Category: US – Texas

Ghost hunting in Texas, especially around Houston and Austin. Locations, tips, and case studies.

Haunted Texas and Its Ghosts

Texas is a huge state with many hauntings.

If you’re looking for ghosts, you’ll find them easily in Texas. From strange lights — including “bluelight” cemeteries — to eerie tales of the early West, there are all kinds of ghosts throughout this huge state.

Mostly, my Texas research focused on the Houston area, where we lived from mid-2003 through early 2008.

I verified many local legends, debunked a few others, and found some great unreported sites as well.

For an overview of the city’s most popular ghosts, as well as my earliest reports, see Ghosts of Houston, Texas

However, Houston is just one city in a huge state. Here are a few of my reports about other Texas hauntings.

For more Texas ghost stories, see Haunted Places > USA > Texas, or use my search form for “Texas.”

Below: Photo taken at Galveston Old City Cemetery, B’way, Galveston, TX.

In this photo, you’ll see a bright light at the upper left, and a second spot at the lower right where it apparently highlights a grave.

When I took this photo, it was entirely pitch black out. The orange-ish light in the distance is a street light; it was the only light we could see that night, and it did not affect this photo.

It’s possible that the light at the lower right is a reflection from a bug. The upper left light cannot be explained.

After I’d seen this photo, we went back to that cemetery to see if anything could have been overlooked—a streetlight, a low-flying airplane, something reflective—but there was nothing at all.

When we took this photo, we did not see any lights except the distant street lamp. The light at the upper left—and possibly its highlight on the grave at the lower right—are anomalies.

Houston, TX – Ghosts of Glenwood Cemetery

Houston, Texas’ Washington Avenue cemeteries are a series of cemeteries, varying in age, on nearby and adjoining properties. Some have a more “haunted” reputation than others.

Glenwood Cemetery is sixty acres of lovely rolling hills and beautiful monuments, including an authentic Tiffany window in one mausoleum.

The cemetery was established in 1871 and is the home of notable graves, including Howard Hughes’.

The cemetery caretaker of adjoining Washington Cemetery (formerly Deutsche Gesellschaft von Houston cemetery) was murdered in 1977, and this remains an unsolved mystery.

On our first visit to Glenwood Cemetery in 2003, we found a grave with EMF anomalies right away: The Wettermark plot (photo above), which is a memorial to two children who died in Sweden, and their American mother.

The EMF registered as a 30+ degree compass swing, just to the right of the entrance to the family plot.

Our photos showed no orbs or anomalies, but we were there in bright sunlight at about 4:30 p.m.; the cemetery closes at 5 p.m. It is gated, and — due to laws and the neighborhood — not recommended for ghost hunting at night. You should not visit this cemetery alone during the daytime, either.

Watch for fire ants when you visit this and other Texas cemeteries. Wear sneakers, not sandals. (We speak from experience. It was easy to tell that we were not locals.)

Old Town Katy, TX – Ghosts, Pt 1

In June 2005, we began investigating the “old town” area of Katy, Texas. We began with no reports of ghosts in Old Town Katy, but a gut feeling that it might produce some good orbs.

(Frankly, a lot of my work involves predicting & investigating haunted sites before any other website does. And, as of mid-2005, no other ghost website — and no ghost-related TV show — had reported anything about the ghosts of Old Town Katy.)

So, I was ready to see if my “gut feeling” and my prediction methods (including ley lines) were correct.

I began by looking for clues in Katy’s history.

HISTORY OF KATY, TEXAS

Katy was originally called Cane Island and is about 25 miles west of downtown Houston. It was the hunting ground of the Karankawa Indians through the 1820s.

The town was settled in the mid 1890s. The Katy post office opened in 1896, and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad (MKT – called the “KT”) depot was finished in 1898.

Unfortunately, a lot of the town’s early efforts were swept clean by the Galveston Flood of 1900.  (Many people don’t realize how far inland that water spread.)

Most of the early settlers in Katy were farmers. By the early 20th century Katy was best known for its annual rice crop.

In 1934, the discovery well of the Katy gas field was drilled. That led to new business opportunities in Katy and vicinity.

Today, Katy’s population is about 12,000 and growing with upscale developments opening steadily, especially in the Cinco Ranch area.

However, the historic side of Katy is the focus of our early ghost investigations.

All but two of the original Katy homes were lost in the 1900 hurricane that caused the Galveston Flood. We started our research at the oldest buildings with the most interesting history.

Here’s our initial report:

KATY TRAIN DEPOT

Our first stop was the old train depot (5710 Highway Boulevard, near East Avenue and 1st Street). This wonderful old building is being restored by the Katy Historical Society. Only a few of our depot photos show orbs, but those that do are notable.

Here’s a close-up of one of the orbs:

I’m not going to claim that one orb means anything.  It’s pretty, and it’s odd that there’s just one orb at a site that feels so connected to its history. However, that’s not nearly enough to say that a site is haunted.

Despite that, the site is convenient, not far from I-10.  Also, it’s a quiet area, and a comfortable spot for ghost hunting.  So, we’ll continue to explore it.