Columbus City Cemetery in Columbus, Texas, is a wonderful, photogenic cemetery about an hour and a half west of Houston, where I-10 meets Highway 71. It’s across from the second largest oak tree in Texas.
Columbus is well worth the drive, especially early in November when they celebrate “Live Oaks and Dead Folks,” in the city cemetery.
Ghost hunters should visit the cemetery just after dawn or at dusk. The cemetery is in a large, mostly-empty field, accessed from a dirt path that’s studded with tall weeds. In areas with poisonous snakes, it’s not smart to explore areas like this in the dark.
Because the cemetery is covered with trees that shield the graves, it’s possible to take flash photos after the sun comes up, if you get better results with artificial light.
In the photo above, the sun was up, but I needed a flash photo to see much of anything there. The tree cover is that dense.
At the center of the photo, the dark object at horizon level is the angel monument that you’ll see in one of our daytime orb photos. (That’s the photo on the cover of my 2007 book, The Ghosts of Austin, Texas.)
Even in daylight, you can still capture orbs in photos at Columbus City Cemetery. That’s a rare treat for ghost hunters.
Columbus City Cemetery, in Columbus, Texas, is one of the most photogenic cemeteries in southeast Texas, and it may be one of its most delightfully haunted.
In the daytime photo above, an orb appears near the angel monument. The skies were heavily overcast, so this wasn’t a lens flare; the sun wasn’t visible, and no flash was used.
During three separate visits to the cemetery, nearly every photo of this angel shows at least one orb, and sometimes two or three.
These graves are almost in the center of a very large field that’s been set aside as the Columbus City Cemetery at 1300 Walnut Street in Columbus, Texas. Only a small percentage of the graves have headstones, but those that do are often extraordinarily beautiful… and haunted.
This cemetery is described in more detail in my book, The Ghosts of Austin, Texas. That book contains a full chapter about haunted sites in nearby Columbus.
This article is from June 2002, and it was a simple update about what was happening at Gilson Road Cemetery, as the surrounding landscape changed and a subdivision moved in.
The old Gilson Road Cemetery sign.
We visited Gilson Road Cemetery in June 2002, to check the cemetery and update the rest of the team.
This was when Tanglewood Estates was just starting to move in, across the street from Gilson Road Cemetery.
Three of us visited the cemetery at dusk. The Gilson Road Cemetery sign had been cut off with a saw. A new iron gate was on the uprights at the entrance.
New gate at Gilson Road Cemetery, already vandalized.
What else has changed:
Cold spot observed slightly above Joseph Gilson stone, with compass anomalies moving from the headstone towards the NW (to the next headstone).
More slightly visible anomalies. We’d worried that the subdivision was going to drive away the ghostly anomalies. So far, it hasn’t.
The “movie” was playing again, with some changes, if you’re psychic. (See our pages about Gilson Road Cemetery – November 1999 for more about the battle, or “the movie” as we later called it.)
Woodland animals were chattering and noisy in the surrounding area. We didn’t hear them that much before the subdivision moved in. I got the idea that they weren’t happy about being displaced from their previous homes and hunting grounds.
Don’t take my word for it: See the October 2000 (Halloween week) article in the Nashua Telegraph for this phenomenon, as reported by a skeptic.
Tanglewood Estates, a shiny new subdivision built across the street from Gilson Rd. cemetery.
Beeler Family Cemetery in Houston is an odd little cemetery. It’s about two blocks from busy Eldridge Parkway. (The Parkway has its own rumors of ghosts, and an unusual number of auto accidents involving drivers who’ve ‘lost control’ of their cars.)
Beeler Cemetery is small, contains about half a dozen grave markers, and it’s in one of Houston’s ‘pocket parks’ amid upscale corporate offices.
In May 2006, we joined the Texas Paranormal group for an investigation of this cemetery. Because the cemetery is surrounded by immaculately groomed lawns and sterile corporate buildings, we weren’t expecting much.
Even in the daytime, there is a strong presence around the tallest monuments. (One of the most active is shown, above.)
At night, some of our photos showed moderate orbs around them. Amanda Beeler’s grave seems to be the most active.
Orbs at the back of Beeler Park, Houston, TX
However, the stronger energy is outside the cemetery, and in back of it. We’ve heard that there are unmarked graves outside the cemetery.
The photo at right is one of several with bright orbs.
‘Outsider’ graves
Some of the most haunted graves are located outside cemetery walls.
Especially at church cemeteries, graves outside the walls usually belong to suicide victims, murderers and people considered ‘too sinful’ to be buried among regular church members.
When graves are outside a family cemetery, that’s an even more harsh condemnation.
We weren’t surprised when our photos showed vivid orbs in back of Beeler Family Cemetery.
Notes from the Other Side
When I tried to do a reading on Amanda Beeler to see why her grave is most active, the woman who responded was named ‘Olive’, not Amanda. I’m not sure if it’s the same woman — perhaps a nickname — or a different person.
Olive had given birth to a daughter, but trusted the wrong man. That trust led to something disastrous, possibly her death. She’s not trapped here, but she returns because she’d like someone to acknowledge the subterfuge of the man she’d trusted.
(I’m not sure who he is. There’s not enough information to work with, yet.)
I did a second reading to learn about a man who haunts the land in back of Beeler Family Cemetery. He’d accomplished all that he was supposed to during his lifetime. Oddly, he trusted the same man as Olive had. His ghost lingers because he’s either protecting Olive (and perhaps others), or wants to help expose the man who’d betrayed both of them.
This cemetery — and its hauntings — are active and part of an ongoing story that hasn’t concluded yet.
These aren’t unhappy spirits who are trapped here, but they’d like their history to be accurately reported. So, they are likely to respond to perceptive visitors and ghost hunters.
Ghost hunting tips
Although this is an upscale area in the daytime, it’s quite deserted at night. Also, the cemetery is partially hidden from the street. It’s especially important not to ghost hunt alone in settings like this where you may have a false sense of security.
There are many street lights around Enclave Parkway, where this cemetery is. Be sure to watch for them when taking photos, as they can be a source of false orbs.
The sandy soil at this cemetery can also produce false orbs if the dust is raised as you walk, or by the wind. It’s vital to take two photos in sequence, as close together as possible, to rule out natural explanations for orbs and other anomalies.
Driving directions
To visit the cemetery after visiting Bear Creek Park, take Eldridge Parkway south from Patterson Road. After passing I-10 and Memorial Drive, look for Enclave Parkway on the left. (There is a traffic light with a protected left turn.)
If you’re arriving from I-10, take the Eldridge exit and turn south. After the traffic light at Memorial Drive, watch for Enclave Pkwy on the left.
Shortly after turning onto Enclave Pkwy, look for the Pocket Park sign on your right. Turn right immediately after it; it will look like a driveway, and there is room for a few cars in the small parking area. The cemetery is surrounded by a black metal fence in a wooded area.
If you drive past Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation on the right, you’ve gone too far.
If you approach from Briar Forest, take Enclave Parkway almost to where it intersects Eldridge. Look for Cabot Oil & Gas on your left. Turn left at the driveway immediately after Cabot’s sign. [Google Maps]
Bear Creek Park is in Houston, Texas, around haunted Patterson Road and Highway 6. [Google Maps]
The park includes many fields that are popular for sporting activities at night, but the park itself is very dark.
Bear Creek Park is also the home of the most famous “blue light cemetery” in the Houston area. However, that isolated cemetery is very difficult to find unless you know exactly where to look, and — due to access restrictions and a history of violence at the site — not recommended as a research site.
Nearby Patterson Road is a more famous and accessible haunted site. (See our preliminary report: Houston – Haunted Patterson Road.)
After investigating Patterson Road on 11 May 2005, we took a photo inside Bear Creek Park for comparison. Although this print (from film) is very dark, it shows one of the best orbs of the evening:
It’s not a great photo, and it’s only one orb. I realize that’s not impressive. However, I’m reporting this site (and sharing the photo) because:
Day or night, our investigations have been consistently odd, in certain areas of the park.
The picture (above) was taken at random, so we can’t tell you exactly where it was. It’s most likely that we stopped at the first parking lot on your right as you enter the park from Patterson Road. This is a very small parking area that will hold four cars or less.
The camera was pointed to the right of the gate that leads to hiking and equestrian trails.
The image quality is too poor to determine if there are other genuine orbs in the photo. However, the one that the arrow points towards is definitely a real orb.
Follow-up: After we posted this photo, someone identified this as the site where a motorcyclist was killed a few years ago.
This is exactly what I look for in a haunted site: When we find an anomaly, without knowing ahead of time that it was at a spot with a ghostly history.
We found no elevated EMF readings and no conclusive EVP during our May 2006 visit.
Photos
The following photo is typical of the few orb photos that we took during our investigation.
We’ve analyzed the three apparent anomalies using numbers to indicate them.
1. This orb is too bright, opaque, and irregular to be a ‘ghost orb’. It is probably an insect. I’m not sure whether the light area on or in front of the upright monument is natural or an anomaly.
2. This is probably an insect or a reflection of the orb indicated by #1. It may be a genuine anomaly–it is a circle and translucent–but with the light in the background and the vivid, buglike orb nearby, we have to discount it.
3. This is probably an insect, or it may be a distant light.
It’s possible that this cemetery is haunted, but we saw little evidence of it in May 2006.
Further investigations, especially around Halloween, might be more productive. The moved bodies plus unmarked graves suggest that some hauntings are likely. We just didn’t find much evidence to support that.
However, despite its convenience, this doesn’t seem to be a ‘hot spot’ for ghost research. Nearby Patterson Road is vastly better.
Columbus City Cemetery in Columbus, Texas, is a wonderful, photogenic cemetery about an hour and a half west of Houston, where I-10 meets Highway 71. It’s across from the second largest oak tree in Texas.
