With spiders that jump 25 feet, massive reptilian birds possibly flying overhead and a whole host of other strange and delightful things, San Antonio is a fun, adventurous place to live and work. 80+: 3%. The displays are professional and interactive - obviously designed by professionals. ", Just before Christmas of 2014, the hospital announced that they were unable to admit any more patients. San Antonio is also home to the biggest Virgin Mary mosaic in the world, found at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. The golden age of the paperback has ended, so why not borrow e-readers from the library and attend book club meetings streamed online? Menger Hotel. 1. You can find out about some interesting San Antonio facts, as well as San Antonio secrets in our list below. 4. According to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the 21-story building was opened in Jan. 1928. Neighborhood: Hot Wells. A number of Valley people died under mysterious circumstances at the San Antonio State Hospital, ranging from teenagers to the elderly. And then there's La Llorona, the "Weeping Woman," who lingers near the water. SAN ANTONIO When it comes to the top 20 most haunted places in Texas, San Antonio makes up 35% of that list, according to Yelp. . (Want to find out a little more about our upcoming ghost tours in San Antonio? Of course, these days when youre in town, the most exciting food experiences are those taking place in the hottest Tex-Mex restaurants as well as those helping to define whats Tex-Next.. And we have no community-based alternatives, no step-down units, no residential treatment facilities., Judge Oscar Kazen who presides over Bexar County's Mental Health Court, commented, Its only in the last couple of years that weve been able to convince University (Hospital) to begin taking unfunded involuntary patients". Dracula is based on a real person. 7. However, if you are a stickler about it, San Antonio got their area code first in the early '90s and 210 actually counts down to zero instead of just one, so San Antonio wins! Since 1918, our Believe It or Not Odditoriums have showcased the eclectically bizarre collection of Robert Ripley. From the spirit of a young boy who loves to play pranks to the living, to a ghostly former actress who can't sing on-key, this old theater is one of the most haunted places in San Antonio. app for Android and iOS. Yet, another death that got mentioned in newspaper headlines was that of a 75-year-old man who was beaten, starved and dehydrated so severely, he lost an astonishing 30 pounds in only 15 days. Its also the place to go for many fun events and celebrations. This popular area has been around since the 1700s. And it is rich with death. 11. SeaWorld San Antonio is the largest marine-life park in the entire world. Pope John Paul II visited San Antonio in 1987 and held a mass where more than 350,000 people showed up. Every year the Texas Cavaliers River Parade takes the term parade float and interprets it literally. This post is proudly produced in partnership with, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, 9 San Antonio Airbnbs Within Walking Distance of the Riverwalk and Downtown, 7 Idyllic Destinations for a Family-Friendly Thanksgiving Vacation ThisNovember, 11 Things You Didn't Know About San Antonio, 12 Things You'll Only Understand if You've Visited San Antonio, 11 Ways a Trip To San Antonio Will Surprise You. Another apocryphal ghost story in San Antonio is the Donkey Lady. It is for this reasonor at least one of the main reasonswhy Ghost City Tours has decided to launch ghost tours in San Antonio, starting in the beginning of May 2016. San Antonio was founded in 1718, and back in 1968, we needed a way to celebrate our 250th birthday. 33. A local hiking group, Hiking Heroes, organized such a hike in October 2021 to raise funds for a local breast cancer nonprofit. it really should be. If you're local to San Antonio, Texas, you've probably spent a night or two driving out to Shane Road. If you live there, you know how haunted San Antonio is. Haunted San Antonio Tours SA is one of the most haunted cities in the US of A. Learn strange and interesting facts about San Antonio's history and find out the basics of paranormal investigation and spirit communication. The stories from The San Antonio Missions represent divergent and significant points of view: 17th Century explorers - Native American groups of the Southwest - Early Texas history - Spanish colonization - Stone masons and builders of the Missions - Battles of opposing interest - There is also the point of view of the land and creeks and pecan But, once again, don't do anything dumb like try to trespass on private property. 830 North Saint Mary's, San Antonio, TX 78205 [ Book a Room] Located right across the street from the Alamo, the ghostly sounds of cannons firing can sometimes be heard from the historic site. Still, we tell you all about its less than respectable past. Legend has it that if you position your car over the tracks, and put your car in neutral, the ghosts will push the vehicle the whole way across in an attempt to protect you from any imminent danger. It was only then that the widow realized that she had drowned her children for nothing. At this haunted location, the living come second to the ghosts. During his visit, he also deemed San Antonio the most Catholic city in the U.S. Archdiocese marks 25th anniversary of papal visit. It was no long after this time that Williams father died. 1. Years of fighting rose up among the different nationalities. It was equipped with plaster doves flying through the sky, fake peacocks perched on the towers. 2023 RentGroup Inc. All rights reserved. But we didnt stop with office buildings San Antonio is home to countrys first air-conditioned bank, hotel, and Catholic Church. For centuries, San Antonio has been a crossroads of cultures and of people. William I. Browne was released from the Southwestern Insane Asylum (SASH), on orders by County Judge Phil Shook based on the illegal restraint of liberty. . The settlers placed the poor on the outskirts of the city, in hope that the tribes would take the belongings of the impoverished . It was only after Judge Phil Shook ordered Williams release from the asylum in 1910 that he realized that he should have accumulated a whole lot of money from the holdings and land ownership. 161 Recommended Theater Shows from $36.99 per adult The Haunted Ghost Bus Tour in San Antonio 267 His reasoning is the city's closeness to water, which might act like a spark or energy-source for paranormal phenomena. So obsessed, in fact, that a local high school made 17,106 tamales thats 2,420 pounds in 10 hours during a tamalada. We believe fully that the ghosts of San Antonio have their own story to tell and we hope to do the city's history justice in doing so. Persons per household, 2017-2021. The driver tried to get the children off the bus, but a train soon crashed into it, killing all of the students and the bus driver. The Menger Hotel in San Antonio is rich in history. Then theres the awesome local art which you probably wont find at MoMA like the contemporary Latino prints and Southwest art collections. The following year the hospital's capacity averaged around 2,103, which was one of the few years that the hospital did not exceed more patients to beds than they actually had in their disposal. Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar. If you do, you're dumb and you probably deserved to be arrested. San Antonio's first center for the mentally ill was the Southwestern Insane Asylum (San Antonio State Hospital) and was established on April 6, 1892. 8. Checkout. People have been seeing a massive, reptilian bird flying around the city for decades, and it's bigger than a pterodactyl more of the size of a pteranodon with wingspans of 15-20 feet. You should be wary when walking around the neighborhood at night, as you never know when you might encounter one of the ghosts of La Villita. But much like New Orleans and its connection with Voodoo, San Antonio had Santera orRegla de Ocha. Even the building itself is impressive, dating to 1884. It has been a battleground for warring nationalities, and the morality of the lawless gunslingers and the vigilant citizens hoping to enact order. Aldridge was discharged from the Army on May 11, 1942, because of a bad heart. She scrambled back to the river, but her children were nowhere in sight. The park spans about 416 acres according to SeaWorld San Antonio. 9. The Cadillac Bar & Restaurant is said to be one of the most haunted places to eat in all of San Antonio, Texas. davenport, fl crime rate P.O. Alyssa Medina is the Video-On-Demand Producer and has worked at KSAT since 2016. It was the place of "Manifest Destiny," which brought countless of America's roughest citizens west to the open expanse of Texan land. San Antonio has its own proud vibe, as well as slang (directions are often given based on whether the target destination is inside or outside the loop"). 9. 3.) For hundreds of years, ghost stories have been told by the locals in San Antonio. Though the blisters scabbed some ten days later, smallpox remained the biggest killer in San Antonio. Today, the Witte Museum is super legit as well as super popular, with exhibits ranging from Texas art, to dinosaur bones, to one of the worlds largest collections of circus artifacts and memorabilia. All over the world, some of the most haunted places are old bridges. There, the skinny, nearly 7-foot-tall teenager led his team to a 36-0 state championship record in 1989 (they had a 68-1 record over two years). 14. 11 facts about San Antonio, TXSan Antonio is having a birthday, and it's a big one the Alamo City is turning a whopping 300 years old. A current employee said of the SASH, "I work there. . Whether it is the water-source or not that creates the hub of ghostly activity, Ghost City Tours' General Manager, Gretchen, who grew up in San Antonio, has repeatedly said that one thing that makes San Antonio different is that the entire city has hauntings. +. For many San Antonio locals, roads paralleling highways are access roads, not a feeder or frontage road. M e n u. Our Haunted History. The Alamodome opened on May 15, 1993, and cost $186 million to build. He lunged at his wife and two daughters with a knife, slashing their throats and dragging their bodies to the second floor where he stashed them in a closet. That particular urban legend has been told over and over again, until the truth and the fiction blend into a haunted tale of ghostly children, suicide nuns and the living, who hope beyond anything to come face to face with an apparition. The highest point in New Mexico is Wheeler Peak at 13,000. She's created the segments 'Creating Black History in S.A.' and 'New Week. 1.) Coincidently, (or not), his brother Albert was the Mayor of Brownsville, Texas, at the time of Williams death. According to its former owners, the living are very protective of these energies. The bridge is close to where she suffered severe burns and disfigurement (making her look like a donkey) after either her husband or a malevolent stranger set fire to her house. These stories told by and revealed by the press ultimately spurred Coke R. Stevenson to open an investigation into the hospital's actions. When he returned to Brownsville, he tried to be admitted to the Veteran's Hospital, but the government had yet to make necessary provisions for veterans of WWII. Cemeteries are known for being the final resting places to many souls - but no cemetery in San Antonio, Texas, has gives off quite the level of dispair as the Chinese Graveyard? 17. For those which are currently abandoned, paranormal investigative groups flock to them to uncover the sometimes tragic events which occurred to them.