Ghosts along the Texas Coast (2 page)

A common consensus seems to be that these spirits often come back to the place where they actually died, but this is not always the case. Sometimes they just come back to places where they were happy in life with someone they loved. The anniversaries of their deaths seem to call forth some spirits. And then, some ghosts seem to appear with great regularity at just a certain time of day or night. For instance, there might be a regular “6 p.m.” ghost, or a “midnight spirit,” or a “twilight specter.” And, contrary to what one might think, many of them do appear in broad daylight. Some of them look just like a regular human being, while others are transparent, misty, or foggy in appearance. Generally they only appear for an instant and then completely disappear!

A full moon phase often draws out ghosts, and I've been told by psychics that they are generally more likely to appear during hot summer months than during cold weather. (Maybe they “hibernate” in the winter months!)

Some spirits guard hidden treasures or valuables, so the sighting of an apparition might possibly indicate that something of value may be hidden close by. And then, some of them just “hang around” for no particular reason at all!

This book contains stories of ghosts that have appeared in the coastal area of Texas, and it is the result of many months of researching. Most of the stories are well documented. A few are legends, tales that have been told over and over again, sometimes for generations, and which often have several variations. I included a few of these that I felt worthy of repeating once more in the last chapter. Many of the stories appear for the first time in print. The setting for some of them centers around the coastal plains and low-lying marshes and woodlands that constitute the Texas Gulf Coast. The windswept beaches, offshore
islands, and mysterious swamps bring forth tales of buried pirate treasure and adventurers such as the legendary buccaneer, Jean Lafitte. There are “big city” stories about Galveston, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, and the great metropolis of Houston. And there are tales centered around the Golden Triangle, which is comprised of Beaumont, Orange, and Port Arthur, and the area surrounding those cities. Historic landmarks, such as the Presidio of La Bahia at Goliad and the Old Lighthouse at Sabine Pass, are included as well.

Some of the stories are sweet and tender. Some of them are frightening. This is because ghosts have personalities just as mortals do. The character traits they had in life seem to follow them to the hereafter, so that kind and loving people probably return as watchful, benevolent spirits bent on protecting their loved ones. Mean-spirited, cruel, selfish and unkind mortals will doubtless return as fearful poltergeists, bent upon bringing horror into the lives of those who see or hear them. And then there are the pitiful, little lost souls who are just sad and unhappy, hanging around because they can't seem to find peace on the “other side.”

And therein lies the mystique and the fascination of the entities we call “ghosts”. . . .

After reading the stories related in this book, perhaps the skeptics may still say, “Bah! Humbug!” about the tales contained within these covers. Or maybe, just maybe, they might decide that keeping a night-light on in the bedroom isn't such a bad idea after all!

Docia Schultz Williams

Docia Williams

From the sunburnt town of Brownsville,

'Way down near Mexico . . .

There are ghosts and roaming spirits

Where'ere you chance to go.

They come back to roam the beaches

And the farmers' sun-parched land.

They're in the far flung reaches

Where rolling waves meet sand.

They're known to roam the islands

And the marshlands by the sea.

Their graves cannot contain them,

For their souls roam wild and free.

They're in Galveston and Houston,

Port Arthur has a few;

They're in dark and hidden places,

And in hotel rooms with a view!

Wherever men have worked and lived,

Wherever men have died;

Wherever women laughed or danced,

Wherever they have cried;

They're anywhere and everywhere,

And forever they must roam.

The Texas Coast . . . their cordial host,

And the ageless land, their home.

The Bolivar Island lighthouse on the Texas Gulf Coast

This book is dedicated to my husband, Roy D. Williams, and my daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Dennis Thaxton, who have been my staunchest supporters, with my love and thanks.

From the long and lonely outer reaches

Of swampy lowlands and windswept beaches

All along the Texas coast;

There are legends, there are stories

Of the tumults, and the glories,

And of strange and eerie spirits known as ghosts.

Now, Jean Lafitte was a pirate bold,

A pirate bold was he!

He boarded ships and plundered gold

From sea to shining sea.

Now buried on the Texas coast

Just where, we've not a clue;

His gold is guarded by his ghost,

If what we've heard is true!

Tales of buried pirate treasure and the ghostly guardians still standing watch over the ill-gotten booty of the buccaneers who raided shipping off the Texas coast have been around for many long years. By now, what is fact and what is fiction is a bit hard to sort out, as there are so many conflicting tales. However, most all the stories make mention of that most famous of pirates known to sail the waters off the Texas shores, the dashing swashbuckler Jean Lafitte.

Although the Encyclopedia Americana lists Lafitte as “American, Pirate and smuggler,” he was actually born in a small village on the Garonne River in France in the year 1780. Little seems to be known of his youth. At one time he was known to have been a privateer in the employ of Cartagena for the purpose of the destruction of British and Spanish commerce. He soon turned to piracy (where he could be his own boss!) and around 1809 he turned up in New Orleans, along with his brother, Pierre, and a stalwart band of followers of the same persuasion. Jean opened up a blacksmith shop in New Orleans that may have been a “front” for his real vocation, which was smuggling slaves into New Orleans. The hapless blacks were offered at $1 a pound, and the Lafittes did a big business. At the same time, they supplied New Orleans' citizenry with contraband goods, which they often sold at
Grand Terre Island in the Barataria Bay. From this locale, it was easy for the pirate band to plunder shipping in the Gulf of Mexico.

Jean was a handsome, dashing figure of a man, and he became a well-known personality in the gambling salons, quadroon ballrooms, at the opera, and at theatrical productions in New Orleans.

The United States government eventually launched a number of expeditions against the Lafittes, but they all failed. A revenue inspector who had been sent to examine their goods was murdered in 1814. Legal proceedings against them in United States courts had to be abandoned because John R. Grymes, the U.S. District Attorney, resigned his office in order to help the pirates! It seems Jean Lafitte's whole career was built more or less on duplicity and double dealing. So successful was he in his various endeavors that he succeeded in transforming himself into a legend while he was still alive!

Now, Pierre was finally captured. During his captivity, Captain Nicholas Lockyer, of the British navy, offered Jean a captain's commission, the sum of $30,000, and pardon for all “past mistakes” if he and his followers would join the British expedition against New Orleans. While pretending to deal with Lockyer, Lafitte informed the American authorities of the British plans. The Louisiana authorities, with the exception of General Jacquez Villere and Governor William C. Claiborne, suspected a plot from the pirate, and they sent an expedition against Lafitte at Barataria. Many of the pirate company were captured, but the Lafitte brothers escaped. Later on, they, and a number of their followers, honorably served under General Andrew Jackson. In fact, Jean Lafitte assisted in the construction of the defenses of Barataria Bay. In command of a detachment of his pirate band, he participated most creditably in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. For his services, Lafitte and his men were granted full amnesty by President James Madison in 1815.

Even though the Lafittes were pardoned, they probably felt like their welcome had worn thin in Louisiana, because in 1817 they founded a “pirate commune” called “Campeche” (sometimes spelled “Campeachy”) on Galveston Island, which was first called “Galvez-town” after Bernardo de Galvez, viceroy of Mexico. Jean Lafitte ruled over Campeche as “president,” and in 1819 for a short time he was governor of “Galveston Republic.” In the administration of his far-flung piratical empire, Jean made use of the islands off the coast of
Texas. One of his bases was Culebra Island, composed of Matagorda and St. Joseph's, separated only by Cedar Bayou.

For the purpose of protecting commerce against depredations of freebooters and to safeguard the port of Caparo, the Spanish, and after them, the Mexicans, maintained the small fort of “Armzazu” on Live Oak Point. In retaliation, Lafitte maintained a fort of his own on the southwest part of St. Joseph's Island. The village of Aransas (now Aransas Pass) was later laid out near the site of the pirate's fort.

In 1821 the U.S. government, in reprisal of an attack on an American ship by a Lafitte follower, sent Lt. Lawrence Kearny to disrupt the community, although it was Spanish territory at that time. Lafitte is said to have burned Campeche and “disappeared.” Actually, after being ousted from Galveston Island, many of the pirates just settled down in the coastal area. The final meeting of the great buccaneer and his men is reputed to have taken place at False Live Oak Point after they had been cornered by British and American navies. Here the booty was divided up and Lafitte supposedly cached most of it at False Live Oak Point in heavy chests, among the oak trees. This done, the pirate and his remaining followers attempted to slip through the American and British blockade. For three days and nights a cannonade was heard by the residents of Cedar Bayou, and Lafitte finally eluded his pursuers.

Later on, it is said that Lafitte conducted most of his activities on the “Spanish Main,” which could have been just about anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico or the Caribbean. The famous pirate died of a fever at Losbocas, on the north coast of Yucatan, about fifteen miles from Merida, in 1826. He was forty-six years old. He was buried in the “Campo de Santos” in the little Indian village of Silan.

Historical marker at Galveston

Now, there are lots of legends concerning Lafitte and his crew. Their latter-day haunts greatly
resembled the Barataria waterways they had known in Louisiana. They centered in the marshy Texas coastland below Beaumont and Port Arthur, and around the vast, brackish Sabine Lake, which emptied into the Gulf of Mexico at dark-running Sabine Pass. These secretive waterways and marshes harbor stories of buried treasure and pirate ghosts to this day.

According to a story that appeared in the
Houston Post
many years ago, one of Jean Lafitte's ships was chased across Sabine Lake and made anchor in Port Neches at the mouth of the Neches River. To keep the treasure aboard the ship from falling into the hands of the Spanish pursuers, it was carried ashore and buried in a marsh. Maps purported to show where this treasure was secreted have appeared from time to time, and there has been much digging for it. It is supposed to have never been found. Maybe this is because it was never placed there. Lafitte's treasure simply can't be buried at every place it is said to be!

The late Thomas Penfield wrote a fascinating little book entitled
A Guide to Treasure in Texas
, published by Carson Enterprises, Inc. of Deming, New Mexico. Mr. Penfield really researched the Lafitte treasure locales, and while he didn't find the buried chests, he certainly told some good stories! I'll just bet one reason the treasure has not been discovered is because there are pirate ghosts out there doing a great job of guarding the burial sites!