Marilyn Manson-- This is Halloween

Ghosts of the Alamo – Haunted San Antonio

Purported Alamo Ghost Picture

What echoes remain of the more than 259 Texian defenders and the nearly 1500 Mexican Army troops who lost their lives at the Alamo? Are their ghosts still there? If you ask many in San Antonio, Texas they will tell you that spirits, ghosts of those doomed men, still walk the grounds of old mission. In fact the Alamo is considered by many to be one of the most haunted sites in the nation. It’s no wonder, considering the history of the place and it should definitely be on the travel agenda of any ghost enthusiast.

In 1836 Texas was part of Mexico ruled by the dictator General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, the so-called “Napoleon of the West.” Many citizens of the United States had come to Texas years earlier their rights as foreign-born landowners guaranteed by the Mexican constitution. When Santa Anna decided to nullify the constitution Texans were incensed and a revolt ensued.

The bombardment of the Alamo by cannon fire went on for thirteen days and nights as the approximately 200 defenders sat inside, surrounded by an army of 5,000. In the end all but the women and children were killed.

“I’ll never go back in the Alamo again,” swears Jorge, a native of San Antonio. “It was closing time and the guard was locking up. I looked over to where the case is that displays Bowie’s knife and I noticed a man standing there gazing into the display case. I figured he must have been an enthusiastic docent because he was all dressed in old fashion clothing.”

“Then I realized I was looking at a ghost. I know it sounds crazy, but I realized I could see right through him,” Jorge explains.

Ghost stories about the Alamo go back to the days right after its fall. The bodies of the defeated Texas defenders were reportedly stacked up and burned, never receiving a Christian burial.

When Mexican soldiers were ordered to return to the mission and completely destroy it they were met by a giant ghostly figure standing atop the mission brandishing a ball of fire. Terrified they retreated. The ghost appeared again when the commander went to get the job done, and he too fled in fear.

Another frequently sited ghost is that of a little girl dressed in white who appears in the top window of the building that is now the gift shop. People outside see her and naturally assume that she’s looking out from the second story. They step inside to discover that there is no second story and the window is twenty feet above the floor, and that the ghost is no longer there.

Whatever your feelings about ghosts, the Alamo certainly does exude a haunted air. It’s hard not think of all the men who lost their lives on that ground and wonder if their restless spirits aren’t still lingering.   

Haunted Texas: Devil's Backbone

From the SA Express News:

There's weirdness in the winds that roll over the top of the Devil's Backbone.
Residents sometimes hear stallions galloping through the darkened canyons. But no one has ever seen any horses. And when they check the ground later, there are no hoof prints.

Charlie Beatty has heard the horses, and more. He claims to have stumbled upon unexplained cold spots — patches of chilly air — in distant corners of his ranch. This has happened in mid-July.

Dozens of locals and passers-by, meanwhile, have reported ghostly sightings of Confederate soldiers, Apache chiefs and lost travelers on the roadside, in pastures and at their doorsteps. The apparitions always disappear when confronted.

If you want to buy antiques, head west to Blanco. If you want science, head east to Texas State University in San Marcos.

But if you want more ghost stories than you can shake a severed head at, you'll need to come to the Devil's Backbone, the Hill Country's hub of ethereal hijinks and paranormal shenanigans.

Book Trailer: Mike Stellar- Nerves of Steel by KA Holt

I've been posting a few book trailers lately because the subject is one I've been thinking about. I think this one makes really great use of very simple elements.

Favorite Halloween Movies?-- Ours is the Company of Wolves

From the NYT:

The film, directed by Neil Jordan and written by him and Angela Carter, based on her story, begins as a dream prompted by a young woman's sense of sibling rivalry and then, within the dream, opens up into a series of tales within tales. Some of these are told by the dreamer Rosaleen (Sarah Patterson), the contemporary young woman who becomes Red Riding Hood, and some are told by Red Riding Hood's eerily kind, actually menacing old grandmother (Angela Lansbury).

Mr. Jordan, his set designers and his special-effects people have made a movie that looks like a cross between something by Jean Cocteau, not at peak form, and a horror movie from Hammer Films. It's set mostly in a wonderfully artificial-looking studio forest, stocked with trees that turn into houses, toads that are life- size but toadstools that are 12 feet tall, plus rats, snakes, owls and wolves - dozens of them, many disguised as men.

The central Red Riding Hood story as played out here appears to be taken fairly straight from the Brothers Grimm. The film makers, however, have more than fleshed out the character of Grandmother, who is full of esoteric advice, such as ''Beware of windfallen apples and of men whose eyebrows meet.'' She also knows a thing or two about wolves. ''The worst kind of wolf is hairy on the inside,'' she says. ''The wolf who ate your sister was hairy on the outside, and took her straight to heaven.''

Clinic: the Witch

On the run up to our favorite holiday, we're posting some extra Witch-themed stuff just to get in the right frame of mind. Certainly things will be strange around here for a few days.

Radiacs: She's My Witch

Just a little witch-themed entertainment as we await the Day of the Dead, Samhain, All Hallows Eve...