14. Postcards from Ghosts - “Weeping Women and the Ghoulish Side of Galveston”
Bobby Cannaster, owner of The Charles Adams House poses with neighborhood cat Toby who’s rumored to be 120 years old…
It deserves mentioning that this episode features visits to not one but two haunted houses, a cat that's likely lived more than nine lives, and the tale of a spirit that's rumored to wander the banks of the Rio Grande. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, the adrenaline we experience when hearing spooky tales has a magical way of bringing us closer. Beyond this, ghost stories also often provide reminders of our history and enable some to confront the fears and demons that lurk in our own imaginations. Many of these elements are at work in the fables featured in today's episode. Above all else, they're also pretty darned fun...
Historic Galveston Ghost Tours
La Llorona inspired illustrations by Xavier Garza
TRANSCRIPT
(As this transcript was obtained via a computerized service, please forgive any typos, spelling and grammatical errors)
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Evan (00:13):
Prior to the pandemic. I made most of my income working as a sightseeing guide in New York city. I led walking tours of Greenwich village, the Highline, and made well over 100 trips to the Statue of Liberty. It was a job I was good at and took a lot of pride in. The great irony of this, however, is that when I travel touring really isn't something I make a habit of doing. But when I was in Galveston last summer, I couldn't resist signing up for a ghost tour. Do I believe in ghosts? I'll get to that by the end of this, but there is something mysterious about Galveston. Edna Ferber, once famously compared the city to Miss Havisham from Great Expectations, and while this sandbar on the Gulf might not be quite as stuck in time as Charles Dickens' jilted spectral bride, it is one of those places where the past seems to hang over the present and speaking outside the Rosenberg library, Noelle Aurbubright, a young, Sandy haired guide with historic Galveston Ghost Tours says this isn't mere coincidence-
Noelle (01:17):
Galveston is nothing more than just like a cemetery with a beach attached to it. And so if you've been anywhere on the island, uh, there is a very good chance you have walked over a dead body. And tonight we're going to be walking on a lot more
Evan (01:32):
Beyond the pirates, shipwrecks and cannibalistic Karankawa Indians who once inhabited the island, the reason so many dead lay here can be traced to the great storm of 1900, which remains the most fatal natural disaster in American history.
Noelle (01:48):
Everybody who was anybody wanted to live in Galveston at the later half of the 1800s until September 8th, 1900, where we went to bed with 40,000 residents only to wake up to realize we've lost almost 8,000 people in around 12 hours of time, which was one out of six people of our population. So we were picking bodies out of the tree tops off of rooftops. And it was just a really horrendous site.
Evan (02:20):
The dead numbered so many that the city held mass cremations of some 300 unidentified bodies. Yet many remain buried here in unexpected places to this day, which is something Galvestonians were reminded of in 2008, when another storm by the name of Ike lashed the island once more-
Noelle (02:40):
That night, a lot of these historic Oak trees were uprooted. What the citizens found in their yard the next day were just skeletons from the, from the great storm. And so of course like they freak out, they call the police. They're like, "Hey, I found a skeleton in my yard. What do I do about it?" And the police were getting so many of these calls that they had to put out a public announcement saying that, "Hey, if you find a 108 year-old skeleton in your yard, please do not call us. We are way too busy dealing with the current hurricane. So just throw it in your trash and we'll take it to the landfill.
Evan (03:14):
But the unfortunates who died suddenly in 1900 certainly aren't the only ghosts poking around here. Speaking in front of the Normandy Inn, an old rickety, boarded up one-time rooming house, Noelle breaks down the most common types of hauntings one might encounter in Galveston.
Noelle (03:31):
Ghosts come four different ways. We have sudden death. We have unfinished business, we have demonic possession and we have habitual. Habitual in Galveston pretty much means that they were so wealthy that they didn't want to leave their earthly possessions behind to move on to the other side. This is Galveston's one example of demonic possession. So what, what makes this listed under demonic possession is because it has had paranormal activity since the very first day it was built. I mean, nobody died in the house, nothing like that. It's like, it's not really any like apparitions. There's no like historical ghost behind it.
Evan (04:09):
The story goes the once handsome house was built in 1912 by a George C and Louisa Smith. But things started to go awry on the day of their house warming.
Noelle (04:21):
Once construction was completed, they threw a lavish party here on the side yard and they were meeting their new neighbors, uh, business acquaintances, uh, things like that. Everything was going great until the nanny who was looking over their son, George Jr. comes down and says, "George, your son is acting very weird. He is lashing out, acting violent, saying mean and malicious things" that were just generally out of his character. And as she was down here, relaying that this information, George Jr jumps out of this third story window and falls straight down to the ground. And miraculously, the six-year-old does survive, but he's very banged up. I mean, he has broken bones, cuts, bruises, the whole shebang. So his dad goes up to him and he's like, "Son, what on earth would possess you to jump out of that window?" And George Jr looks up at him and he says, uh, "I'm sorry, dad. But they wanted me to kill everybody in the house." And ever since that day, this house has seen crazy paranormal activity. We had pictures falling off the walls furniture, moving around, demonic moaning and wailing in the middle of the night. And even if you would go up or down the stairs, you'd have this sensation as if someone was trying to like grab your ankles and pull you down.
Evan (05:42):
Later, Noelle tells me it's rumored that the cause of this curse is that there may be an Egyptian mummy buried on the land, which is another story unto itself. But whatever the case owners have never stayed long over its hundred year history. Ultimately Galveston PD seized the property sometime ago, but it remains a site of pilgrimage for Satan worshipers.
Noelle (06:04):
And uh, if you think this place looks trashy, now you should have seen it. Uh, back in December, we had waste high trash all on the front porch and we had trash all over here in the yard and there was this horrendous smell that was emitting from the house. And we just thought that it was because of all the trash until one night in December, about eight months ago, eight or nine months ago. And a policeman comes up to the tour guide and he's like, you gotta be really careful around this house because the night previous, they caught two guys trying to break in and they had a puppy with them. And when they went in to investigate to see if anybody else was in the house, what they found was over 400 animal carcasses that were used as sacrifices. And it was a really horrendous scene. And I feel so bad for whoever had to clean that up. I'm sure it was incredibly traumatizing.
Evan (06:59):
You don't have to believe in the supernatural or occult to find this story horrific. Thankfully, the energy around the corner at the Charles Adams House feels better and standing near this charming, beautifully maintained pre 1900 Greek revival residence, she tells me of a neighborhood cat who is still very much among the living.
Noelle (07:19):
Charles Adams was a very successful coffee merchant and he would frequently go down to South America, buy beans in bulk and then travel around the world, selling his coffee. He was on one of these business trips during the storm of 1900. However, his wife, Sarah and young son, Toby, stayed here in the house. Their bodies were not found until five days later, about six or seven blocks down the street. Adams gets news of the loss of his young family and he is completely devastated. Uh, to deal with his grief, he adopted a black cat and named him Toby after his young son, uh, that passed away. Toby is still alive to this day. Now, if you don't believe me about Toby being a120 year old immortal cat, and I don't blame you if you don't, but the people that live across the street have lived here since 1967 and they swear the exact same cat has been on this property ever since then-
Evan (08:16):
Just then owner Bobby Cannaster shows up to turn on his sprinklers and to my delight invites us inside the gate for a chat on his front porch. An Affable and gregarious retiree, he keeps a manicured silver beard and tells me that he and his wife are the new kids on the block. Having just opened the Adams house as a BNB. How long have you been here?
Bobby (08:36):
March 13th, March 13th. We bought my wife and I closed on Friday the 13th on a haunted house.
Evan (08:46):
You haven't been here for that long. Have you experienced any hauntings since?
Bobby (08:50):
Uh, honestly I have not. Uh, but we have a book in every room and one of the rooms, number three, we call the Fleur de Li and we have several entries in our book where people have put things in like toothbrushes being moved. Um, the, um, phone was moved from one table to another one day. One lady and her mother were staying in. The mother, saw somebody at the end of the bed. Just, uh, Monday, we had a guest come in, staying in the carriage house and she is, uh, what they call a seer and she can connect with spirits. So she went through and cleansed the house for us. And, um, uh, we were standing in the hallway in here talking with her and my wife felt a chill, right when she said, "Oh, well, somebody just walked in front of us." And it was a little spooky
Evan (09:49):
All the while we're talking the famous Toby, a jet black cat with piercing green eyes rests placidly near Bobby's feet unbothered by our company.
Bobby (10:00):
That's our resident cat. He kind of rules the roost. He comes and goes as he pleases. And, uh, he was here. The owners in March took him with them about 10 blocks away. Two days later, he was back and he never left, but we feed him. He's, he's a great pet. Gotten to know us pretty well. And, and he's part of, he will, he will actually greet the walking tours. He will stay with them and then he'll follow them a couple houses down and then he comes back.
Evan (10:31):
So they really, they really, do believe that this cat that I'm looking at right now is 120 years old?
Bobby (10:38):
That's the folklore!
Evan (10:38):
What is folklore? I know some of the oldest and best around here comes from south Texas. So I posed that question to San Antonio artist and author Xavier Garza, who tells me they're simply stories that are part of oral traditions passed down through generations. This is something he was surrounded by as a child-
Xavier Garza (10:58):
Growing up in Rio Grande City, I was, I didn't know it at the time when I was little, but I was fortunate enough that honestly, I grew up surrounded by storytellers. My grandfather was a storyteller. My dad was a storyteller. My grandmother. Never met my great-grandfather, but I have a photograph of him, one of those big oval shaped photographs that you know, that everybody tells me people that knew him, that "Oh, your great grandfather, he was a, he was a great storyteller." You know, uh, you know, I grew up, I tell people growing up as a kid, you know, I didn't get the, uh, wonderful bedtime story before you go to bed. No beautiful princess, no handsome prince. No castle. It, we got told ghost stories, or what we call them "cucuyus" or the story of a guy that picks up a girl on the side of the road takes her dancing, returns her to her house.
Xavier Garza (11:50):
And he returns the next day to get his coat. He had given her a coat, keep her warm and also an excuse to see her again, only to discover that she had been dead for five years and had been dancing with a ghost and have to tell you all this stuff. And they tell you, "Okay, mija, mijo- go to your room, turn off the lights and go to sleep." But we love it. You know, it's all part of our, you know, we grew up with cucuyus and you know, we grew up hearing all this stories and, and uh, and we take it. And I tell, I tell, you know, whenever I talk to students or whatever about the stories, I'd tell them that, you know, it's our stories that were the reason they're so different is because they're handed down by way of mouth. And every storyteller adds their own little unique, little spin to it. You know,
Evan (12:34):
I'd always heard that a cucuyu was a menacing owl like demon, who'd show up to terrorize you at night. And when I ask him to clarify the definition, Xavier says this isn't entirely wrong, but that the word has come to encompass far more.
Xavier Garza (12:47):
Okay. There's two ways you can look at. To some people a cucuyu is a supernatural creature, that lurks around with a big bag, a burlap sack, stealing children that misbehave and are disrespectful to their parents. And don't do what they're told. But in a plural sense, when you hear the word, cucuyu, it encompasses all these different supernatural creatures or beings like La Llorona, Los Duendes, El Chupacabra, The severed hand and all this, they all fall under cucuyus, but they all have that moral. They all have that moral to the, to the, to them. Then behave or the Cucuyu's going to come for you. It's that warning- better be good because if you're not, there's this other being that will come and teach you the lesson your parents have not been able to get through your head. You know that type of deal
Evan (13:49):
In reflecting on his childhood few cucuyus loomed larger than La Llorona. And he's never forgotten the first time he learned of her,
Xavier Garza (13:58):
I recall the first time that I ever heard the name of La Llorona was from my grandmother. She was cooking in the kitchen and me and my cousin Bobby were there and she was cooking dinner. And, you know, we were kids. We wanted to go outside and play, but you know, Grandma couldn't watch us when we were little and she was busy cooking. So one of the things she did is she was going to, she started saying, "I'm going to tell you guys a story." And I remember my cousin, Bobby was sitting on the, on the floor, on the floor and I was sitting on top of the big metal canister where she would keep the, keep the flour. And as she was cooking, she was cooking her, her, uh, you know, rice and beans and some carne guisada. And as she was cooking, she began to tell us, there was once a woman and she began to tell us a story of La Llorona.
Xavier Garza (14:42):
She began to tell us how she drowned her children in the river, and came back as a ghost that now steals other children, claiming them as their own if they don't listen their parents, if they don't do what they're told. And I remember we clung to her every word. I mean, we just wanted to hear the story, what was going to happen. And needless to say, by the time she finished the story, uh, me and my cousin, Bobby had pretty much lost all interest in wanting to go outside and play. So we were kind of like, let's stay inside. So it's safer in here.
Evan (15:14):
Like the best legends, versions of La Llorona are wide and varied. Xavier in fact has written several adaptations. And when I asked if he'd be willing to share, takes a moment to decide which one before launching into a retelling, similar to the one he first heard from his grandmother in the kitchen-
Xavier Garza (15:32):
The story goes that there was a woman, a woman named Christina who was beautiful, but also very vain. And she had said that no man was good enough for her. Only one that was as handsome as she was beautiful. And her mother would warn her. "Ay, Mija! Don't be so vain. Nothing good ever comes from being vain." But she didn't listen. And then one day in walked in this really handsome man on top of a horse, a young handsome vaquero. And she was convinced that that would be the man she would marry. And she did, and all seemed great. But, alas, you know, after some time the young vaquero became restless and left her with two kids that she had to now raise on her own. And having been used to always having things go her way, this completely unsettled life as she knew it.
Xavier Garza (16:38):
And then she later learned that that handsome young man had married another woman. And this angered her so much that she thought that the way she would have her revenge on this young man was by taking from him his sons. And so they say that one night, she drowned them in the river. Once she realized the horrible action she had done after the madness of wanting to punish him had passed, she couldn't live with herself and drowned herself in the very same river. But because of what she had done, her spirit, her alma could not rest. And God punished her to walk the earth with a tormented spirit that would not know rest till she found her children so that their souls could rest. 'Cause their souls, their almas were taken by the river, but she could never find them.
Xavier Garza (17:38):
And she became so desperate to end her torment that she began to steal other children, claiming them as her own. But God was not fooled. And she was cursed to continue to do this over and over and over again. So they say, they tell today, little ninos, don't go outside late at night. Don't go out. When you know you shouldn't because your parents told you not to. Because if you do, stay away from wherever there are bridges that have water running underneath them, or stay away from rivers or lakes. Because if you do, you might see La Llorona. You might see her walking towards you floating towards you with feet that do not touch the ground. As she walks, you might see that wild hair that swirls around her as if they were snakes. And those red eyes that burn like they're on fire. And she will say "Come to me mijo. Come to your Mama!" But you best know that is not your Mama. Runaway child for if La Llorona catches you. You will never be seen again. And that's a story of La Llorona.
Evan (18:57):
Hearing this. I ask if Xavier himself believes in ghosts, but is quick to say that whether genuine or imagined all cucuyus are rooted in truth. And he suggests, if you read of our current border policies, the presence of La Llorona remains all too real.
Xavier Garza (19:14):
These are children that are basically stripped away from their mothers for no, no rational reason. And you can say, well, the law this, the law that. It's not a rational reason to separate an infant, a child, some of them babies, you know, from their mothers, which is like one of the most brutal acts you can do to a child to have him or her taken away from their mother. You know, the emotional trauma that you cause to that child? And you'll leave that woman weeping crying for her children, which is kind of like what La Llorona is. She is weeping. She is crying for her children. So there is a lot of similarities. And in a way, the people, the individuals that are doing this almost become La Llorona because what they are doing is taking children away from their mother. So, and that's in that sense, in that sense, this darker body is La Llorona.
Evan (20:43):
Back in Galveston, Noelle leads me around to other sites and speaks of their rumored hauntings, standing in front of a gabled Victorian residence known as the James Waters house, she tells me its original owners have been spotted lurking downstairs, and that guests have reported waking up to discover themselves covered in inexplicable claw marks. Like Bobby and Xavier, I level with Noelle and ask if she herself believes in ghosts.
Evan (21:09):
And have you experienced anything here in Galveston? I know we're talking about a lot on this tour, but have you yourself experienced anything out of the ordinary here?
Noelle (21:19):
Uh, we have, I have seen a lot of evidence on my tours. I see orbs, I see, uh, apparitions manifestations. Um, even though where I live is historic, I haven't had any direct experience there. But my mother lives on Post Office Street. She has a lodge there and she will, um, hear like a rocking of a rocking chair, even though there's not a rocking chair anywhere in her house. Uh, and then she'd also hear, like very heavy, um, footsteps, like pacing through, um, her house. And, uh, here in Galveston, we just accept ghosts like as our neighbors and kind of part of our community. And so if any of that ruckus starts to bother her, she just says, 'Hey, can you please stop? I'm trying to sleep." So, you know, just be nice to your ghost. And, you know, a lot of, uh, you know, and they will comply.
Noelle (22:10):
But when she first moved in, she had this problem, like, so she was repainting everything. And my mom likes very vibrant colors and she had this built-in bar at one part of her loft and the painter comes in and he's like, whoa, what happened here? And scrawled on there is "Stop now, get out." And, um, I mean, of course they freak out. I mean, they've taken pictures of it, but, uh, it completely vanished a couple of days later. So crazy stuff. After that incident, she felt like the spirit that was there was more of like a protective presence. So I guess like he was, he was a little upset at first, but then quickly got over it
Evan (22:53):
Winding our way through the Oak lined streets of what's known as the East End Historic District, Noelle and I make small talk. She's a hip young artist who grew up in Central Texas and having recently graduated from college in Savannah, her roots in Galveston are pretty fresh, but her enthusiasm for this town is real and infectious. And I'm eager to learn more of the circumstances that brought her family here. So what brought your mother to, to Galveston?
Noelle (23:22):
Um, I guess, uh, uh, after my dad died, uh, she just decided to retire here and I was actually planning on moving here at, around the same time as well. But since she moved here, I was like, oh, I don't want to like, you know, copycat her. And then I got distracted with, you know, a relationship and a good job and things like that. And then when all of those things came to an end, I was like, man, I ran out of excuses not to live in Galveston. So here I come. And like I was saying earlier, definitely the best decision in my life. I am so happy here. Oh, I'm
Evan (23:58):
Very sorry about the loss of your father, obviously.
Noelle (24:01):
Oh, it's oh, that's fine. Yeah,
Evan (24:03):
But I mean, and this, I it's, it's, it's a personal spiritual question, that doesn't have to do with ghosts, but I guess, in what ways do you feel your father's spirit with you?
Noelle (24:16):
Oh, um, I, right before I moved here, like, like literally like four or five days before I had an incredibly vivid dream of him in my mom's, uh, current loft, which he, you know, never been to, but he was there and, um, I couldn't necessarily understand what he was saying, but I could hear like the cadence of his voice and his laughter and, um, things like that. And it was all very jovial. And so I kind of feel like that in itself was like a blessing and a, in a way of like, kind of telling me that I was making a good decision, um, moving here. Um, and then once I did, I felt like, um, a lot of things are just, just started falling into place in my life. And so, um, I guess one good decision leads to other good decisions. So thank you for sharing. Thank you.
Evan (25:14):
Do I believe in ghosts? They're places I've been that have a certain feel or energy to them. Maybe I've heard a few things go bump in the night. If I've ever seen one, I didn't notice, can't remember and certainly have no idea what the afterlife might hold in store. But what I do know for sure, and is something I think Noelle's dream beautifully illustrates is that the dead never truly leave us. The ones I've lost remain alive to me in memories, but more crucially the decisions, actions, mistakes, and attitudes of those who've come before have, and continue to shape where we are today. This tour of Galveston reminds me of just that. What's more, Xavier says the legends we grew up with are like pieces of our DNA and that it's important to keep them alive because if lost, we lose a part of ourselves. For these reasons, I agree. They're worth telling. Also let's be real. They can be pretty fun.
