosts with a History Photos courtesy of The Galveston Historical Foundation
Galveston makes no bones about its reputation as one of the most haunted cities in the country. The Galveston Historical Foundation has thrills aplenty with its October “You Can’t Escape History” lineup of ghostly pursuits. Here’s a sampling: Haunted Harbor Tour, October 25, 26, 31. Tour Galveston’s storied harbor with its tragic sites and watery graves aboard the 50-foot passenger boat Seagull II on this popular tour. Tickets $15, limit 45 guests per tour.
Photos courtesy of Guillermo Fuentes
Seagull II
Room 636 ‘Before’
The shocking, brutal murder in Room 636 at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio remains one of the city’s most compelling crime stories — enough that Guillermo Fuentes, founder and director of SAPI - San Antonio Paranormal Investigations (paranormalinvestigations.org) devoted eight years to researching it. The result is his 2012 book, “The Murder of Room 636: A Haunting Truth.” Fuentes had unprecedented access to police records, public documents, and city and state files, along with his own documented research of paranormal activity. “From 2005 to 2012 I did about seven investigations inside the room where the incident occurred,” he says. The Gunter Hotel 80
Urban Home Austin – San Antonio
Menard After Dark Ghost Hunts. October 26-31. Secrets, spirits and history of the 1838 Michel B. Menard house, Galveston’s oldest existing residence. Tickets $20, limit 20 guests per tour.
1838 Michael B. Menard House
For more info: Galveston Historical Foundation, Galvestonhistory.org, 409.765.7834.
Ready for DIY ghost hunting?
There’s an app for that. You knew it had to happen. Ghost Radar® and its various versions (Classic, Legacy and Connect) have features such as a sonar-style sweep screen to detect possible presences, and translating energy signals into EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) text, in case someone — or something — has a message for you. For iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android. Free-$1.99.
For more info: Spudpickles.com
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