Next week is Halloween. That means you����re about to be inundated with a bunch of half-ass lists that are loosely related to the supernatural. I����m not one to break with this time-honored tradition, so here����s a slapped together list of my favorite paranormal stories from Texas history (that probably weren����t actually paranormal).
4. THE AURORA ALIEN
The Supernatural Story
On April 17, 1897, The Dallas Morning News reported that ����an airship���� had crashed into a water tower in the nearby town of Aurora. According to local residents, they����d seen the vessel in the skies on earlier occasions, but it had remained silent and distant. On April 16, however, it emitted a screeching sound shortly before falling out of the sky. When residents investigated the crash, they found the vessel destroyed. They described the wreckage as being made of ����a mixture of aluminum and steel,���� but were unable to locate any form of locomotion.
The most shocking aspect of the Aurora crash was that residents recovered a body at the crash site. The Dallas Morning News reported that the ����remains are badly disfigured, [but] enough of the original has been picked up to show that he was not an inhabitant of this world.���� An army officer on the scene ����gave the opinion that he was a native of the planet Mars.���� Perhaps confirming the being����s extraterrestrial origins, residents found papers in the wreckage covered in indecipherable hieroglyphics. The day after the crash, the people of Aurora buried their alien in an unmarked grave in the local cemetery.
The Boring Reality
Aurora resident S.E. Haydon wrote the story for the Dallas Morning News and probably made it up. At the time of the article����s publishing, Haydon����s town was dying. Aurora residents made their money exclusively from cotton at a time when much of the rest of the South was diversifying their economies. A known practical joker, Haydon likely concocted the alien story to draw attention to his town in the hopes of bringing in investors and tourists.
3. THE WOMAN IN BLUE
The Supernatural Story
In 1629, Jumano Indians approached Spanish missionaries in New Mexico claiming that a white woman dressed in blue had recently appeared in their West Texas village. The Indians claimed that this ����woman in blue���� had taught them the basics of Christianity and had told them to seek out missionaries for further instruction. After hearing the Jumanos’ story, the missionaries traveled to the Indian village and found that, on advice from the woman in blue, 2,000 converts had already prepared for their arrival. The priests baptized the Indians and took testimonial from witnesses claiming to have seen the mysterious woman appear and disappear without a trace.
The story gets more interesting. Throughout the 1620s, a nun in Spain named MarÃa de Jesús de de Agreda began to fall into deep trances. Upon awakening, she would claim to have made spiritual visits to Indian tribes in North America to teach Christianity. According to the nun����who was always adorned in a blue habit����one of these groups lived near New Mexico. After hearing MarÃa de Jesús����s story, her superiors sent a letter to the missionaries of New Mexico asking if they could verify its veracity.
MarÃa_de_Jesús_de_Agreda
New Mexico missionary Fray Alonso de Benavides read the letter from Spain and was astonished, as it seemed to confirm the Jumanos���� account of the woman in blue. Benavides went so far as to travel to Spain to speak to the nun personally. During their conversation, MarÃa de Jesus confirmed that she was the woman and blue and had visited the Jumanos during her trances. She even described the landscape of New Mexico and West Texas, imitated Jumano tribal gestures, and gave an accurate depiction of a one-eyed Indian. Benavides left Spain convinced that MarÃa de Jesus����s story was true.
The Boring Reality
In all likelihood, the Jumanos made up their end of the story. Throughout the early 1600s, the tribe was under constant attack from the warlike Apaches. The Jumanos likely hoped that if Spanish missionaries came to their village, they����d bring along Spanish soldiers to fend off the Apaches. The Jumanos were familiar with Catholic belief in the supernatural, so they concocted a story that would be perceived as divine to offer extra motivation for missionaries. (This wouldn����t be the only time the Jumanos would try this approach. They later claimed that a giant cross appeared above their village). But why choose a woman in blue? Whenever Spanish missionaries traveled, they carried a banner of the Virgin Mary, which just happens to look like:
Sister MarÃa de Jesús probably picked up information about New Mexico and West Texas from the numerous North America exploration narratives floating around Spain. As for the tribal gestures, multiple cultures share common hand signals and the Spanish had no catalogue of Indian sign language. For all Benavides knew, MarÃa de Jesús could have been signing the Jumano equivalent of ����I can����t believe he����s buying this crap.���� And the sister����s description of the one-eyed Indian chief didn����t have to be accurate. Owing to racism, the Spanish often confused two different Indians they knew personally. Someone describing an Indian thousands of miles ��away could make a few mistakes without raising eyebrows. It����s unclear why MarÃa de Jesús made her story up, if she did, but it wouldn����t be a difficult hoax to pull off.
2. THE TRAITOR����S GHOST
The Supernatural Story
In August 1815, in the midst of Mexico����s War for Independence from Spain, Ignacio Arocha began telling friends and neighbors an intriguing story. He claimed that the ghost of Ignacio Elizondo had recently visited his wife and servant at his ranch in Texas. Elizondo����s apparition was appearing to ask for repentance, as he����d been damned to hell for ����following the unjust cause.���� Before disappearing, Elizondo left a handprint on the Arochas���� door as proof of his visit. Following the appearance, curious sightseers flocked to the Arochas���� ranch to see the handprint for themselves.
Known as ����the traitor���� in Mexican history, Elizondo was infamous for betraying revolutionary leader Father Miguel Hidalgo in 1811 and turning him over to Spanish authorities. After Hidalgo����s capture and execution, Mexico����s revolution against Spain fell apart. Elizondo led a brutal reprisal against those in Spanish Texas who����d supported revolution. Hundreds were executed. One soldier became so sick with the killings that he stabbed Elizondo in the stomach. The Traitor died on the banks of the San Marcos River, where he remained, apparently, until choosing to haunt the Arochas.
The Boring Reality
After hearing of Arocha����s claim, the Spanish government called dozens of witnesses to determine if the story had any truth. The witness testimonials showed that details of Arocha����s story changed over time, with the tale growing more dramatic with each rendition. Not only that, but one witness was convinced that he����d seen Arocha paint the ghost handprint. Finally, Spanish officials discovered that Arocha was a revolutionary sympathizer. The evidence convinced authorities that Arocha had invented the ghost story to recruit followers to the side of independence.
1. THE BIGFOOT
The Supernatural Story
In 1536, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca returned from an eight-year sojourn in North America. He����d arrived in North America as part of a 600-man Spanish army, but after a shipwreck, conflict with Indians, starvation, and thousands of miles traveling across hostile jungles and deserts, only Cabeza de Vaca and three companions remained. The journey was epic, the four men becoming the first non-Indians to step foot in what would one day become Texas. When they returned to Mexico City and the company of other Europeans, Cabeza de Vaca relayed details about the people, animals, and environment he����d encountered. His stories were incredible, but one tale stuck out more than any other: Cabeza de Vaca had found evidence of a magical, hairy creature named Mala Cosa. (We����ve written about this before. Click here to read the story in greater detail.)
While traveling in South Texas, the Spaniards came upon a village of Indians that had huge scratches on their abdomens. When Cabeza de Vaca asked what happened, the Indians remarked that a short, hairy creature had attacked their village, stolen their food, and cut anyone who opposed him with a sharp flint knife. Perhaps more amazingly, the creature����whom Cabeza de Vaca called Mala Cosa����had superhuman strength and could lift an Indian hut singlehandedly. Cabeza de Vaca was not one to believe in the supernatural, but the detailed stories and scars convinced him that a weird creature had really attacked the Indian village fifteen years before.
The Boring Reality
The Indians probably made up Mala Cosa or had had an earlier encounter with a lost Spaniard who wasn����t as friendly as Cabeza de Vaca. The year that Mala Cosa supposedly appeared in the Indian village, two Spanish expeditions explored areas adjacent to what is today Texas. It����s possible that a member of these expeditions became lost and wandered into the Indian village. If so, he would have been hungry and would have used his sharp steel to take the Indian����s food����just as Mala Cosa had done with his flint knife. Because the European would have had a hairy face and been wearing unusual clothes, the Indians may not have recognized him as human. Hence the origin of Mala Cosa.
Does anyone know of other paranormal stories from Texas history? If so, let us know in the comments.
Bradley Folsom
