Swartz James A. - Haunted History of Old San Antonio

Published by Haunted America

A Division of The History Press

Charleston, SC 29403

www.historypress.net

Images courtesy of the authors unless indicated otherwise.

Copyright 2011 by Lauren M. Swartz and James A. Swartz

All rights reserved

First published 2011

e-book edition 2013

ISBN 978.1.62584.047.9

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Swartz, Lauren M.

Haunted history of old San Antonio / Lauren M. Swartz and James A. Swartz.

pages cm

print edition ISBN 978-1-60949-979-2 (paperback)

1. Ghosts--Texas--San Antonio. 2. Haunted places--Texas--San Antonio. 3. Historic buildings--Texas--San Antonio. 4. Historic sites--Texas--San Antonio. 5. San Antonio (Tex.)--Social life and customs. 6. San Antonio (Tex.)--Buildings, structures, etc. I. Swartz, James A. II. Title.

BF1472.U6S885 2013

133.109764351--dc23

2013035210

Notice: The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. It is offered without guarantee on the part of the authors or The History Press. The authors and The History Press disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever without prior written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Dedicated to the Canary Islanders and their descendants.

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We know this book would not have been possible without the help of our family and friends who supported us through our endeavors.

To the friendly staff and ghosts of the Menger Hotel, we have loved working with you side by side these past few years. We would also like to thank Ernesto Malacara for sharing his great knowledge of the historical Menger Hotel.

Also, to the staff of all the museums, hotels and historic sights we visited during the process of writing this book, we thank you for sharing with us your stories and information.

Lastly, to the many guests on our tour groups over the years who have shared with us their stories and supported us along the way, this book would not be possible without you.

INTRODUCTION

Growing up in San Antonio, I was constantly taught by my family the history of our beautiful city. The main reason for this was because my family and I are descendants of the original people of San Antonio known as the Canary Islanders. They were chosen by the King of Spain in the early 1730s to make the long journey from their homes to establish a new world. I often wonder what they must have thought when they first came to this area. They had many hardships and struggles with the land and constant battles with Indians. Eventually, they settled into their new lives and began to build the city we know today.

Almost three hundred years later, my family still lives here and continues to teach their children about their rich heritage. Because of their teachings, I grew up knowing a lot about San Antonio and its history. When I had friends visit me, I couldnt help but give them my own tour of the city. I felt like I had a great knowledge of the city and wanted to share as much as I could about it. I not only loved the history but was also fascinated by all the ghost stories San Antonio is home to.

During Halloween, it was a family tradition to read from a ghost book while we drove around at night and visited each spot. I loved to hear my mother recount all the spooky tales. Halloween was always my favorite time of year, and I loved to host parties and invite friends over. Somehow, I always ended up near the campfire telling ghost stories.

When my family went on vacation, we tried to visit historic cities so that we could learn more about them. At night, we would take a ghost tour. (I was always absolutely enamored and thrilled by these tours).

Later on in life, I met my future husband, James, who was living at that time in Jacksonville, Florida. He lived about thirty minutes from St. Augustine, known as the oldest operating city in the United States. It is also considered to be extremely haunted. As luck would have it, one of our very first dates was on a ghost tour. James was very skeptical at first; he didnt know what to expect. After the tour ended, he was surprised by how much he enjoyed it, and all the history he learned.

After we were married a year, we decided to go on a ghost tour in San Antonio. Living here all these years, I had never thought of doing one in my own city. I was curious how they would present our history and ghost stories. After trying out a few different tours, we became somewhat disappointed. We didnt feel we had taken anything away from our experience like we had with the other tours. They also seemed to focus too much on ghost hunting rather than the history and the reasons ghosts haunted certain buildings.

This is around the time that we decided to open up our own ghost tour company. This was a dream come true for me, as I had the opportunity to dress up in historical costume and talk about the history and ghost stories of my favorite city. We were thrilled by how fast the company grew, and soon, we added on a second tour with the Menger Hotel.

After doing so many tours, we got to know a lot of the employees that worked in haunted buildings and also the owners. They all told us their own experiences and why they knew their buildings were haunted. We began to compile their eyewitness accounts and decided that we wanted to write a book. San Antonio just has too much history and too many ghost stories to tell about in one evening. A book would give a reader the opportunity to learn and explore even more of the citys haunted past.

This book is intended to give people a better idea of how our city once was and the reason why there are so many ghosts that haunt it. We hope the reader comes away from reading this book with more knowledge of this beautiful city and all the many spectral tales that come with it.

CHAPTER ONE

THE MENGER HOTEL

There are very few hotels that exist in the United States today that can boast of as rich a history and as spooky of ghost stories as the Menger Hotel can. Set apart from almost any other hotel in the country, the Menger Hotel will certainly live in Americas history as one of the most influential hotels.

Built in 1859 by a German immigrant named William A. Menger, this hotel has quite a story to tell. William Menger was a popular man in San Antonio because he was known for brewing the finest tasting beer in the city. His beer was so popular and sought after that he decided to open up San Antonios first brewery called the Western Brewery, located on Alamo Plaza right next door to the famous Alamo. On the other side of his brewery, he also operated a boardinghouse with his wife, Mary.

Mary was a widow who operated the boardinghouse by herself when she first met Menger. William had come to San Antonio looking for work and stayed at the boardinghouse for three years before they both decided to marry. Years later, they had two thriving businesses right next to each other and a demand for more rooms and space at the boardinghouse. They decided that they were going to turn the boardinghouse into a luxury hotel and call it the Menger Hotel. They hired local architect John M. Fries, who designed the two-story, stone-cut building with classical detail. Foundations were laid June 18, 1858, and work was completed by January 1859. On February 1, they opened the Menger Hotel with a lavish gala that allowed reporters and the wealthy to feast their eyes on the luxurious hotel. News traveled fast as reporters boasted of its finery and dubbed it the Finest Hotel West of the Mississippi.