Episode #41: We Stayed In a Haunted Hotel

- December 11, 2024

It was October 4, 2011 and this is the first anniversary since October 4, 1979 (which was our 4th anniversary) that we have no children at home. We are now a part of the 'empty nesters group' so we take a trip to central Texas to celebrate our 36th year of marriage. It has been 31 years since our first baby was born and and about 10 before our first grandbaby arrives. After being out of work for most of 2010, I had been working at Gibson Energy for almost a year and finally had some vacation time again. Jacob was living in College Station and in his first year of college, Brad was living in Lubbock and in his junior year of college and except for the two cats our house was empty. So with all of this, we thought we would do something we have never done, spend a couple of nights in a (reportedly) haunted hotel: The Menger Hotel in San Antonio.

We didn't want to go too far so we decided to take a driving trip to the Hill Country of south central Texas. We spent some time driving through this beautiful part of the state and doing a lot of window shopping in Fredricksburg which is west of Austin and north of San Antonio. There are a lot of unique shopping opportunities in this small German town of less than 11,000 people and a collection of the most beautiful cathedral churches you may ever see. St. Mary's Catholic Church is probably of the most massive cathedral design but The Holy Ghost Lutheran Church (pictured below) construction reminds me of the architecture of the churches I saw in New Zealand (Episode 16) which were built in the mid 19th century.

After spending most of the day in the area it was getting dark and time to move on to San Antonio which is just over an hour south of Fredricksburg. After a bite to eat we arrive at the Menger Hotel about 9pm, get checked in and this is when I find out the legend of the hotel being haunted. I made reservations for this hotel initially because it is such a landmark structure as it was built next to the Alamo only 23 years after the battle that the Texans lost during their fight for independence from Mexico. The hotel is gorgeous, the lobby having marble floors and marble columns and paintings that adorn all three floors throughout the public areas. The first picture below is one I grabbed off the internet of when the hotel opened in February 1859.

I never thought about it, but the rooms are very small compared to hotels of today, they contain only a bed, small dresser and a small bathroom past the foot of the bed.

The bed was fair and the hotel was quiet, and I remember thinking how many people had stayed in this room over the past 152 years. Reportedly the list of guests include Sam Houston, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S Grant, Presidents McKinley, Taft, Eisenhower and Theodore Roosevelt. Babe Ruth and Mae West had also spent time in this landmark hotel.

As the story goes there are reports of seeing ghostly figures drifting through the rooms or just appearing and not moving then disappearing. The most popular story of ghostly appearance is that of Sallie White who worked at The Menger Hotel as a chambermaid. Her common law husband was very jealous of her and anytime special attention was paid to her. They reportedly had countless fights over her working at The Menger and some of those fights occurred at the hotel. On the morning of March 28, 1876 she had gone home to gather her belongings planning to leave the insanely jealous Harold Wheeler. Wheeler was waiting for her with a loaded pistol and shot her twice and she died in a room on the third floor of The Menger Hotel. Her translucent ghostly figure has been reportedly seen by multiple guest often carrying towels and linens as she did in her regular duties as a chambermaid at The Menger. The two nights we stayed there we never saw or heard anything to substantiate this legend.

The following few days we were there were dedicated to the typical and usual tourist attractions around the area, specifically the area of the famous River Walk which is loaded with shops and restaurants.

The picture below was taken in the summer of 1966 while on a family vacation we took to this area and was my first of many trips to the San Antonio River Walk. The first photo below was taken with a Polaroid Instamatic camera that develops the picture as soon as you take it (talk about state of the art in photography!) though some of the resolution has faded over time, and it is very hard to tell but Danny and I are on the top of the bridge for the photo op. And here 45 years later I am at the same bridge with my bride of 36 years taking the river boat ride and snagging the next picture with my phone as we take the boat ride through the River Walk area of town. The Jetsons were right, the future was full of amazing everyday electronic gadgets.