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Haunted Houston Tales of ghosts and ghouls that inhabit the area by Jim Parsons - Daily Cougar Staff Do you believe in ghosts? Many people are skeptical about the paranormal, believing that the dead don't come back to walk among the living. But many others swear they have had brushes with the supernatural, claiming they have seen -- or at least felt -- the spirits of the deceased. Humans have been intrigued by the idea of ghosts for centuries. Today's technology, like electromagnetic field recorders and infrared photography, has allowed some intrepid "ghost hunters" to try to collect proof of hauntings -- but how credible that proof is remains unclear. What is evident is that, as frightened as people may be of actually seeing a ghost, they're strangely intrigued by ghost stories. With that in mind, we've compiled an overview of some of the more haunted sites in and around Houston. Check them out for yourself, if you dare. Even if you don't see a ghost at any of these sites, they're likely to teach you quite a bit about local history. (Just remember not to bother the living in your amateur ghost hunts.)
The Ale House The place has several well-documented "occurrences," many linked to the third floor, which was once the apartment of a woman who owned the building and allegedly operated an illegal drinking establishment on the first floor and a house of ill repute on the second. The woman is said to have died in her rooms, which today are decorated like an English pub.
At The Ale House, an English-style pub on W. Alabama that has been a farm, an inn, a brothel and a speakeasy in its past, employees report "occurrences" of the supernatural sort. Lights turn on by themselves, chairs squeak and unseen women speak, according to workers. Employees who work on the third floor report being overwhelmed with feelings of grief. They say lights and air conditioners turn themselves on -- even when they're not plugged in. Throughout the building, mugs swing and chairs squeak of their own volition, and people hear the sounds of women talking when no one is in the building. Lone Star Spirits, a Houston-based paranormal research group, did an investigation of the site during which some members saw the shadow of a woman descending the stairs. Photographs of the stairway taken when the woman was supposedly descending show strange orbs of light -- which "ghost hunters" believe indicate a supernatural presence. The Ale House used to be located at 2425 W. Alabama St., just east of Kirby Drive.
Houston Public Library The downtown library's Julia Ideson Building is reportedly the home of Mr. Cramer, a spectral violin-playing janitor. Cramer began working in the building when it opened in 1926; at night, after the library had closed, he often practiced his violin in its rooms and corridors.
The Julia Ideson Building of the Houston Public Library is reportedly the home of the ghost of a former janitor. Mr. Cramer, who worked in the building from its opening in 1926 until his death 10 years later, practiced his violin there after the library closed. Many visitors have reported hearing his ghostly music, especially on overcast days. Cramer died in the Ideson Building's basement in 1936, and since then, he has made his presence known with ghostly violin playing, particularly in the rotunda and the Texas Room. Many people have reported hearing the music, especially on overcast days, and visitors often report feeling like they are being watched. The Julia Ideson Building is located at 500 McKinney Street downtown.
Spaghetti Warehouse The Spaghetti Warehouse is located in a downtown building that has been a cotton storage facility and a pharmaceutical warehouse in its 100-plus-year history. Legend has it that the owner of the pharmaceutical company was killed when he fell down an elevator shaft while working late one night. Most of the reported activity takes place on the second floor, where employees have said table arrangements change and flatware flies off racks in the kitchen. Night crews say they feel like they're being watched from the second-floor stairs, and others have reported seeing a lady in white on the premises. Lone Star Spirits has made two trips to the building recently. The first yielded a photograph of mist in the old elevator; on the second, an electromagnetic field detector recorded a spike in the middle of a second-floor dining room. (Paranormal investigations use EMF detectors to find magnetic fields that are allegedly associated with ghosts.) A photograph of the area, and another taken near where an EMF spike was recorded in the main second-floor dining room, showed orbs of light. The Spaghetti Warehouse is located downtown at 901 Commerce St.
KLOL Radio Another site that Long Star Spirits has checked out is the KLOL-FM broadcasting studio on Lovett Boulevard in Montrose. Several employees of the station had reported experiences ranging from poltergeist activity to apparitions in the building -- including telephone receivers jumping as far as 3 feet and sightings of what appeared to be an Hispanic cleaning lady. The station's modern building is located on the site of the Jesse Jones mansion (the Joneses were one of the wealthiest families in early-20th-century Houston), and Lone Star Spirits reports that at least one murder and one assault have taken place on the premises. When the investigators first visited the location last year, they found that the elevator doors opened and closed for no reason. One of the members rode the elevator to the second floor, and when the door opened, he caught a glimpse of an Hispanic woman in a denim shirt. During the team's second visit, just before Halloween last year, it brought along a camera crew from KPRC-TV. While the reporter was interviewing one of the station's employees, a camera bag fell off a table for no apparent reason, and the room temperature reportedly dropped. Later, the reporter, the camera man and four members of Lone Star Spirits were near the elevator when the door began to open and close repeatedly with no explanation.
Battleship Texas The Battleship Texas is the only such surviving vessel to have taken part in both world wars. It was the first ship in the U.S. Navy to have anti-aircraft guns and commercial radar. It fired on Nazi defenses on D-Day in 1944 and was later hit by German artillery near Cherbourg, France. Now retired, the Battleship Texas is moored near the San Jacinto Battlefield east of Houston and is open to the public. The ship is reportedly haunted by a red-headed sailor who appears on one of its decks. Reports indicate the apparition is seen dressed in a white sailor's suit and standing near a ladder, smiling. Also, a caretaker in the trophy room (located on the same deck) claims she entered a space/time slip that sent her to the cemetery at Normandy. The room is used to display guns and other military equipment. Lone Star Spirits first investigated the battleship in late 1998, resulting in one recorded EMF spike and a photograph of a strange light streak. The Battleship Texas is located about 11 miles east of Loop 610 off Texas Highway 225 in La Porte. To reach it, take 225 to the Battleground Road, exit and drive north a few miles.
Old Town Spring Spring began as a railroad town in the late 19th century, and although many of its buildings from that era are gone, enough remain today -- with a few additional historic structures having been moved there -- to form a district of restaurants and shops along the old railroad tracks. Most of the buildings are well over a century old, and several have reports of hauntings. White Hall is one of the few original structures in Old Town Spring. It was once the Klein Funeral Home, and the bodies of a couple who were killed in an auto accident were brought there; they occasionally appear on the balcony or are seen dancing inside the building. At Rose's Patio Cafe, an old iron leaves its home atop a refrigerator, a rocking chair sets itself in motion occasionally and a keyless dead bolt lock actuates itself. The nearby Puffabelly's is located in a building that was once the train depot in Lovelady, Texas. When it was a depot, legend has it a signalman was decapitated when he slipped and fell on the tracks -- and word in the area is that the spirit of the man still inhabits the building. Perhaps the most documented haunting in town is at the Zwink House, which was moved about 4 miles to its current location behind Puffabelly's and is being restored. Lone Star Spirits visited the house after hearing someone was murdered there; in four visits, they recorded a number of orbs on film and some strange sounds on audio tape. Old Town Spring is located one mile east of Interstate 45 on Spring-Cypress Road, about 20 miles north of downtown Houston. ... and others Of course, these aren't the only locations in Houston that are said to be haunted. The old Jefferson David Hospital off Houston Avenue downtown is built on top of a Confederate cemetery and is rumored to be haunted by Confederate soldiers, doctors, nurses and patients. The building -- which is very run-down -- is property of Harris County and is closed. The Bookstop in the old Alabama Theater on Shepherd Drive is rumored to be the location of some paranormal activity, as are Lovett Hall at Rice University and the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building at UH. Downtown has its fair share of ghosts, too. La Carafe, a bar on Market Square, is reportedly haunted by the ghost of a former bartender. The Alley Theatre downtown is believed to be haunted by the spirit of former Managing Director Iris Seff, who was strangled to death outside her office in 1982. And the old Kirby mansion, located just off the Pierce Elevated on the south end of downtown, allegedly has a haunted elevator. Houston is also home to at least two haunted graveyards: The Hillendahl Cemetery, located near Bear Creek Park in west Houston and closed to the public, has a strange blue mist that emanates from the tombstones; and Alief Cemetery at Bellaire Boulevard and Dairy Ashford is surrounded by apartments whose residents report poltergeist activity. For more information on these and other haunted sites in the area, visit Lone Star Spirits' Web site at www.lonestarspirits.org or Fort Bend County Paranormal's site, www.angelfire.com/tx2/hauntedsugarland Send comments to dcfeatrs@mail.uh.edu This article found on the Daily Cougar website
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© 2006 Lone Star Spirits info@lonestarspirits.org |
(by Henri Chen/The Daily Cougar)
(by Henri Chen/The Daily Cougar)