February 17, 2008 - Sunday
We decided to go to Frederickburg today and on the way there we decided to stop by
Devil's Backbone!
Here is a transcript of the show, Unsolved Mysteries regarding Devil's Backbone.
Unsolved Mysteries
The Devil's Backbone
Aired: January 1996
They call it the Devil's Backbone. When it comes to ghosts per square mile, no place
place short of Purgatory can match these 4700 acres in Central Texas. To get here,
you head south out of the state capital, Austin, about 50 miles and some 200 years.
The nine canyons of the Devil's Backbone were once home to Comanche and Apa-
che Indians. In the 1700s, Spaniards pushed through on the way to conquest. Among
them was a Franciscan monk named Espinosa, infamous for his ruthless ambition.
More than a century later, renegade Confederate soldiers on a new quest for gold
breathed their last in the Devil's Backbone. Today, their spirits live on, or so says
long-time resident Bert Wall.
Bert Wall: "I had a situation one time where I was finishing a particular thing I was
writing and it was late at night, about midnight, and the dog started barking a little
bit, but not loud. The wind was blowing and it was a cold night. Then I looked in
the window and that's when I saw the Spanish monk. I don't believe it could have
been a person. There's no way. He was definitely from the 1700s; he was dressed
that way, in his habit or whatever, his cross hanging. I probably watched him for,
oh, fifteen seconds, which is a long time. He disappeared in a way that was more
of a... [makes a whooshing sound.]"
The luminous Spanish monk is but one of many spirits that prowl the ranch. Just
ask John Miers. He came to Bert Wall's place to hunt deer, but hunting in the
Devil's Backbone isn't like anywhere else in the world.
John Miers: "The stand I was on was a tree stand. Once I got up and situated
myself, you have to be real quiet and real still and watch for the deer. As I was
sitting up in the stand waiting (that's what you do a lot in deer hunting, just wait)
I heard footprints, or footsteps I should say, walking around the tree, the base
of the tree. I couldn't see because I was sitting on a platform, and it kept just
walking in a circle. whatever it was. I started getting a little eerie feeling because
it wouldn't move away from the tree. It just kept going in a circle and finally it...
it just stopped. It didn't... walk away. The sounds just stopped. And the sun had
started going down, and it started getting darker, and I thought well, I'm just going
to get dove out of the tree and walk back to the house. I didn't see any footprints,
twigs broken or branches broken or anything like that. I kept getting this feeling
that someone was watching, so I stopped and I turned back and looked toward the
tree and... there was an Indian. It was a very cold night. It was in the twenties, and
he was without a shirt, and he was looking at me rather strangely, like 'who are
you?' So immediately, I turned around and started back toward the house. I noticed
to my right, out of the corner of my eye, that... he was there. He was walking parallel
with me. I didn't feel threated by him. He was just looking at me like 'who are you,
and what are you doing here?' And... I made about two steps toward him and when
I did, he vanished. It...it was a ghost. It had to be, you know, to be able to do that."
The bunkhouse was the site of yet another extraordinary vision if you believe Lynn
Gentry, the one-time foreman of Bert Wall's ranch.
Lynn Gentry: "We were in the house relaxing and off in the distance I heard what at
first I thought was thunder. Then as the sound became closer, I realized it was horses'
hooves, in a very fast run. There were several horses with probably fifteen or twenty
riders, what I believe were Confederate soldiers. They certainly looked real to me at
the time, but then you begin to slowly realize that hey, what I'm looking at is not real.
You know, this is... these are ghosts."
Perhaps most amazing of all is the experience of John Villarreal. A few years back,
John was hiking with two friends in an area known as the Haunted Mountain. John
claims he not only saw a supernatural vision of a wolf, but the spirit actually possessed
him.
John Villarreal: "Corey and BC were off in another part of the creek and...I got this
sensation, and...I basically saw a vision of a wolf. I was looking up, watching it come
towards me, and... it leaped at me...and...where it would've hit me, I felt a...just a
chilling sensation go through me."
Corey Ramseur: "We didn't see anything mysterious. It's all what John says that he saw.
Well, when we got back into the truck, it got extremely cold in the truck. He was sitting
in between BC and I. I was sitting on the passenger side so the whole left side of my body
got extremely numb and cold. It's almost like...if there was a big block of ice sitting next
to me. When we got back to the ranch that night, I didn't know what was going on. I didn't
know if my friend was going to be all right. I was actually pretty worried about him."
According to his friends, John initially lapsed into a silent trance. When he did speak, his
voice was an uneartly baritone. John suddenly seemed obsessed with Indian massacres,
ambushes, and other little known events from the history of the Devil's Backbone.
Corey Ramseur: "While I was standing there, I was feeling extremely scared, and all of the
sudden, a big gust of wind came out of the kitchen. I...I was just in shock. I didn't know
what that was. I stood there, kind of frozen, and kept asking questions. 'What...what was
that?' And that's when someone said, 'I think the spirit's left him. I think it's gone now.' "
John Villarreal: "I don't know what...for sure, what kind of spirit was inside of me...but
something... that knew about this ranch, that knew about the history of the ranch...had
to be going through me. And, uh...it's...it's hard to believe, but...it...you know, basically
that what would have had to happen."
Here in the Devil's Backbone, ghosts are as common as spines on a cactus. But why
should this particular patch of land prove so irresistable to spirits?
Bert Wall: "The Devil's Backbone is haunted because it's loved. It's loved by the spirits.
It's loved by myself. And I imagine someday when I am gone, I will haunt this same son
of a gun."
If the local accounts are anything close to true, Bert Wall will join a host of other spirits
that once called this place home. Bold company, in which to spend the rest of eternity.
© Unsolved Mysteries
If you want to learn about Devil's Backbone or other central Texas stories, you can
visit here:
Devil's Backbone
Disclaimer:
Unsolved Mysteries is in no way affiliated with Nick D. Bear or Bear-All-Places.com
