{"id":470237,"date":"2026-10-19T04:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/470237\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T04:30:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:30:09","slug":"txdots-spooky-texas-map-has-haunted-hotels-and-ufo-sightings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/470237\/","title":{"rendered":"TxDOT\u2019s spooky Texas map has haunted hotels and UFO sightings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just in time for Halloween<\/a>, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has unveiled a new tool for all things spooky along the Lone Star State\u2019s thousands of miles of highway.<\/p>\n

Now, if drivers want to learn all about the haunted places on their next road trip route, or what kinds of\u00a0cryptids they may encounter when traveling after dark, all they have to do is check out TxDOT\u2019s Statewide Planning Map.<\/p>\n

TxDOT is calling the new tool the \u201cPhantom Layer.\u201d<\/a> It\u2019s the latest addition to the interactive online map that the state transportation agency typically uses to showcase ongoing and upcoming highway construction projects, where drivers can find public rest stops or electrical vehicle charging stations, and even the best spots to find Texas\u2019 famous wildflowers in the spring. But now, the Phantom Layer gives Texans a way to discover all the weird, spooky, and spine-tingling spots across the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe map\u2019s new \u2018Phantom Layer\u2019 features haunted hotels, mysterious\u00a0cryptid sightings, urban legends, eerie cemeteries, UFO sightings and other stories that might give you shivers as you drive around our beautiful state,\u201d TxDOT officials said<\/a> this week in a news release announcing the new tool.<\/p>\n

The Phantom Layer was created in honor of the Statewide Planning Map\u2019s 20th anniversary and was put together after gathering input from other TxDOT staffers and taking a deep dive into the most peculiar of Texas\u2019 history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fun and fascinating research project!\u201d said Elaine\u00a0Wendt, the GIS analyst with the Roadway Inventory Branch of TxDOT\u2019s data management team who plotted each location on the Phantom Layer.<\/p>\n

The Phantom Layer contains dozens of destinations of interest, all demarcated by otherworldly symbols depending on the kind of mysteries that can be found. For example, haunted buildings are marked with castles bathed in a ghostly blue glow. Places with known\u00a0cryptid sightings are marked with red symbols of Frankenstein\u2019s monster, and family-friendly fright spots, like fall corn mazes, are marked by jolly looking orange jack-o-lanterns. Clicking on the symbols will bring up windows with detailed location information, hours of operation (if applicable), and a brief summary of the frightful focal point.<\/p>\n

In the Rio Grande Valley, the\u00a0historic Port Isabel Lighthouse<\/a> is marked with a green-eyed black cat arching its back and hissing. Further up the coast, the historic USS Lexington, which now sits docked as a living history\u00a0museum along the Corpus Christi Bay waterfront, is marked by a gravestone symbol.<\/p>\n

Several of San Antonio\u2019s most haunted places<\/a> are on the map, too, including the Sheraton\u00a0Gunter Hotel, the Crockett Hotel and the Alamo downtown. Out past Schertz, a red Frankenstein\u2019s monster indicates where urban legends say that La Llorona has been sighted<\/a> off of Interstate 10. But one of San Antonio\u2019s most well-known urban legend sites, the Ghost Tracks<\/a> on the city\u2019s Southside, aren\u2019t on the map \u2014 yet.<\/p>\n

TxDOT said the Phantom Layer map is still a work in progress. And additional spooky spots are expected to be added as additional results from a TxDOT employee survey trickle in. The agency said it\u2019s also hoping to \u201cexpand opportunities for public involvement for the 2027 version of the map.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just in time for Halloween, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has unveiled a new tool for all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2320,820,59494,82,84,83],"class_list":["post-470237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-mysasotx","tag-mysastaff","tag-mysatranspo","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-headlines","tag-san-antonio-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470237","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=470237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}