OLD SPANISH FORT CEMETERY On the road to Old Spanish Fort Cemetery, everyone began trembling when we turned off the main highway to the dirt road. When we arrived, huge, silky spider webs shining in the moonlight, casting an eerie spell on the entire scene. Above, bright stars blanketed the sky. We got out of the car, and our fears grew stronger with each step. The rusty, creaky gate opened slowly. The next few steps were the hardest. Suddenly, the wind picked up as if it were pushing us inside or warning us to go away. The top of a tombstone had been knocked over and had fallen in our path. A new, creepy feeling ran from the tops of our heads to the tips of our toes. A few steps further, we noticed a small grave. It read: George, Nov. 15, 1380 to Nov. 27, 1880. A small child with his whole life ahead of him had died was buried there. Amid the century-old graves, one grave suddenly grabbed our attention. It was a single, fresh grave covered with new flowers. It was so eerie; we felt that it was time to leave. As we headed for the car, the wind once again began to blow and literally pushed us past the creaky gate. Directions: The cemetery is just east of Farm Road 103 about 14 miles north of Nocana, Take interstate 35 north to Gainesville and then go west on U.S. 82. ft is easy to miss because it is behind the new 0ld Spanish Fort Cemetery. (Take the side road by the newer cemetery because it curves around to this historical site.) BELCHERVILLE This abandoned town of tall weeds and crumbling buildings has a story to tell. According to nearby Nocona residents, Lulla Belle was killed by a passing train while she was walking along the bridge. This occurred during the late 1800s when Belcherville was a boom town. Now, a century later, Lulla Belle supposedly still walks along an abandoned bridge with her head under her arm. The bridge, now partly fallen down, can be a spooky place to visit late at night If you are brave enough to get out of the vehicle.
Directions: The bridge is six miles west of Nocona on U.S. 92.
THURBER Once a booming mine town of more than 10,000 people, Thurber is now a ghost town with five residents, all members of the Andrea and Randy Bennett family. The Current focus of the town is the Smokestack Restaurant, which the Bennetts own and operate. They provided Class Acts with the history of the town and a key to the cemetery This ghost town and cemetery are "must visit" sites because of the atmosphere and many unexplained occurrences. Tomi Holsomback, an employee at the restaurant, described some recent "haunting" events that occurred in the nearby house occupied by the Bennetts' son: A mirror that had been hanging for 60 years fell off the wall without the hooks or wall being damaged. There was no other noticeable cause for it to fall. The Bennetts saw smoke and smelled wax from a candle, but the candle was never lit. A rock was removed from a snake aquarium and placed in the sink when no one was around. The Bennetts are still searching for answers to the mysterious happenings. The Thurber cemetery is undoubtedly one of the biggest of Texas' historical cemeteries. It is also one of the scariest places to be on a dark night. The trees bend over the graves as if in mourning for the 700 or more children who are buried there. The epidemics of scarlet fever and whooping cough at the turn of the century definitely left theirs mark on this Texas ghost town.
BELLE PLAINE CEMETERY This cemetery is supposed to be just east of U.S. Highway 283. Despite a two-hour search, Class acts reporters never found the site, but we did experience some extremely eerie sightings. After we left the highway, the road became narrower and narrower, and suddenly we felt as if we were on the set of Children of the Corn. Weeds and cornstalks pounded against the Suburban, and then we came upon a very mysterious abandoned barn. Shadows lurked inside as if some ancient animals still lived there. We could actually see lights dancing in the open doors, with trees bowing down to the barn. Every1hing was dead and motionless until a "thing” jumped out of the grass and stared at us. It was not a rabbit or a pig, but appeared to be some in-between creature that no one could identify. its eyes glared at us as we made a hasty retreat.
Directions: The cemetery is .6 miles east of U.S. 283, about 6 miles
south of Baird. There is a sign for the cemetery on the highway.
THISTLE HILL Thistle Hill, built in 1903 in Fort Worth's then-affluent Quality Hill neighborhood, has seen the rise and fall of many legends. The first owners, Electra and A. B. Waggoner Wharton, had lavish parties. The mansion has been meticulously restored from near-ruin to a beautiful example of Georgian Revival architecture. We spent the night on Oct. 3 to search for "ghosts”. After dinner, we gathered on the sweeping 14-foot oak staircase to hear about the history of Thistle Hill from Ruth Karbach, Thistle Hill's curator. At 10 p.m., we broke into small groups for the night. In the elegant billiard room, we passed the time by noting the peculiar chandeliers and engraved chairs. However, upstairs in the ballroom on the third floor, others discovered a chair uncovered and in the center of the room. It was recovered, and everyone settled down for the night. At midnight, the chair was found again - uncovered. The rest of the night ran smoothly without any further phenomena. Is Thistle Hill haunted? Probably not. The only residents of the antiquated mansion are the memories of past grandeur and splendor.
Directions: From Interstate 30, exit south on Summit Street in downtown Fort Worth. Go left of Pennsylvania Avenue. The mansion is at 1509 Pennsylvania Ave.
These reports were written and researched by Emily Greiser, Martin High; and Stephen Jennings, Kim Reeves, T.J. Fogus, Stephanie Prudente and Chris Powell, Denton High.
NOTE: These are some of Texas' noted haunted places. Class Acts recommends that an adult accompany any adventurous readers to these spots.
Copyright 1997 Star-Telegram, Inc. Accession Number: 484749
Wright Place
Prelude to a Haunt
Did you ever wonder what it would be like to camp out in a real haunted
house? Now may be
your chance to experience a real life haunt without leaving the comfort --
or security -- of your own
home.
The Local Paper is sending a staff writer to a hotel believed to
be
haunted. As they have for the last 10 years, a story detailing their
experiences will run in the next
day's newspaper.
The event will take place Saturday, October 19 and will start around
midnight or when the last
patrons pass thru the haunted house.
A brief history:
For this years haunt ,the local paper has chosen the Wright Place in
Cleburne, Texas. Research
shows that the building was originally constructed in 1874 as the Hamilton
House, a twenty-five
room hotel. The South half of the building was destroyed by fire in 1916,
after which the building
was purchased by A. J. Wright and converted into a drygoods store.
Today, the building is being used as a Halloween haunted house called
"The Death Express". The
following excerpts are recounts from Donna Davidson, the present owner of
The Wright Place:
Late July, 1995 - Meeting with members of Vorta (the
group that puts together the
Halloween haunted house) regarding the possibilities of
building a haunted house, I was
asked if we were haunted. My reply was "no".
The following day I asked Karen Cowen
(a co-worker) if they had ever noticed anything
"strange" like a ghost. Her reply was,
"I've never seen anything, but the kids who work
here swear we have a ghost".
A few days later - I told a customer I wouldn't have
time to do a custom ring job,
because we were going to be working on this Halloween
project and on top of that we
thought we really were haunted. Her reply was a
surprise. "Don't let anyone go up there
until I get a chance to, because I can talk to
them."
A few days later she returned with a lady friend. We
three went upstairs and as we
walked I took a definite chill. Thinking it was just me
I was surprised when she said "Did
you feel that?" to her friend. My question was,
"What did you feel?" She replied, "That
chill!" Her friend replied "yes" and I
said that I had felt it too. She said that was one of
the spirits. As we proceeded around the upper floor she
identified several different
spirits. George, the young man who liked to dance and
spent the happiest days of his life
here dancing. An elderly German man who smoked a cigar
and was a cobbler. A lady
we think was named Katherine, two small children, and a
young girl in her 20's who
"worked upstairs". She also mentioned white
flowers and a lady who sews and a small
dog.
Early September, 1995 - Renee Spahr, the lady
responsible for our meeting with
Vorta and a gifted psychic in her own right, brought a
visiting psychic friend from New
Mexico to experience our haunting. She identified the
"working girl" as follows:
reddish-brown hair, blue dress, flowers in her hair,
fell from window, broke neck, 27 or
28 years old, carried a broom, didn't like dirty
floors, played zither well, could read and
write, read letters to cowboys and train men, she was
proud of this, 1882, came in on
first train, from South or East of here. The first
train did in fact come in February of 1882
and it came from Galveston.
August 13, 1995 - Renee brings another friend to
visit our haunting. Her name was
Diana and she was from Arizona. They went upstairs and
as I joined them [later. Diana
]was telling Renee, "They must be having a party.
This is the most active haunting I have
ever seen." Diana felt a scandal, a political
figure, a respected man. He was pompous,
carried something in his hand. He was responsible for
the girl's death.
August 19, 1995 - Diana and Renee return once again
before Diana returns home. The
following is a quote from the note Diana left for me.
"Fall was accidental. Getting her away from me
I slapped her too hard - she fell. I'm a
respected man - she was a whore. I only took the
pleasures of the company she gave -
things should have been different. I hate this place -
this window is my hell." As Diana
left she turned around and said "Oh, by the way,
the girl's name is Joy."
During the year that has passed, many contacts have
been made. Several people have
experienced actual "touching". Odors have
been detected by persons knowing nothing
about them before their visit. The energy is evident
almost every day, sometimes
definitely stronger than others.
© 1998 Star-Telegram -- Terms and Conditions -- Send us your Feedback.
Ghost Chasing, '96
By Johnny Johnson
Recently I attended a ghost chase with Star-Telegram writers Jeff Guinn
and Andy Grieser. This is
something they have done for the last 10 years, and I was looking forward
to being a part of a real
haunt.
The event took place at the Wright Place in Cleburne, Texas on a
Saturday night. I arrived at 10
p.m. with gear in hand. I had brought along a laptop and digital camera
and planned to post live
reports on the World Wide Web throughout the evening, as well as photos
that I would be taking
with the digital camera. Unfortunately I was unable to post the reports
into an actual Web page,
but was able to post to an InterAct forum that had been setup for the
event, as well.
After setting up the equipment I took a brief tour of the place before
we got started. The Wright
Place is a two-story building with small store fronts on the lower level.
Upstairs is a Halloween
haunted house operated by VORTA, a Dallas entertainment group that puts
the event together.
We were going to be staying upstairs once the haunted house had closed
down for the evening.
Rather ironic that a haunted house is setup in a building that is actually
haunted, don't you think?
After we toured the upstairs, we met back downstairs to determine our
game plan. Andy decided
to split everyone up into groups. I was going to be staying with Kathy
Harris and Patti Ennis. Once
we finally figured out where we were supposed to be staying, we setup our
sleeping bags and
prepared for what we hoped would be an eventful evening.
As soon as everyone settled in the lights were turned off and the
adrenaline began to flow. Feeling
more anticipation than fear, I really wanted to see something, anything. I
wanted something to
convince me that there was life after death. Then about 2 a.m. it
happened. Our first sighting.
Really more of a feeling than a sighting. Jennifer Packer felt a cold
rush. And let me tell you, it was
unusually hot upstairs so when she reported feeling cold there had to be
something to it.
A little bit later Kristen Sullivan felt a poke on her foot as she was
laying down. Perhaps she just
felt the end of her sleeping bag. Perhaps it was one of our ghosts making
his presence felt (pardon
the pun). Then Ron Ennis reported feeling a draft as he walked down the
hallway. When several of
us went to the spot he felt the chill, no one could feel anything. And we
checked for drafts coming
from the ceiling. There were none to be found.
A few minutes later another draft was reported right outside the room I
was staying in. Now I'm
getting excited. When we walked out to the hallway to investigate, Jeff
stuck his hand out and said
there was a definite chill. I didn't feel anything, but the person next to
me did. Perhaps the ghosts
were wanting to play now.
Unfortunately this turned out to be our last interaction with the
ghosts. We waited and waited but
neither felt nor saw anything else. Finally, around 4 a.m., Andy said that
unless something happens
in the next 30 minutes we were going to call it an evening. Having not
slept all night I had to agree.
And, as expected, nothing more was reported. We packed up our gear and
headed for home.
One interesting note: We had to leave through the alleyway because the
building had a self locking
door. As I walked outside and around the corner a Cleburne police officer
was driving by. So here
I am with my sleeping bag and gear in hand when he pulls up. "What's
your story?" he asked. After
I told him why I was coming around an alley with a sleeping bag he looked
at me kinda strange but
figured I couldn't have made that story up so he was on his way.