Visitors pose for photos outside the Alamo Chapel in San Antonio as police stand nearby. The Alamo grounds are patrolled around the clock. The officers who stand guard have interesting stories and anecdotes to share about the Alamo Plaza and their experiences.
Photo by Heather Ashley, Sentinel Editor
SAN ANTONIO — During a recent weekend trip with my husband and daughter, we booked a ghost tour with Bad Wolf Ghost Tours to learn more about the haunted history of the Alamo City.
This was the fulfillment of one of those “We should do that,” experiences and it was entertaining, even though there was no paranormal activity during our tour.
Our tour began outside Bad Wolf Ghost Tours and Occult Shop on Houston Street.
The shop was a few blocks from our hotel, so we walked over with our two dogs. This tour is dog-friendly for well-behaved and leashed pups, but always be sure to check if you also have codependent dogs who have to travel with you on any overnight trips.
We arrived early for our tour, so we took a glance around the shop. The shop is interesting, filled with crystals, candles, herbs and oddities, with tarot card readings available at the front of the store.
Our tour guide and a small group that attended The Haunted Dinner Tour at the Emily Morgan Hotel arrived promptly at 8 p.m. Our guide, an affable man named Bear, shared a brief introduction and began the walking tour.
The tour covers roughly a mile-and-a-half jaunt and lasts up to 90 minutes. Wear comfortable walking shoes and dress for the weather because the entire tour is outside.
We started in front of the Alamo, the epicenter of San Antonio’s history, both paranormal and normal.
The mission was the site of a bloody 13-day battle that was pivotal to Texas’ independence. More than 200 Alamo defenders were killed. Not surprisingly, a blood-soaked history such as that tends to tie a location to paranormal activity, or at least the perception of paranormal activity.
Tour Guide Bear shared stories about deaths in the Alamo and throughout the larger Alamo compound. The area that contains the Alamo Chapel was actually a large section of what is now downtown San Antonio, something that I only discovered in the last few years.
Stories of hauntings abound surrounding the Alamo and the many hotels and buildings nearby.
Of those haunted buildings, many of the most famed are the old hotels that sit steps off the Alamo compound.
The Menger Hotel, the Crockett Hotel and the Emily Morgan are all listed as among the most haunted hotels in the state, possibly in the U.S. All three sit a stone’s throw from the Alamo, lending to their haunted history.
The Menger, which has been operational since 1859, is home to more than 30 documented spirits and haunting stories, including tales of Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt’s ghost hanging around the hotel bar. Roosevelt visited The Menger in search of cowboys to join his Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War.
Next door, the Crockett Hotel is rumored to be haunted by the spirits of fallen Alamo defenders like Davey Crockett. The land on which the hotel was built in 1909 was part of the Alamo compound during the battle. Paranormal activity is said to be high in the hotel lobby, bar and in certain guest rooms.
The Emily Morgan was the most intriguing of the tour stops for me. It was our final stop and well worth the wait. This hotel was formerly a hospital and it is said many of the former patients still roam the hallways and the former morgue in the building’s basement.
Bear informed the group about a body chute that runs the length of the building, helping staff easily transport bodies from the 14th-floor (which is actually the 13th floor, but superstitions) surgical unit to the basement morgue and crematory. There are tales a-plenty about paranormal sightings, sounds and experiences within the walls of the Emily Morgan Hotel.
The most interesting part of the tour for me was the stone gargoyles perched in the window eaves at the front of the hotel. Bear said the Catholic Church took great offense at the use of gargoyles in architecture in San Antonio, so there are very few left. The offense stemmed from the artists’ or sculptors’ use of nuns’ faces for the gargoyles. I do not know if this is true or not, but it was the type of anecdote that stuck with me.
All in all, the tour was interesting and very enjoyable. I would definitely like to take other ghost tours to hear more about haunted San Antonio.
Bad Wolf Ghost Tours also offers a Haunted Pub Crawl and the Haunted Dinner Tour. For more information, visit badwolfghosttours.com.