{"id":468509,"date":"2026-10-17T04:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T04:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/468509\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T04:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T04:52:08","slug":"texas-officials-have-a-new-map-for-finding-haunted-places-across-the-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/468509\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas officials have a new map for finding haunted places across the state"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’re planning to channel your inner Scooby-Doo and hit the road this spooky season <\/a>in search of some of the most mysterious parts of Texas<\/a>, TxDOT has a map for that.<\/p>\n

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has added a “Phantom” layer to its Statewide Planning Ma<\/a>p, turning the state’s usual transportation-planning tool into an unofficial guide to some of Texas’ more mysterious attractions. The layer includes haunted hotels, alleged UFO sites,<\/a> cryptid sightings, eerie cemeteries and urban legends from across the state.<\/p>\n

And yes, there are some pretty weird ones.<\/p>\n

The map points to an alleged UFO landing site on South Padre Island, a cemetery in Aurora where a UFO supposedly crashed in 1897 and a haunted hotel in Mineral Wells. There’s also a spot on Old Greenhouse Road in Katy where, according to local lore, mist sometimes takes the shape of a woman who died in a car crash.<\/p>\n

Another entry takes drivers to the former Worley Hospital in Pampa, where Ghost Hunters filmed an episode and a thermal camera allegedly captured what was described as a “tortured soul,” according to TxDOT.<\/p>\n

The Phantom layer was published Oct. 5 as part of the Statewide Planning Map’s 20th anniversary. Elaine Wendt, a GIS analyst with TxDOT’s Data Management division, said she wanted October’s special layer to focus on Texas folklore and haunted places.<\/p>\n

“I chose the month of October this year and wanted to explore historic regional folklore and haunted sites throughout our state,” Wendt said.<\/p>\n

TxDOT gathered some of the stories through an employee survey, while Wendt said she also researched online articles, blogs, radio shows and books. Each map entry includes information about the location, what visitors might expect and a short history of the site.<\/p>\n

“It was a fun and fascinating research project!” Wendt said. “Many of the entries on this map are well known stories, while others were brand new to me.”<\/p>\n

The Phantom layer will remain available through October and will stay on the Statewide Planning Map as an optional layer after Halloween. TxDOT says more stories could eventually be added, although the public can’t submit stories directly yet.<\/p>\n

More News<\/p>\n

TV<\/a> | KPRC’s Cathy Hernandez returns to the Texans sideline<\/a>
Lawsuits<\/a> | Houston developer sued after blind employee fired on first day<\/a>
Jobs<\/a> | Texas layoffs hit Benchmark Mortgage, Hello Bello during Thanksgiving<\/a>
Courts<\/a> | Houston man’s Pakistani divorce rejected by Texas Supreme Court<\/a><\/p>\n

For the latest and best from Chron, sign up for our daily newsletter here.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally published at Texas officials have a new map for finding haunted places across the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you’re planning to channel your inner Scooby-Doo and hit the road this spooky season in search of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468510,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-468509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}