Things to Do

5 Spooky Hotspots and Haunts in the Texas Hill Country

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Tony Maples Photography

 

Reminder: This tour is definitely not recommended for young children or the faint of heart.

3. Devil’s Backbone and Wimberley

devils-backbone
Photo: Flickr/Adventures of KM&G-Morris

Wimberley, Texas is one of the most charming towns in the Lone Star state’s hill country. Just like many other Texas towns, it too has an eery past. Devil’s Backbone is a very tall limestone ridge nearby. Ranchers and visitors alike claim to see riderless galloping horses  on top of the ridge night and day. Ghostly images of wounded Confederate soldiers roam the ridge. The chilling sound of trumpets playing and drummers drumming are faint in the background but can be heard from miles away. Searchers have tried for decades to find out where the sound is coming from, but all have been unsuccessful.

Haunting images of several young Native Americans have also been spotted, war paint still camouflaging their faces. There have been claims of many screams from women and children from decades past that can be heard in different directions, and still haunt this whimsical town.  People can still  smell smoke, burning wood, and flesh.

During a time when Native Americans were surprising farmers and ranchers in the middle of the night, killing entire families and burning their homes to the ground, they have left women and small children, like ghostly images, wandering in the woods outside of town. It seems that they are looking to pass though to rest, but have yet to find out how. A young woman in a soft flowing night gown darts back and forth across country roads near the town every night at midnight.

A young woman in a soft flowing nightgown darts back and forth across country roads near the town every night at midnight. Finally, a family of tourists was visiting an art studio in downtown Wimberley one summer day, when they noticed their young son talking and laughing with no one. When his parents asked what he was doing the boy replied, “I’m talking to a little girl with a hole in her head. Her papa shot her when the Indians were coming.” Local historians have reported that many of the settlers chose to kill their families and then commit suicide rather than be captured and tortured by the Native American raiders.