Posted 1:07 am Sunday, October 31, 2010
Ghosts Of The Piney Woods
East Texas Hauntings & Well Known Myths
By COSHANDRA DILLARD
Staff Writer
East Texas, with its many lakes, wooded landscapes and isolated, rural areas, has proven to be a hotbed for ghost stories. Around this time of the year especially, the fascination with who -- or what -- lurks in the darkness at cemeteries and historic homes has residents wondering what's real and what's simply an urban legend.
Staff Writer
East Texas, with its many lakes, wooded landscapes and isolated, rural areas, has proven to be a hotbed for ghost stories. Around this time of the year especially, the fascination with who -- or what -- lurks in the darkness at cemeteries and historic homes has residents wondering what's real and what's simply an urban legend.
It's a topic that piqued the interest of Bob Bowman, renowned syndicated columnist and author who, along with his wife, Doris, have compiled stories about hauntings, ghosts and well-known myths in their book, "Ghosts of the Pineywoods."
The ideas for the couple's book came from readers of his weekly column, "Bob Bowman's East Texas."
"Everybody is fascinated with ghosts. They don't know if it's true. They don't know if it's false. They are just absolutely intrigued by ghosts," Bowman said.
The Bowmans, who live in Lufkin, were skeptical about the existence of ghosts or spirits at first, but brushes with the unknown and convincing stories by dozens of East Texans made them rethink their position.
East Texans Skeptics No More
"Before I started writing the book, I didn't believe in ghosts," Bowman said. "After I finished the book, I said, well, 'I do.' There could be no possible explanations for some of these things I heard about."
Most of the stories in the 212-page book are collections from first-hand accounts by locals, but Bowman witnessed at least two himself.
One encounter, that even his wife did not believe, occurred when he visited with an old man in the northern part of East Texas. He went to a cemetery that supposedly held the spirit of a little boy. When going back to his car to retrieve a camera to photograph his tombstone, he said he witnessed an unusual sight.
"You could tell he wasn't a whole person but you could tell it was a boy. It was like an outline," he said. "Well, I was shocked."
In Pointe, Bowman said he saw a ghost at a cemetery upon leaving.
"I just kind of turned back to look at the cemetery and I could see a man standing at edge of the woods, dressed in black. He obviously wasn't a real man because he was a shadowy figure."
In Tyler, he says the McClendon House has reportedly been deemed as haunted.
"People claimed they have seen ghosts there. People claim there are too many unexplained incidents at this house to shrug ghosts off as imagination."
Sightings at the historic home of journalist Sarah McClendon, he said, have included a young girl on a stairway, a ghostly figure on the balcony, a man in a hat sitting in the parlor and sudden freezing temperatures.
An infamous spooky tale comes from the Jacksonville city cemetery, where the statue of a woman on a tombstone at night or during a full moon has people scratching their heads.
"People who go there say she moves her arms and at different times she may look up at them but other times, they see her moving her arms in a different fashion," he said, noting the story has been told to him by local firemen.
The statue sits atop the gravesite of Ardelia J. Fuller. It has also been seen with the right hand of the statue over her heart, holding a bible or holding flowers.
"It's just strange," Bowman said.
North of Jacksonville at the site of the Killough Massacre of 1838, there have been reported sighting of the ghosts of the massacre's victims. Like other sites of ghostly images and occurrences, this location provides a glimpse into a tragedy that happened there.
North of Jacksonville at the site of the Killough Massacre of 1838, there have been reported sighting of the ghosts of the massacre's victims. Like other sites of ghostly images and occurrences, this location provides a glimpse into a tragedy that happened there.
"It's because they have this affinity for this place," Bowman said. "That's kind of the theme that's running through these stories. Ghosts are at the place where they died or maybe a cemetery they were buried or a house they lived years ago or a building they were associated with."
Bowman said he has never heard of a ghost speaking, making a noise or being aggressive.
"They were always pretty benign," he said.
Other sketches of hauntings that come to life in the Bowmans' book include Jefferson's infamous Excelsior House where Diamond Bessie lingers and the Kilgore cemetery where a green glow emits from Karen Silkwood's grave, a labor union activist who was killed in a car wreck after investigating wrongdoings at a plutonium plant in Oklahoma.
Other sketches of hauntings that come to life in the Bowmans' book include Jefferson's infamous Excelsior House where Diamond Bessie lingers and the Kilgore cemetery where a green glow emits from Karen Silkwood's grave, a labor union activist who was killed in a car wreck after investigating wrongdoings at a plutonium plant in Oklahoma.
"They claim that the glow comes from the radiation exposure that Silkwood incurred in Oklahoma. … One of these days I want to go back out there and see if there is."
Further south, Bowman tells the stories of places like Angelina County, where an Indian chief wanders around a creek looking for his son, who was killed for allegedly committing a crime; and of a San Jacinto County jail where "Rufus" hangs out with a noose around his neck.
In a famous cemetery in Scottsville, near Marshall, the weeping angel sits atop a tombstone with her head down. At certain times of night, the angel looks up, Bowman said.
He was most intrigued by a story of a ghost train in the big thicket near Beaumont. The "train" can be seen at a certain time at night and is driven by a ghostly engineer. Bowman said he has never been scared to go into a place with alleged reports of ghosts, but he did have an eerie feeling at one particular East Texas cemetery -- Dabb's Cemetery in Frankston.
"It just seemed to be a ghostly place," he said, recalling his visit there after sunset one day. "You can kind of feel something. I can't explain it."
Over the years, the Bowmans' books have focused on local history and folklore. Four books have featured historical murders of East Texas and one has focused on hangings and lynchings. They've written 48 books and have always worked together. Mrs. Bowman does most of the research, while Bowman does most of the writing. Whether skeptical or a believer, this new book provides East Texans with an entertaining glimpse into the unknown.
"I hope that people come away with an understanding that there are probably ghosts out there," Bowman said. "We don't know what they are. We don't know why they're there."
