Arizona ghost hunter travels: Discover Houston Tours

Sandra Lord leads the Broomstick Adventures Tour which is a 3 hour journey aboard a bus that escorts you to some amazing haunted locations. The tour includes Houston’s Cemetery Circle. There are stops at the Brewery Tap, Old Jefferson Davis Hospital, Founders Memorial Park, and ends at the Spaghetti Warehouse. The current cost of the tour is $35. Check website for dates and times.

 

Dot Honeycutt helps with the walking Ghost Tour. This tour takes you out into the streets of Houston for a look at some ghostly encounters in the historic district. During the tour you will visit the Donnellan Crypt, Sesquicentennial Park, Brewery Tap, and the La Carafe and, of course,  the Spaghetti Warehouse. Current price of the Ghost Tour is $30. Check website for dates and times.  

 

After a short investigation of the Spaghetti Warehouse, see http://www.examiner.com/x-2345-Arizona-Haunted-Sites-Examiner~y2009m3d4-Arizona-ghost-hunter-travels-Spirited-Spaghetti-Warehouse-in-Houston-TX

Sandra gave Kenton and I a condensed version of the two ghostly tours all in one package. Sandra walked us near the Franklin Bridge over the Buffalo Bayou. The banks of the bayou were used as burial sites in the 19th Century by wealthy families that lived along the waterway and family vaults were carved into the banks. Most of the remains were moved to Glenwood Cemetery in 1901 but one empty vault still exists under the Franklin Avenue Bridge & Louisiana Street. The Donnelllan family was once buried there. Because of the location, the impressive red brick walls of the vault are still in tack on the south bank beneath the bridge.

 

We hopped in the car and drove to the Brewery Tap near by. The building was originally the Magnolia Brewing Building. Sandra told us that recently, William the ghost--nicknamed “the barmaid’s best friend”—began to communicate to the guests on the tour with the use of a K-2 Meter ghost tool. The bar owner even has a photo in a frame which they believe is the ghost of William sitting with one of the local patrons.

 

Onward we drove to the site of the former Jefferson Davis Hospital which is now the Elder Street Artist Lofts. The old brick hospital was completed in 1924 and built on the site of the 1840 Houston City Cemetery. The cemetery was active until the 1880’s. As not all of the bodies were removed from the site, the building’s basement was erected above ground. One gentleman, Dan Super, stood firm and refused to have his family plot moved or destroyed. The remains of the plot enhance the grounds of the building today as a lovely flower bed.

 

Also on the tour is a stop at the College Memorial Park Cemetery. This cemetery was founded in 1896 and one of Houston’s three oldest African-American graveyards. We walked around the perimeter of the woodsy cemetery as the leaves rustled about us. Guests often hear whispers and voices in a faraway distance at certain areas of the grounds.

 

Another cemetery visited is the Founders Memorial Park off West Dallas Avenue.

Many important founding fathers of the early Houston community, including John Kirby Allen, are buried here. Many markers and tombstones have been lost to time in this old cemetery. New tombstones have been erected to mark the places of noted citizens of Houston’s history.

 

Sandra told us the tale of Houston’s first hangings on March 28, 1838. It was a double hanging of two men who had committed murder with knives. They were hung from gallows constructed at the intersection of Main Street and Webster in an area called “Hangman’s grove. She believes she has found an ancient oak tree near that intersection that someone climbed to watch the hangings.

 

La Carafe is housed in one of Houston’s oldest buildings. It was built as the Kennedy Bakery in 1861. It is also reported to be very haunted. One of the bartenders had closed the wine bar and locked the front door about 3am. He started to cross the street when a gut feeling inside made him glance back at the building. As he looked toward the windows, he saw an image of a man gazing back at him. Thinking he locked someone in the bar, he ran back and checked the building only to find no one there.

 

Ghost Walks and the Broomstick Adventures have become quite popular in Houston so be sure to book your tours early. Registration is at the Spaghetti Warehouse at 6:30 and tours leave promptly at 7pm.

Check the Discover Houston Tours website for information.

 

Discover Houston Tours---Sandra Lord, Owner 

713-222-9255

 

 YouTube video by Doyle Ward with permission

 

    Debe Branning    nazanaza@aol.com