0:00

Alright, so Matt, yesterday, Michael

0:03

decided he was going to pick his nose and

0:05

he wiped it on me. He

0:08

said it was funny. I told him it was snot.

0:12

Hahaha. Oh

0:16

man. Fizz, fizz, fizz.

0:27

Good evening everybody and welcome to

0:29

the graveyard. Thank you for joining

0:31

us tonight. My name is

0:34

Adam. And my name's Matt.

0:36

Now, pull up a tombstone

0:38

or settle into your casket

0:40

and get comfortable because this

0:43

is Graveyard Tales.

0:50

Alright everybody, here we are again.

0:52

Matt, how you doing tonight, brother?

0:55

I'm doing alright. Good. Good. So

0:58

before we get into it, we'll say go

1:00

check out the Podbelly Network at podbelly.com. You

1:03

can find a list of shows that we're happy

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thank tonight's sponsor, Clariton. And

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sponsor's site with our

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specific URL. Plus, if there's a

1:59

code, you can find it on our website. code, we put it

2:01

in the show notes as well. Um,

2:03

also share the show, you know,

2:05

grab your favorite episode and share it. You're

2:09

more than welcome to cut

2:11

a piece of audio out. If you want

2:14

to share the intro joke, cut

2:16

that audio out and share it. You know, Matt

2:18

and I do not care. Throw it on

2:20

your Tik TOK, whatever, share it.

2:23

You know, just to bring more people into

2:25

the graveyard, talk to your friends about you

2:28

know, we, we don't say

2:30

it as often as we used to, but word

2:33

of mouth and you sharing it on

2:35

social media really helps grow the graveyard

2:38

and Matt and I want to reach as many people as we

2:40

can. That's right. We got,

2:42

we got important stuff to say. Right.

2:44

Right. And

2:46

we started putting video out on

2:49

YouTube. So if you're listening

2:51

to this on a

2:53

pod catcher and you're like, what do

2:55

these ding dongs look like? Whose

2:57

voice is whose I

2:59

am so confused. Is it

3:02

the one that always wears the hat? Is it the,

3:04

the, the guy with no hair? Which one

3:06

is it? Whose voice is whose go over

3:08

to YouTube? Like our

3:11

page, go over there and check us

3:13

out. Now our older videos,

3:16

just audio, but we started putting actual

3:18

video of us recording this. I'm waving

3:20

at you guys right now. Um,

3:23

as we're recording it, you

3:25

know, up on YouTube, so you

3:28

can check us out. We figured, Hey, it's

3:30

a video platform. Why not put the video

3:32

out on YouTube? It's genius

3:34

idea, Matt. Yeah. And

3:38

you know, what's funny, you talk about the

3:40

guy with no hair. I heard, uh, I

3:42

heard David tell today. Hey,

3:44

apparently, you know, one of the requirements of a

3:47

podcast is you have to have a shaved head

3:49

and a beard. Like,

3:52

Hey, I resemble that remark.

3:54

Yeah. Right. You

3:57

know, I guess, I guess there is, there has to be

3:59

a dress code for one. on the hosts. That's

4:01

right. We're lucky

4:04

that we've got two so we can fit

4:06

into multiple categories. You know,

4:08

you've got the shaved head and the beard and I'm

4:11

the idiot

4:14

with the camo hat. I don't know. Whatever

4:16

niche I fill, I don't know. Yeah. The

4:19

dude wearing the hat. The dude

4:22

with the hat. You know that guy. That

4:24

dude with the hat from that one podcast. You

4:27

don't want to see how many different hats

4:29

Adam wears doing this. Oh yeah. I

4:32

mean, eventually you're gonna be like, let's see

4:34

this hat collection. Yeah, I may

4:36

actually have to do that but I actually might

4:38

be embarrassed for me to show how

4:40

many hats I actually have. So it's

4:42

not just, I got a lot of

4:44

hats. Yeah. But

4:46

Adam wears all of his. I do,

4:48

yeah. And I've got a

4:51

thing. I'll

4:53

tell you this. It's a dirty

4:55

little secret, but I am so, ain't

4:59

no retentive about my hats that

5:02

I have a hat carrying

5:04

case. It's hat luggage. I was just

5:06

fixing to say, I saw one this

5:08

weekend. And

5:11

I'm like, seriously? Oh yeah.

5:14

And the sales guy was like, yeah man.

5:16

He said, you know, as much

5:18

as what hats cost these days, you

5:20

know, you're gonna travel, you

5:23

know, you throw it in a suitcase, you know, it's gonna

5:25

get ruined. Yep. Yep. That's

5:28

exactly it. I'm very particular

5:30

about the

5:32

way my hat fits. I don't

5:34

want the brim messed up. You know, I

5:36

don't want the crown messed up. I don't want it dirty.

5:39

So I have a little

5:42

carrying case, hard shell carrying case that I

5:45

can carry five hats or so

5:47

total in there if I want to. And

5:50

I'll throw three, four hats in there if we're gonna

5:52

go on vacation. And Ashley's like, do you really need

5:55

that many hats? I said, well, I don't know what

5:57

the dress is gonna, you know, require

6:00

here. I might need an all black hat. I

6:02

might need a camo hat. She's like, no, you

6:04

don't. But whatever. But

6:09

yeah, and I scotch

6:11

guard all my hats so that they don't

6:14

get stained. I have a fancy

6:16

thing on the inside of them, a no

6:18

sweat hat band, which hashtag

6:20

not a sponsor, but I wish they were. It

6:24

keeps you from getting the sweat lines on

6:26

your hat. So if

6:28

you need any hat care tips, hit me up. I'm

6:30

more than happy

6:33

to share. But

6:36

on the note of what the title

6:38

of this episode is, Matt, why don't you tell

6:40

us? What are we talking about tonight, brother? So

6:43

tonight, Adam and I are going to look at

6:46

a haunted hotel deep

6:49

in the heart of Texas. Deep

6:51

in the heart of Texas. Yes,

6:55

he did it. So anyway,

7:00

whenever somebody

7:03

mentions San Antonio, I

7:05

always think about the Alamo. And

7:08

then I think about Peewee's Big Adventure. And

7:12

it's Alamo doesn't have a basement. Yeah,

7:14

you know, so I mean, I've

7:17

not ever been to the Alamo. I've been to San Antonio,

7:19

but I've never been to the Alamo. But

7:23

but I know it doesn't have a basement.

7:25

You know what I always think of when

7:27

I think of San Antonio, the

7:30

Alamo, the Boardwalk and Ozzy

7:32

peeing on the Alamo. I

7:36

remember that. Yep. Yep.

7:39

So we're gonna look at a

7:41

haunted hotel that was built

7:45

in like that late 1850s.

7:49

So it's really old. And when

7:51

you look at the history of this place, you're

7:54

gonna go Yeah, I can see why this is

7:56

a super haunted hotel,

7:58

which is what people consider

8:01

multiple spirits supposedly

8:04

reside there. We're

8:06

gonna look at the Menger Hotel in

8:09

San Antonio, Texas. Yep

8:12

and you may hear us.

8:14

Matt and I were having this

8:16

discussion before the mic heated up

8:19

but we've heard several different

8:21

ways of pronouncing this and

8:25

one of them sounds dirty to me so I don't

8:27

want to say that. He

8:29

means dirty like like like

8:31

physically dirty. Yeah. Like a gross

8:33

word. Yeah it

8:35

does so so we're gonna call it like

8:38

the Menger or the Menger or something like

8:40

that. We're gonna use that pronunciation of

8:42

the G and not

8:44

the J pronunciation of the G if that

8:46

makes sense. Like the the

8:49

gif gif argument here. That's

8:51

right. It's gif by

8:53

the way graphic it's not graphic

8:55

interfacing. Anyway as

8:57

we always say go check our sources down at the

9:00

bottom of the show notes like how I just fly

9:02

past that so I can't get any hate there. Down

9:05

at the bottom of our show notes we

9:07

put our links to our sources so you

9:09

can find where we found all this information

9:11

and there is a lot of information.

9:15

There is like Matt said this

9:17

this hotel was started in the 1800s so obviously

9:20

there is a lot of history so

9:24

I probably don't cover half of it

9:26

and some of the stuff

9:28

I do cover I can't go into full depth

9:30

on it so if you want to go deep

9:33

dive go down in the bottom of our show notes

9:36

and find a link

9:38

and go travel. It'll be fun. Now

9:43

the Menger hotel sits at

9:45

204 Alamo Plaza in

9:47

San Antonio Texas so it

9:49

sits beside the Alamo and very

9:51

close to the Riverwalk so

9:54

you know there has

9:56

been a lot of history take place in

9:58

this area. I mean

10:00

just the land that it sits on.

10:03

Right, yeah. Has a ton of history. I

10:07

mean we've talked about haunted battle

10:09

sites before. So why

10:11

would this be any different? Right,

10:13

right, exactly. And

10:16

the area that the hotel actually sits on

10:18

was part of the site of

10:20

the Battle of Alamo. So

10:24

we'll briefly go into that if for

10:27

some reason you don't know what the Battle of

10:29

Alamo was. It was one of

10:31

the bloodiest battles in Texas's history. And

10:34

it was a battle

10:36

that was part of the war to win

10:38

Texas's freedom from Mexico. Now in

10:40

February of 1836, Mexican

10:43

General Santa Ana marched his troops

10:45

to the Alamo Mission intent on

10:47

stamping out the rebellion. They

10:49

arrived with nearly 4,000 soldiers. Despite

10:54

the odds stacked against them, the Texians

10:56

and the Tejanos gathered together to fight.

10:59

They held out for 13 days

11:01

and the commanding officer William Travis

11:03

sent missives to other Texas

11:05

communities for aid and was

11:07

rewarded when 32 volunteers arrived at

11:09

the Alamo. But then the

11:12

number tipped more toward 200. So

11:16

he was happy to get the 32, but

11:18

then he ended up getting 200 volunteers and some of them

11:24

came from Tennessee. So

11:27

thank you Volunteer State. Now

11:30

for days the battle commenced, but on March 6,

11:32

1836, the Mexican soldiers rushed the

11:36

compound. Santa Ana's troops seized

11:38

the church, busting the doors open with

11:40

a cannon, and one by

11:42

one the Texian fighters and their

11:44

supporters fell, including Infamous

11:46

James Bowie and David Crockett.

11:50

Now On the same land

11:52

that the Mingar Hotel is built, it's

11:54

reported that all the men fighting for

11:56

Texas's independence were killed. Imagine.

12:01

The. Amount of blood spilt. And

12:05

in. A hotel comes up here.

12:09

Yeah, I don't see what could go wrong. Now.

12:12

I'm a little. Snow.

12:15

A. Eight it. It's. A

12:18

You have to do it. There's a lot of places

12:20

that are built on. Battlegrounds

12:23

that you may not even know was

12:25

a battleground. Says it could have

12:27

been a battleground for. We.

12:30

A note from Like The. Twelve. Hundreds

12:33

or something. Before.

12:36

Any European came over to

12:38

America. And. Lots

12:41

of lives lost and you'd build up a

12:43

house or hotel there. So. It.

12:46

Happens but when you know about it.

12:49

And. Then you build a hotel there. You.

12:51

Always probably have that the back of your mind

12:53

that. It was

12:56

gallons of blood spilt here. I wonder

12:58

if I should put a hotel for

13:00

if is a bad juju around here?

13:03

Yeah exactly. A

13:06

which it just as am. A

13:08

quick tidbit: Matt, I don't know if you've heard

13:11

this, but have you heard the legend of the

13:13

Pink Bluebonnet? Not

13:15

a say that I have. Okay, so

13:17

it's bluebonnet season here in Texas and

13:20

they've lasted longer than normal because we

13:22

haven't got a real hard. Heat

13:24

wave yet? But. Every

13:26

now and then amongst the bluebonnets,

13:28

there will be a pink bluebonnet

13:30

that comes up. The.

13:33

Legend has it. That. The

13:35

blood. Of our ancestors,

13:37

that fault for taxes as independent

13:39

still runs through the soil. Of

13:42

taxes and every now and then

13:44

it gets sucked up into a

13:46

blue bonnet and displayed to remind

13:48

us. Of our ancestors

13:51

battle. For. Our freedom. Of

13:53

that's pretty cool. So it yeah I

13:56

thought it was cool. I.

13:58

I remember hearing that years ago. When

14:00

I totally forgot about it until this year, I saw

14:02

some and on my i have got to find a

14:04

way to work that in. In

14:06

this episode, I could work at him. So.

14:09

He. A perfect. It was like

14:11

a planet and I didn't. Know

14:14

the. Manga. Hotel

14:16

is the oldest continuously operating

14:18

hotel. Where's to the Mississippi?

14:22

And a hotel was constructed twenty three years

14:24

after the fall of the Alamo. So.

14:28

That. Didn't seem like a long time. It's not.

14:32

A. Couple decades

14:34

will put a hotel here. Now

14:37

since Eighteen Fifty Nine. It's

14:39

been called the Grand Damn of

14:41

Alamo Plaza. So. A

14:43

hotel was open by William Anger

14:46

on February first of eighteen Fifty

14:48

nine. On the site of

14:50

Mangers Brewery. The first brewery

14:52

in Texas. So.

14:55

It was considered the finest hotel

14:57

west of the Mississippi and because

14:59

of that many many famous people.

15:01

And. Stay there including Sam

15:04

Houston, Gen. Robert Lee,

15:06

Ulysses Grant. And. President

15:09

Mckinley, Taft, Eisenhower, and

15:11

Roosevelt. Babe. Ruth and

15:13

Mae West have also stayed here. So.

15:17

A I This: this is what The

15:19

second. Hotel we don't run in Texas where

15:21

a lot of famous people have come to. The

15:26

last one was shaped like the capital he but you

15:28

know this one is not. Know.

15:30

Mango. Was a a German immigrant

15:33

and he came to San Antonio in

15:35

the early eighteen forties. And. He

15:37

began operating a brewery. On

15:39

this site. If you're not

15:41

from Texas you may not know this

15:43

but takes his his. had a huge

15:45

German population for ever. And.

15:49

That's why we we have a lot of. German

15:52

food, You know we've got.

15:55

Bare fists here. We've got.

15:58

ah You

16:00

know the the Schlitterbahn and

16:03

all this i mean it's full

16:05

of german history here but.

16:09

The texas beer industry was

16:12

actually started by german. That's

16:15

why so many of the best texas

16:17

beers are based on german logger shiner

16:19

box egan bach lone star beer. They're

16:22

there they all resemble a german

16:25

logger because. The

16:28

german immigrant started our beer

16:31

industry so that's

16:33

pretty interesting i guess i i

16:35

didn't know that. Especially

16:38

about the beer because yet. Shiner

16:41

bach has always been one of my

16:43

favorite yeah yeah mine too if

16:46

i if i have the option shiner

16:48

bach is the one i'm going for. If

16:50

you want a slightly darker beer but

16:53

still a longer but a slightly darker longer get

16:55

a ziegen bach actually like those those

16:57

are pretty good to. Too

17:01

bad luke and bach texas doesn't have a beer

17:03

is in the song about it. Drink

17:08

in luke and my beer. Alright

17:11

so in eighteen fifty

17:13

seven. Manger decided that

17:15

he want to build a hotel on the

17:18

site so he could accommodate the patrons at

17:20

his bar. It would

17:22

allow the customers to stay longer and drink

17:24

more because they can just go

17:26

to his hotel and crash and he would

17:28

be getting their lodging money as well. Yeah

17:31

what an idea right. So

17:35

he soon hired this local

17:37

architect john m freeze to

17:40

design the two story cut stone building

17:42

and it had. An

17:45

abundance of classical detail and

17:47

it said that the interior

17:50

of the hotel was actually even more

17:52

impressive than the exterior. So.

17:56

Go Look up pictures. If you hadn't seen it

17:58

it it was an impressive. The building. And

18:01

his hotel was such a success

18:03

that he almost immediately decided to

18:05

build in addition. Between. The

18:07

Hotel and is brewery. So.

18:10

He started construction. On. His

18:12

And eighteen, Fifty eight. And it

18:14

only took him to the following year to complete

18:16

it. So. He

18:18

built a forty room annex between

18:21

the two buildings. So. He's got

18:23

his hotel. A space and in

18:25

his brewery than he decided. On

18:27

a more rooms. Know he built

18:29

a forty room and eggs between the

18:31

two. To add even more

18:33

rooms to his hotel. There that

18:36

such as i hope that's a

18:38

hotel owner right there? Yeah that

18:40

no vacancy. And. Then people still

18:42

com and. We

18:44

need more rooms. Yeah, we'll turn

18:46

and away money. Yeah. Exactly.

18:49

And. He got it done. In

18:51

less than. A. Year basically.

18:54

So. That. Was pushing it

18:57

to do it. Now.

19:00

They built the basement honor the

19:02

hotel. That. Had three foot

19:04

thick walls, And he

19:06

used to use it as underground storage

19:09

space you know anna space to till

19:11

his beer that he produced in the

19:13

brewery. So. Not a bad idea. It's.

19:16

Wine. Cellar. You. Can do

19:18

that with beer. And it cools it. so

19:20

you get out. And. Sealed beer out

19:22

of it. And a

19:24

hotel actually featured a tunnel. That.

19:27

Opened in the basement and ran between a

19:29

hotel on a brewery. And. He

19:31

would take tour groups of select

19:33

people through this tunnel. To. Is

19:35

adjacent brewery and give them tours.

19:38

Of. The brewery in. Let.

19:40

Them have. Samples. To

19:42

taste. Though if you

19:44

if he likes you are you are

19:46

important or something you could. Take.

19:49

This secret underground passage over to the

19:51

brewery and tour the brewery. Now.

19:54

The manga receive such attention that within

19:57

three months in the grand opening, William

19:59

and Mary. Ring. Began

20:01

to sketch out a plan to expand the

20:03

hotel. Marry his his wife. Am.

20:06

And what had started out as a

20:08

fifty room hotel then became a hotel

20:10

of ninety guest rooms. Making.

20:12

It the largest hotel in the area. So.

20:15

The Civil War. Happened. During.

20:18

This time. And. It placed a

20:20

heavy weight on business or the the

20:22

mangers there. Now the number of

20:25

people coming to say the hotel slowed dramatically.

20:28

Winter. Mean that. Makes. Sense right?

20:30

Iraq levels are going on. You know,

20:32

going to have people vacationing and staying

20:34

at this hotel? Me:

20:39

It was so dramatic.

20:41

That. William was forced to shut

20:43

down the establishment. You. Know

20:46

for paying guests nine years. In

20:49

an attempt to show their says their support for

20:51

the war efforts. They. Decided to

20:53

open the hotels doors for the

20:55

sick and wounded. Some. Of

20:57

the link of a war. The. Was

21:00

converted into a makeshift hospital for those

21:02

who are sick, are gravely wounded, and

21:04

many passed away during this period. That

21:07

not. Able to. Get

21:10

themselves back. The health of the doctors get them

21:12

back the hell. So they passed away. And.

21:16

So. Many hotels and and

21:18

places were turned into. Field.

21:21

Hospitals are hospitals have some

21:23

kind. During. The Civil War

21:26

a manger is no different. But.

21:28

Matt we've talked about what kind of.

21:32

Atmosphere is that bring upon

21:34

replace our yeah. Now

21:36

when the Civil War and Reconstruction

21:38

were over am especially after the

21:40

railroad arrived in eighteen same he

21:42

said in. The. Manga

21:45

became the best known hotel in

21:47

the southwest. It. Was praised

21:49

for the cuisine offered in the

21:51

colonial dining room which included such

21:53

specialties as wild game. Mango.

21:55

Ice Cream and snapper soup made

21:58

from Turtles Pot and San Antonio

22:00

River. Yeah.

22:05

I and they still make

22:07

mango ice cream Their. A

22:10

woman. and yeah, yeah yeah, you can still go

22:12

get some. Mango ice cream? I

22:14

don't know. If. They make

22:16

snapping turtle soup or not As

22:18

authors. it's you're going to say

22:21

society for sale Major. Ah

22:23

yes! They still go

22:25

kids. Yet another San Antonio river and.

22:28

Now. But. They

22:30

might pull the mangos out of the San Antonio

22:32

river. I don't. Know

22:34

where they keep their mangos since grow

22:36

mangos and Texas. Yeah.

22:40

Man. You will not. but it's hard

22:42

enough on made hard enough. But the the.

22:45

The. Any citrus. The problem with any

22:47

centers. I learned this because I I wanted

22:49

own. Lemon and Lime tree.

22:52

You. Either have to really take care. I'm in

22:54

the winter. Or. And is buy

22:56

a new one every winter. Or every year because.

22:59

We. Actually get frosts here.

23:02

And they can't I lost. So.

23:04

You. Can grow it during. The.

23:07

Summer months and may get a yield.

23:09

But. If you don't cover it and really

23:11

insulated, you won't have it the next year.

23:13

So. They. Could probably grow it

23:15

but they would have to take a lotta care. But.

23:18

I bet they get it from. Foreigners.

23:20

Are. Now

23:24

manger actually died at the hotel

23:26

in March of eighteen seventy one.

23:29

Now. His death was met with grieving.

23:33

From. The entire city. But.

23:36

What caused his death? Is.

23:38

Actually, still a mystery today. No.

23:41

Prior to his death, a local

23:44

newspaper wrote Quote: Our community can

23:46

Ill spare a gentleman of such

23:48

public spirit, such enterprise, such generosity,

23:50

and such wonderful energy In Quote:

23:53

A major had grown terribly ill. But.

23:56

There was no autopsy that was

23:58

done. so His

24:00

death will always remain something of

24:02

a mystery. Nobody knows exactly

24:05

why he died, what he died from. But

24:08

he passed away in 1871 at

24:10

the hotel. My

24:13

thing is, in 1871, people just died. You

24:18

know? I mean, they

24:21

just died. They got

24:23

sick and they died. In 1871, your

24:26

body probably just went not cut out for

24:28

this anymore and just gave up. There's

24:32

got to be some hard living. I

24:34

realize the guy owned a luxury

24:36

hotel, but that doesn't necessarily mean

24:39

that the common cold wouldn't

24:41

take him out. Right. That was luxury for

24:43

the time. It's still the

24:45

1800s. Right. You

24:49

had to be a certain breed

24:51

of hard to have lived through

24:53

anything prior to central heat

24:55

and air. Yeah. Exactly,

24:58

right. Especially in southern Texas. I wouldn't

25:00

have made it. I wouldn't have made it.

25:02

I'd have been like, geez, it's hot. You

25:06

find ways to deal. But

25:09

we've had our AC go out here a

25:13

couple years. I'll

25:16

tell you, Matt, the first time it did it, we

25:19

have hardwood floors downstairs. They

25:22

put a wax sealant on hardwood floors. That

25:26

whole wax melted the

25:28

first time our AC went out because it got

25:30

so hot in the house. It

25:33

melted the wax sealant on the floor. We're

25:38

north Texas. We're not

25:40

in southern Texas. I

25:43

had a friend that lived

25:45

in Brownsville, and that's almost

25:48

Mexico. Yep, basically. Mexico's

25:54

right over there. You talk about hot.

25:58

You can see it probably. But

26:00

I mean, you know,

26:03

his air conditioner was set on like 85. And

26:08

it felt like the Arctic in there, didn't it? Are

26:10

you kidding me? Yeah. He's

26:12

like, well, yeah, when it's 110, 85 feels pretty good.

26:16

It's like, I guess it's all relative. And

26:19

it's always running at that temperature,

26:21

too. Oh, yeah. So

26:24

if it's like 120 outside or something, you said

26:26

it for 80 seconds. You

26:29

said it for 80 something in the house. It's

26:32

going to always be running. It's never going

26:35

to shut off. Yeah. So

26:37

it'll stay cold. No.

26:41

Manger's widow and son ended up

26:43

taking over management of his

26:45

properties. And despite Manger's death, Mary

26:47

refused to give up. And

26:50

right after her husband's passing, she

26:52

was quick to say, and actually

26:55

she put it in an ad in the local newspaper.

26:58

And she gave

27:00

notice assuring locals

27:02

that William's death, quote, would

27:05

cause no change in affairs,

27:08

end quote, with the brewery or hotel. And it's true. She

27:15

didn't allow the death of her husband to

27:17

affect the business at all. So it not.

27:19

She didn't miss a beat. She kept

27:21

it going and kept it producing what

27:24

it produced. And in

27:26

one year alone, Mary welcomed 2000

27:29

guests to the hotel with an

27:31

expansion of trains and a depot station

27:34

being laid out in San Antonio. The

27:36

Manger Hotel went on to even

27:39

bigger heights. And by the

27:41

1870s, she decided to add

27:43

lush modern technology and outfitted the

27:46

entire hotel with its own gas

27:48

source. Wow. Yeah. Yep.

27:52

Now, about this time in the 1890s, Teddy Rose was a Roosevelt

28:00

actually recruited his Rough Riders in

28:02

the hotel bar. I

28:05

don't know if you don't know what the

28:07

Rough Riders are. They were formed

28:09

during the war with Spain in 1898. The

28:14

1st New Mexico Calvary entered federal

28:16

service as the 2nd Squadron. They

28:19

were known as the Rough Riders. Theodore

28:22

Roosevelt conceived the idea of raising a

28:24

Calvary Regiment recruited from

28:26

businessmen, cowboys, and outdoorsmen. Roosevelt,

28:30

who was a former New

28:32

York National Guardsman, helped organize

28:34

this and was appointed its

28:37

Lieutenant Colonel. After

28:40

they trained, they landed

28:43

in Cuba with no

28:45

horses initially on June

28:48

22nd of 1898. We've

28:51

all heard of the Battle of San Juan Hill. We

28:55

have if you're from Texas. I don't know how

28:57

many other states actually talk about the

28:59

Battle of San Juan Hill. That

29:01

was on July 1st and the Rough Riders

29:04

took part in that. They were

29:06

under the command of Lieutenant

29:08

Colonel Roosevelt and they actually

29:11

made their mark on military history. They

29:14

were ordered to seize Kettle Hill in

29:16

support of this main attack. They actually fought their

29:18

way to the top despite enemy

29:20

fire and captured that hill and went

29:22

on to change the battle of the

29:24

war with Spain. They

29:36

were a big deal, conceived,

29:39

and recruited people in

29:42

the Manger Hotel Bar. I thought

29:44

that was cool. It's very

29:46

cool. We're

29:48

going to talk more about that a little bit later when I get

29:50

into the hauntings. Age

29:54

was perhaps the only thing that put a

29:56

damper on Mary's business prowess because her son

29:58

ended Up. Rejecting the

30:00

idea of inheriting the hotel, So.

30:03

When she got too old to be able to do

30:05

it, she sold. The property

30:07

to the original contract or of the

30:10

manga Major J A. G.

30:12

Eight Sniff Kampmann.

30:14

I don't want. It was hard for me. the same at. The.

30:17

Manga Hotel sold and eighteen eighty one.

30:20

For. A hundred eighteen thousand, Five

30:22

Hundred dollars. Which in today's money

30:24

is two point eight million dollars.

30:28

So. Kampmann. Also purchased

30:30

all of the exterior furnishings

30:32

for another. Eight. Thousand Five

30:34

Hundred Dollars Which is two hundred and Three

30:36

thousand dollars today. So. In

30:38

reality, he probably got it for a steel.

30:41

Yeah, we're. Considering

30:43

what they could make. Now.

30:45

Under Can't Land Management, a new bar was installed

30:47

on. It became one of the most elegant of

30:49

it's day. And it was. Almost.

30:52

Identical. To. The Bar

30:54

at the House of Lords Club in

30:56

London. So. He is trying

30:59

of. Fans. Of Fi an even more.

31:02

In it had a teary would bar, matching

31:04

kerry wood ceiling and french mirror. So it

31:06

was like this: You. Walk in

31:08

and go. Holy cow as extravagant!

31:12

Now. They are There was a fire.

31:15

That. Happened. And. When.

31:17

When the reports actually came out in

31:19

the newspaper, On. October fifteenth Of

31:21

Nineteen Twenty Four. The. Headlines

31:23

read. Flames. Route

31:26

Manga guests. Fifteen.

31:28

Million dollars Oil exploding.

31:32

So. All the oil exploding was

31:34

not responsible for the fire. The.

31:36

Conflagration did occur. And

31:39

it started in the kitchen. In. The

31:41

hotels new addition. The. Flames.

31:43

You know when up the walls and ceiling?

31:46

Would would ultimately be Mangers

31:48

downfall because the far left

31:50

along the woodwork. All

31:53

this new would. That.

31:55

They put in. That. Actually ended up

31:57

being a problem. you

31:59

know It made

32:04

the whole place heat up like

32:09

the wood expanded because of the heat. It

32:13

ended up completely swallowing the

32:15

entire third and fourth floors because

32:18

it kind of swelled and fell down into

32:20

the chimney. All

32:23

of the guests were urged to evacuate the premises

32:25

thanks to a night clerk. He

32:27

realized that there was a

32:29

fire in the middle

32:31

of the night somehow. We don't know

32:34

how he did. But he was running

32:36

from room to room and he was knocking

32:38

on the doors and waking the guest and

32:40

telling him to get out. Well

32:43

apparently one of the guests, they

32:47

were so hysterical that they

32:49

ended up pushing this poor guy

32:51

down the stairs. Just

32:54

in a panic. In a panic. The

32:57

guy who just saved his life, he

33:00

just pushed him down the stairs in hysteria.

33:04

Just so you know the clerk was not seriously

33:07

injured. Which is good.

33:09

I would hate for that to be his,

33:11

you know, he's saving everybody and some

33:13

jack wagon throws him down the stairs.

33:16

Get out of my way! It

33:21

was not the

33:23

101 guest at the manger

33:26

who got hurt. Instead the injuries

33:28

came when the fire engine came

33:31

down the road. Now this

33:33

fire engine heading to the fire at

33:35

the manger rammed into an oncoming street

33:37

car injuring the firemen.

33:41

So AJ Ashbrook and

33:43

WR Boyd who were

33:45

operating the vehicle and three people on the

33:47

street car got injured. So

33:50

one of the firemen was found quote

33:52

unconscious under the wreckage but there's

33:54

no mention of his death in the records.

33:57

So don't know if he died or not. Now

34:01

the Express actually recorded it as

34:03

quote, rarely have the firemen

34:05

had to do battle with a more

34:08

stubborn or spectacular fire end quote. Apparently

34:11

the flames covered the whole block. As

34:13

we know from old fires,

34:17

everything's wood, everything's flammable. If a fire

34:19

started up in the 1800s or early

34:21

1900s, you

34:28

could just imagine the whole city was probably going to

34:30

go. Cause it

34:32

just jumped from house to house and they

34:34

couldn't put it out in time and anything.

34:36

But at the

34:38

manger hotel, the original section of the

34:41

hotel was actually spared heavy damage, which

34:43

is good. It

34:46

was only after the fire had

34:48

burned for 45 minutes that the Houston

34:50

Post wrote that quote, the

34:53

flames, which at first threatened the

34:55

entire building were brought under control.

34:58

The lighting plant was put out of commission

35:00

and guests are forced to grope their way

35:02

to the exits in the darkness end quote.

35:06

But it,

35:09

it, it was spared and

35:12

it kept on, you know, housing

35:15

guests and everything after they rebuilt

35:17

and all that. And we've

35:19

talked about the famous people that

35:22

have stayed at the manger. Matt,

35:25

the most famous guests

35:27

to stay at the manger hotel

35:30

was a guy named Bill. In

35:33

the early, Mr. Bill. Now

35:36

in the early 1900s, a,

35:39

a fair performer did

35:41

the unthinkable. He

35:43

left the manger without paying his

35:45

bill. So it

35:48

was like a dine and dash kind of thing, but it

35:50

was a, I'm going to crash. It was a crash and

35:52

dash. They crashed there one night and then

35:54

left without paying his bill. Now,

35:58

you know, It

36:00

says you gotta wonder how desperate he was to

36:02

avoid the payment. Because

36:05

in him leaving he left his

36:07

750 pound bull alligator

36:10

behind in the room. Why

36:16

did this guy have an alligator?

36:19

He was a he was a fair performer. That

36:22

doesn't explain it. What

36:25

are you doing? With the alligator?

36:27

With a 750 pound alligator? Yeah,

36:29

it's a good question. I don't know. Why you have it in

36:32

your room, I also don't understand

36:34

why you're sleeping with a

36:36

nearly thousand pound alligator. Ugh. Yeah.

36:39

I have a tendency to avoid sleeping

36:41

in areas where I could

36:44

be eaten. Yeah. I

36:48

was gonna say I have a tendency

36:50

to avoid sleeping with things that

36:52

could kill me, but Ashley watches so many murder shows

36:54

she might actually be able to kill me and get

36:56

away with it. That would be

36:58

a lie. But anyway. Now

37:01

instead of evicting the

37:04

alligator off their grounds, management

37:07

actually decided to name him Bill. And

37:10

they allowed him free reign

37:12

of the atrium. Sometimes

37:15

they said if he was nice, they

37:18

brought other alligators in so that Bill could

37:20

have a friend around. So

37:23

how many hotels do you know of that you go

37:25

into the atrium and you've got to dodge alligators? That

37:28

doesn't even happen in Louisiana. I know.

37:33

Most of the time, alligators

37:35

are persona nongrada in hotels.

37:39

Right. Right. Most

37:41

of the time, if an alligator is walking

37:44

toward the door, people are running, shutting the

37:46

doors, they don't let it in and hey,

37:49

go play in the atrium. And

37:51

if he was being nice, what

37:55

was he doing when he wasn't nice? Right.

37:57

Right. And What do you do to an alligator when it's

37:59

nice? Not nice. I know he stuck to you.

38:01

went on scholes you in on a guess lag?

38:03

you know who our by. Oh you're not. be

38:05

a nice. Put. Little Timmy down

38:08

be nice today Bill Stop eating

38:10

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38:18

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40:29

the Great Depression era did

40:31

slow business for the hotel

40:33

but the 1940s saw a reemergence

40:36

of the manger's popularity. They

40:39

did renovations and

40:41

they added on to the hotel by

40:44

the new owners, the Moody

40:46

family. And famous

40:49

people once again returned to their

40:51

favorite spot. This is when

40:53

Mae West and Babe Ruth stayed

40:55

there. Roy Rogers stayed

40:59

there as well and 13 of

41:02

the US presidents have stayed

41:04

here. So that's kind

41:07

of cool. Yeah. A total of

41:09

13 presidents stay here. Now

41:11

the manger was awarded a state historic marker in 1980

41:13

and in 1989 it received one of the

41:18

highest praises for being a historical

41:20

hotel by being listed on

41:23

the National Trust for historic preservation.

41:25

Now the manger has a Halloween

41:28

party there for children and

41:30

it has an annual Christmas party for

41:32

underprivileged children so it

41:34

deserves the accolades for the

41:37

finest hotel west of the Mississippi.

41:40

Oh yeah Yeah absolutely. So

41:44

you know with with all of

41:46

this history you can understand

41:50

that the manger hotel

41:52

is probably haunted. Yep.

41:56

And not only is it haunted

41:59

by a few

42:02

ghosts. Just

42:04

a couple. It's estimated that it may be

42:07

haunted by as many as 45 ghosts.

42:11

Good grief. It

42:15

depends on who you ask. It's kind of

42:17

up for dispute. Some people

42:19

say around 32 others are closer to

42:21

45. That's a lot of ghosts. Yeah,

42:28

either way. It's a lot of ghosts. And,

42:32

you know, guests at the Menger

42:34

have reported paranormal

42:36

phenomena that just it

42:39

covers the gambit. Everything

42:42

from witnessing beds actually

42:44

levitate off the floor

42:46

to hearing these

42:48

strange wrapping noises and

42:51

even seeing translucent faces

42:54

appear beside

42:58

of their own when they're looking in a mirror.

43:00

So like you're looking in a mirror and then

43:03

all of a sudden there's another ghostly face looking

43:05

in like it's leaning in next to you. Like

43:08

you're taking a selfie. Dude,

43:10

that could start on you so bad you might pee

43:12

a little. Oh yeah. If you're sitting there like fixing

43:15

your beard or brushing your teeth and

43:17

all of a sudden this head just

43:19

pops up right next to you. Yeah.

43:21

I'd probably scream a little bit. Yeah.

43:24

The scent of cigar smoke can

43:27

be detected in non-smoking

43:29

rooms and

43:31

the heavy doors in the hotel

43:33

are often known to open without

43:36

any source to actually push

43:38

them open. You

43:41

know, these big heavy doors, something

43:43

heavier than a breeze would be able to

43:46

to push open. They just open on their

43:48

own. Yeah, and

43:50

that's crazy. You can see

43:53

normal doors like doors

43:55

you have in your house because

43:57

a lot of times they're hollow. or

44:00

their lightweight wood, but these

44:02

old heavy doors, it takes a lot

44:04

to move an old heavy door. That's

44:06

right. You gotta get some momentum going.

44:10

Now we talked about Teddy Roosevelt

44:13

being one of the more famous individuals

44:16

that visited the Menger. His

44:19

spirit may still be there. And

44:23

even though a hundred years

44:25

have passed, many

44:27

of the Rough Riders also are

44:30

seen at the Menger. But

44:33

the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt is

44:36

one of the more frequently seen spirits.

44:40

And he's usually seen and or heard

44:43

at the bar. So

44:47

when the staff close up at night, they've seen

44:49

a man appear at the bar. He's kind of

44:51

this translucent figure.

44:55

He doesn't move. He's just kind

44:57

of there. But

45:01

when he appears, people have

45:03

said, it

45:05

feels like they're being watched. And then

45:07

they look down the bar and there's

45:10

Teddy Roosevelt's ghost. Now,

45:13

sometimes the

45:15

ghost is quite vocal.

45:19

And while he's seated at the bar, he's

45:21

been known to yell out at workers and

45:25

try to coerce them into conversation. And

45:28

on rare occurrences, when staff

45:31

have actually approached the apparition,

45:34

he has said to start his recruiting tactics

45:36

as though he's trying to get

45:39

them to join the Rough Riders. Ha

45:41

ha ha ha. That's actually kind

45:43

of cool. I know. That's cool.

45:45

You don't usually get an apparition that

45:47

will speak. But

45:51

for the most part, the staff

45:53

say they're not afraid of Teddy.

45:57

But there was one time that...

46:00

that he spooked a staff member.

46:03

This guy was a new employee and

46:06

he had been given the job to

46:09

close the bar down at night. Now

46:11

he was almost finished and he heard a

46:13

sound behind him. And so he

46:16

turned around and he saw a man at

46:18

the bar. Now Teddy

46:21

was doing his thing. He's

46:24

just sitting there and

46:26

staring off. But

46:29

when he saw this, the new

46:31

employee panicked. And

46:33

so he was pretty scared and he ran to

46:35

the door to leave the bar, but then he

46:37

realized that he had been locked in. So

46:42

he started banging with

46:44

his fists on the door. And

46:48

they don't really know how long, but

46:51

they finally, somebody finally

46:53

heard him and

46:56

went and let him out. Oh,

46:58

geez. They

47:00

don't know really how long he was trapped in there,

47:02

how long the ghost was in there with him. But

47:06

they said he practically would claw the

47:08

doors trying to get out. Oh

47:11

yeah. I

47:14

believe it. If something trapped me in a

47:16

room and was messing with me, I'd

47:18

be trying to claw my way out. Oh yeah. But

47:21

it said that that employee refused to go

47:23

back into the bar. I

47:25

don't doubt it. I

47:27

don't blame him. And he quit not too long

47:29

after that. Makes

47:32

sense. But they say

47:34

that the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt

47:38

is still making appearances

47:40

even today. Now,

47:44

the next spirit that is

47:46

frequently seen is

47:49

that of Sally White. Now,

47:52

Sally White was one of the

47:54

Menger Hotel's most beloved staff members

47:57

during the late 19th century. You

48:00

know, she was a good lady.

48:04

She was the sort of person

48:06

that took pleasure in completing her

48:08

duties as a chambermaid. She

48:10

was very pleasant. She smiled

48:12

all the time. So

48:16

everybody just enjoyed being around

48:18

Sally. Now

48:20

the problem was, as happy

48:23

as Sally looked, her

48:25

home life wasn't that happy. And

48:28

her common law husband, Mr.

48:31

Harry Wheeler, was

48:33

kind of a jealous fellow

48:35

and stories would circulate at

48:37

the hotel that Wheeler

48:40

was always jealous of any

48:42

attention given to Sally. And

48:46

his jealousy would bring

48:48

about these arguments, some

48:51

of them even happening there at the

48:53

hotel. Now

48:55

on March 28th of 1876, Harry

49:00

Wheeler's jealousy took

49:02

a deadly turn. On

49:04

the evening before one of Harry

49:06

and Sally's arguments had escalated, Wheeler

49:09

turned on Sally and

49:12

closed in on her so furious that

49:14

he threatened to kill her. Now

49:17

panicked, Sally ran

49:19

out from her husband to the local

49:21

police station. And she

49:23

begged officers to help her. They

49:26

agreed, and they let her stay

49:28

at the courthouse for the remainder of the night.

49:32

Now an investigation of Wheeler and

49:34

their house showed no signs of

49:36

any weapons which left

49:38

the officers without any sort of

49:40

leverage to arrest him and put him in

49:43

jail. Now

49:45

early the next morning, Sally went back home

49:47

to gather some items before heading to work

49:49

at the Menger, and

49:52

Harry had been waiting for her. And

49:54

he had been waiting with a loaded pistol.

49:58

Now Sally ran. She

50:02

ran out of the house, down

50:04

the street, and trying

50:06

to get away from Harry, but

50:09

he followed. And he followed

50:11

her down two blocks, and when he caught

50:13

up to her, he grabbed

50:15

her around the throat, and he

50:18

unloaded all six shots. It

50:22

says he shot her once in the lower

50:24

abdomen, and when she squirmed out of his

50:26

grasp, he fired again and shot

50:28

her just to the left of her spine. Now

50:32

Sally White died two

50:34

days later on

50:37

one of the third-level floors of the

50:39

original part of the hotel, the

50:41

part that's still there. Harry

50:45

Wheeler was never arrested for the murder

50:47

of his common-law wife. He

50:49

went missing after the shooting, and no

50:51

one is quite certain what happened to

50:53

him. Now,

50:56

Mary Mingar and the other management

50:58

at the hotel had loved Sally

51:00

so much that they

51:02

decided to fund Sally's funeral

51:04

costs. The 1876

51:07

receipt can still be found in the

51:09

lobby of the Mingar Hotel, where they

51:11

paid cash for Sally White.

51:17

It said that the grave they paid $25, and the

51:19

coffin was $7. Man.

51:27

You can't get buried for that now. No.

51:30

No. I was going to say,

51:33

we all know, we just had to bury

51:35

my grandmother at the end of last year, and

51:39

it was nowhere near that. It

51:41

was way more than that. Right.

51:47

But that was still a good amount of

51:49

money then, and it was probably more money

51:51

than Sally or any of her family would

51:53

have had. Sure. In 1876, yeah. But

51:58

today, Sally White... White's

52:00

ghost is still seen frequently throughout

52:02

the hotel, most

52:04

often on the third floor where she passed

52:06

away over 100 years ago. But

52:10

it seems that even in death, Sally enjoys

52:12

her work at the Mingar because

52:15

she is most often seen holding

52:17

an armful of towels or sheets

52:19

against her chest. And

52:22

Sally's presence is one most often

52:24

reported by guests of the hotel.

52:27

And if you ask the front desk, they'll

52:30

tell you that they occasionally receive

52:32

calls about a strange maid wearing

52:34

an old-fashioned uniform who

52:36

suddenly disappears and

52:39

doesn't answer when spoken to. On

52:43

two different occasions, guests reported seeing

52:45

Sally's ghost walk through a door

52:47

or a wall as

52:49

though the barrier wasn't even there. As

52:53

always, her hands were full of sheets and

52:55

towels. On the second

52:57

occasion, the guest had just gotten

52:59

out of the shower when she saw

53:02

Sally's apparition folding sheets at the edge

53:04

of her bed. Now that'll get

53:06

you. Yeah. Sounds like,

53:08

would you like a towel? Yeah. So

53:11

it scared her pretty good. And the guest

53:13

ran downstairs to the front desk and

53:15

told the concierge everything that she had

53:18

seen. Okay. Quick

53:21

question. Did she get

53:23

dressed? It

53:26

doesn't specify. But

53:29

I'm wanting to say probably not.

53:32

Yeah. The way it's worded, it sounds like she

53:34

just screamed and took off running. Right.

53:37

Right. So I think that's the

53:39

gist of the story is that it scared her

53:41

so much that she just ran down there before

53:43

she got dressed. Grabbed

53:46

a towel that Sally was folding and took

53:48

off. Yeah. Yeah.

53:52

If you're, if you're hoping that you get

53:54

a chance to see Sally, if you ever

53:56

visit the Menger, make sure to

53:58

book your room on the third. floor of

54:00

the original section of the hotel. It

54:04

says keep a lookout for a

54:06

nearly translucent form wearing a mage

54:08

uniform with a scarf tied

54:10

around her head and a necklace

54:12

of beads. Well

54:15

very specific you know what you're looking for.

54:17

That's right because if you

54:19

see another ghost that may not be Sally

54:22

right you'd be disappointed. Yeah

54:25

if she doesn't have a scarf and beads

54:27

I mean you're like look

54:29

Teddy I'm not here to see you I

54:32

came here to see Sally. That's right. Go

54:34

get Sally. Now

54:38

another notable spirit in the Menger

54:40

Hotel is that of Captain Richard

54:42

King. Now originally

54:44

from New York Richard's poor

54:47

Irish family lacked the funds to provide

54:49

for their son so

54:51

seeing no other opportunities King's

54:53

parents opted to sell young

54:56

Richard as an indentured servant.

54:59

Hmm. Now Richard despised his

55:01

time with a jeweler in New

55:03

York and at the first opportunity

55:06

he escaped and stole away

55:08

on a ferry destined for the Mississippi River.

55:10

Now Richard

55:12

King would go on to be one

55:15

of the most successful entrepreneurs of the

55:17

19th century in all of

55:19

America. That's great. He

55:21

founded a steamboat company and actually worked

55:24

as a blockade runner during the Civil

55:26

War. Hmm. Now

55:28

after visiting Texas for the first time

55:31

King decided to buy land in Corpus

55:33

Christi and there he

55:35

opened King Ranch which

55:37

would end up growing to a

55:39

monstrous one million acres. Yep.

55:43

So Richard King really

55:45

was a king. I mean

55:48

he was a cattle baron. Yeah.

55:50

Yep. He developed a love and

55:52

appreciation for the Menger Hotel during his

55:55

trips to San Antonio for business. In

55:58

fact he stayed so often that

56:00

the hotel gave him

56:02

his own private suite on the second

56:04

floor. Oh wow. He

56:07

was there a lot. He was there quite a bit. And

56:10

so when King grew deathly ill

56:12

with stomach cancer, he

56:15

actually requested to be brought to his

56:17

private suite where he passed away on

56:20

April 14, 1885. So

56:23

again, it was another fellow

56:26

that died inside the hotel. That's

56:31

a weird request to me. Yeah. He

56:33

wrote, I would want to go

56:35

on my property.

56:37

My big rain? My million acres. Yeah.

56:41

I got a million acres. I don't want to

56:43

go to San Antonio. I want to stay on

56:45

my million acres and spend my

56:47

last minutes here. Yeah. But that just kind of

56:49

tells you how

56:52

much the Menger Hotel meant to him. Now

56:56

his funeral was actually held downstairs

56:58

in the Menger's lobby, and

57:00

it said that the celebration was

57:02

the largest funeral procession seen in

57:06

quite some time in San Antonio. So

57:09

not only was he well respected, he

57:11

was well liked. Yeah.

57:16

Now, much like Sally

57:19

White, Richard King was not

57:21

about to let death be the reason that

57:23

he left the Menger. And

57:26

since the time of his death, his

57:28

ghost has been spotted at the Menger,

57:30

most especially in his old private suite.

57:33

That makes sense. Yeah. Today the suite

57:35

is known as the King Ranch Suite,

57:38

and you can stay there on your next trip

57:41

to San Antonio. Probably

57:43

not. I probably can't afford it. Here's

57:47

the catch. The

57:49

bed in the suite is

57:51

the same bed that King died on.

57:53

Oh wow. Yeah. They've

57:58

changed the sheets. Well,

58:00

that's good. Yeah, they have changed the sheets.

58:03

Did Sally change the sheets? You know that, I

58:05

don't know. But

58:09

guests have reported all sort of

58:12

phenomena inside the suite, especially the

58:15

sense of being watched. One

58:18

woman... Can

58:20

I say that any weirder? One

58:23

woman. One woman. Womings? One

58:29

woman while sleeping was awoken

58:32

to glance at the foot of her bed

58:34

and see an apparition of Captain King watching

58:36

her. Creepy. You

58:38

know, we've heard that before. You

58:40

wake up and there's somebody standing at the end of your

58:42

bed. Now, look,

58:46

I don't know if it's happened to you, but

58:50

when your kids walk into your room at

58:52

night and just kind of stand there and

58:56

something about your brain says, somebody

58:59

is standing here. And you

59:01

wake up and look, it will scare the

59:03

absolute crap out of you. Dude,

59:06

yeah, I have almost punched Michael

59:08

because he used

59:11

to like to sneak down the hallway and

59:14

sneak into our room and

59:16

like be as quiet as he could until he

59:18

got into the room. The

59:22

first time he did it, he just stood there, like

59:24

you're saying, until we woke up and both

59:26

Ash and I, you know,

59:30

and you wake me up like that, I'm

59:32

going to like throw a hand up and he was

59:34

close. I almost got him. And

59:37

Ash was like, you've got to make noise. Don't

59:40

just sneak in. So the

59:42

next time he sneaks down the hallway, sneaks

59:44

into the room and goes, hey,

59:47

and both of us went, oh my God. We're

59:52

like, no, make noise coming out of

59:54

your room. Shut your

59:56

door. Down the hallway. Yeah. Start

59:59

down the hallway making noise that way. I

1:00:01

know it's you because Ashley's Ashley told him

1:00:04

Dad, I'm gonna punch you in the face

1:00:06

one day accidentally if you if

1:00:08

you sneak up on him like that He's gonna

1:00:10

just throw a hand up

1:00:12

and get you accidentally make noise Hey

1:00:22

More noise different noise Piper

1:00:25

used to be there worst about it.

1:00:27

She would just And it

1:00:30

would scare the I mean,

1:00:32

yeah, I mean she could she could

1:00:34

probably crawl

1:00:37

into the bed And

1:00:39

not wake me up But

1:00:41

boy, just in the right there Mm-hmm.

1:00:44

Give me a break So

1:00:46

for some reason you can hear that heavy breathing.

1:00:48

Yeah But I'm telling

1:00:51

you if you wake up like that and

1:00:53

you look and see a ghost. Oh I

1:00:58

mean, yeah, it'd be over well,

1:01:01

and we've also talked about the the

1:01:05

Apparitions watching women sleep and

1:01:08

I mean to me that's way creepier than

1:01:10

if you said oh and watching a dude

1:01:12

sleep Mm-hmm, you know for some reason

1:01:14

a dude apparition watching a lady sleep. It's

1:01:16

like oh, I know dude I would tell

1:01:18

you to get a life, but that's over

1:01:20

with sure so get an afterlife I'm Now

1:01:26

other guests have claimed to hear

1:01:28

heavy footsteps walking around in

1:01:31

the room They've

1:01:33

also heard the shutters on the windows

1:01:35

open and closed by themselves And

1:01:38

Captain King's apparition has been spotted roaming

1:01:41

the hallways on the second floor and

1:01:43

then disappearing through doorways But The

1:01:48

strangest paranormal activity must

1:01:50

be the dancing red orb that

1:01:52

has only ever appeared in King's

1:01:55

suite or just outside

1:01:57

it which

1:01:59

is That is unusual because,

1:02:02

you know, when

1:02:04

you, when you see orbs, very

1:02:07

rarely do you go, that's a

1:02:10

red orb. And

1:02:12

then you see it often enough

1:02:15

that you're able to associate it with

1:02:17

a location. Yeah.

1:02:20

Most of the time it, you

1:02:22

know, how we are about orbs, you know, they,

1:02:25

you see them on a video and you're

1:02:27

like, yeah, it's dust. It's whatever. You

1:02:29

know, you don't really notice an

1:02:31

orb with your naked eye and

1:02:34

then see it well enough to go, Hey,

1:02:37

it's red. Yeah. And

1:02:40

other people to go, have you noticed you only

1:02:42

see that red orb up there by the King

1:02:45

ranch suite? Right. Right. I was going to

1:02:47

say that to be associated with

1:02:49

a specific area, like, you know, like,

1:02:52

Oh yeah, this is, this is the red

1:02:54

orb hallway. This is the red orb suite.

1:02:57

Yeah. Yeah. It's strange. But

1:02:59

there is so much activity

1:03:01

in that suite that

1:03:03

it is said that housekeepers will only

1:03:06

go in there in pairs because

1:03:08

of all the ghostly activity. Well,

1:03:12

I mean, you've

1:03:14

got a man's literal death bed.

1:03:16

Yeah. No joke. Still

1:03:19

being used. So

1:03:22

I'm, I'm not surprised. No, not at

1:03:24

all. That that happens

1:03:26

there. Why don't you hang up? I'm also not.

1:03:28

He died in, put them in the closet.

1:03:31

Yeah. I'm not surprised that

1:03:33

he's now standing at the end of the bed

1:03:35

going, why are you in my

1:03:37

bed? Cause it was literally

1:03:40

his bed. Right. It's

1:03:43

just not where his bed was. Right.

1:03:46

His bed. It's not, it wasn't

1:03:48

a typical hotel bed where

1:03:51

a bunch of people stayed on it. That

1:03:53

was his suite that nobody else stayed

1:03:55

in. Right. Yeah. And now

1:03:58

you're sleeping on that bed. That was his. that

1:04:00

he died in and you're shocked

1:04:03

I mean even I might do that if if

1:04:05

I die in bed and somebody gets

1:04:07

my bed I may go like right

1:04:10

in their ear every night down

1:04:14

to go hey yeah

1:04:17

huh how does that crease my

1:04:19

butt made feel does your butt

1:04:21

fit directly into my butt crease is

1:04:24

it nice or is it weird it's kind of

1:04:26

weird is

1:04:28

it weirder than I'm talking to you after death or

1:04:31

that your butt is where my butt was you're

1:04:36

your fascination with but tonight

1:04:38

everybody's got their thing yeah

1:04:42

now the bar has a

1:04:44

few other spirits one

1:04:48

is of a 1970s playboy

1:04:51

as the story goes a couple

1:04:54

was in the bar late one night

1:04:56

the husband was off to one side

1:04:58

waiting for his wife then

1:05:00

a gentleman dressed quite dapperly

1:05:03

entered the bar and began

1:05:05

to walk straight toward the husband's wife

1:05:07

with his playboy style you know the

1:05:11

husband took notice of this man approaching

1:05:13

his wife and intercepted the stranger but

1:05:17

before the husband could say anything

1:05:19

the man vanished right before his

1:05:21

eyes oh wow

1:05:24

yeah so this is vanishing

1:05:26

gentleman as he has been you

1:05:28

have no looking dude walking up yeah and

1:05:31

yeah crushed velour bathrobe

1:05:33

and a pipe looks

1:05:36

like master thespian from Saturday Night Live

1:05:38

you know mustache

1:05:42

mm-hmm comes walking up

1:05:44

how you do it now

1:05:47

the vanishing gentleman was again spotted

1:05:49

at the bar back in July of 2004 a

1:05:51

woman tells of the encounter saying

1:05:56

there was no one in there but us

1:05:59

the bartend And there

1:06:02

was a man wearing a double knit

1:06:04

suit, totally from like 70s. He

1:06:09

was drinking cognac, and

1:06:11

he stared at us, and the bartender never

1:06:13

acknowledged him. But then

1:06:15

he just faded away

1:06:17

right before their eyes. That

1:06:20

would be weird. Yeah, so

1:06:22

they apparently saw him, and either the bartender didn't see

1:06:25

him or was just so used to seeing him that

1:06:27

he was just so used to seeing him. But

1:06:30

he ignored it. Yeah, and

1:06:32

he's just saying, I hope these other people don't

1:06:34

notice him. But other

1:06:37

than the glass, how would they know what he

1:06:39

was drinking? That's what I don't know, unless there

1:06:41

was a spirit of a spirit there.

1:06:44

Oh yeah. A cognac bottle. Yeah.

1:06:46

That's an interesting question. How did they know

1:06:48

he was drinking cognac? Now

1:06:52

I know cognac you put

1:06:54

in a specific type of

1:06:56

glass. Yeah, maybe that was

1:06:58

it. But you could also

1:07:01

put anything you wanted

1:07:03

to in that glass. That's true enough. So

1:07:08

I guess she was just associating it with the glass

1:07:10

he was holding? Yeah. Or

1:07:12

maybe he's like, it's a

1:07:14

great cognac before he disappears.

1:07:16

He said, give me another banana cognac.

1:07:19

Mm-hmm. Now,

1:07:22

the vanishing gentleman isn't the only

1:07:25

spirit known to stir

1:07:27

things up in the bar. It's

1:07:29

reported that one evening, something

1:07:31

threw an ashtray clear across

1:07:33

the bar. Apparently,

1:07:36

a spirit was jealous when a

1:07:39

waitress favored conversation with a living

1:07:41

person over its own

1:07:43

spectral form. Oh,

1:07:45

geez. So now you get jealous

1:07:47

ghosts, and they get so jealous they throw

1:07:49

a deck of ashtray? Yeah.

1:07:52

You know how heavy an ashtray is? Yeah,

1:07:55

I'm going to put you in spirit time out if you don't

1:07:57

settle down. Yeah. This

1:08:00

is not one of those little tin

1:08:02

foil ashtrays. It's

1:08:06

not the one you

1:08:08

had on your end table in college. No,

1:08:10

this is like a big nice glass one.

1:08:13

Just chunk it. If it had hit somebody, it would have killed

1:08:16

them. Now

1:08:19

because of its proximity within

1:08:21

San Antonio, the Menger

1:08:24

Hotel has had its share

1:08:27

of death and

1:08:29

violence, murders

1:08:31

and suicides. And

1:08:34

it seems that a lot of those

1:08:37

restless spirits are still hanging

1:08:39

around the hotel. It's

1:08:42

hard to know why. Maybe they're stuck.

1:08:46

Their residual energy is left to

1:08:48

kind of relive their last moments

1:08:50

over and over again. But

1:08:53

it's extraordinarily active. We've just talked

1:08:55

about a few of the more

1:08:57

well-known spirits. But

1:09:00

the hauntings, the

1:09:03

random sightings, the sounds

1:09:05

and all that stuff, it's

1:09:07

just so common. And

1:09:09

that's why they believe that there are so

1:09:11

many different spirits within

1:09:14

the hotel. Now

1:09:17

in 1890, an Austin insurance agent

1:09:19

showed up at the Menger. And

1:09:22

he entered the bar room where Teddy

1:09:24

Roosevelt's ghost has been seen. So

1:09:28

this gentleman, H.H. Childers, went up

1:09:30

to the bar, removed

1:09:32

his six-shooter from its holster, raised

1:09:36

his arm, aimed, fired

1:09:38

and killed one Jim

1:09:41

Draper, a San

1:09:43

Antonio hackdriver. At

1:09:46

the trial, Childers was sentenced to

1:09:48

25 years. But

1:09:50

on his appeal, the case was reversed

1:09:52

and he was allowed a bond. So

1:09:57

a guy just walks in. another

1:10:00

guy kills him at the bar. Yeah,

1:10:04

in front of people. Yeah, so

1:10:07

that's gonna leave a mark. I

1:10:09

mean it's bound to. Which

1:10:13

it kind of makes me wonder, this

1:10:17

being built

1:10:19

on part of the battlefield of

1:10:21

the Alamo, if

1:10:24

there's just so much energy

1:10:28

right there, just in the

1:10:30

land, that it

1:10:33

somehow pulls these spirits in and

1:10:35

causes them to to be

1:10:39

so active. I

1:10:41

wouldn't be surprised. All

1:10:43

the different apparitions, you

1:10:46

know, apparitions that actually speak,

1:10:50

you know, apparitions so solid

1:10:53

that people think that it's another

1:10:56

person coming to hit on their wife. I

1:10:59

mean, you know. So strong they can

1:11:01

push heavy doors. Right! I

1:11:04

mean it's it's got to have something to

1:11:06

do with it. I mean you just

1:11:09

can't have that much energy there

1:11:13

and wind up with all these hauntings

1:11:15

that seem to be so much stronger

1:11:17

than other hotels that

1:11:19

we've discussed. Right.

1:11:24

Now in 1903, a male and key

1:11:28

clerk was visiting San Antonio. Originally

1:11:31

he was from Kentucky, but at 26

1:11:35

he became quite ill and had been told

1:11:37

that San Antonio might offer him what he

1:11:39

needed, and so the clerk moved.

1:11:42

But he didn't get any better, and the sickness

1:11:44

must have been so bad that seeing no

1:11:47

other option, the clerk went to his room

1:11:49

on the night of Monday,

1:11:51

September 7th 1903, and

1:11:53

he took a knife and slid

1:11:56

his own throat. That's

1:11:59

my birthday. Not

1:12:01

1903, but September. I was

1:12:03

going to say, man, you look really good for your

1:12:05

age. Thanks. I knew

1:12:07

it again. Moisturizer. Yeah. But

1:12:10

like skin routine, like I said, at

1:12:12

the Minger, it seems that death by

1:12:14

murder and suicide have

1:12:17

only fueled more paranormal

1:12:19

activity and

1:12:21

unsuspecting guests have reported seeing

1:12:23

the ghosts of these unfortunate

1:12:25

souls replay the last moment

1:12:27

of their lives before

1:12:30

these onlookers. So

1:12:33

you're, you're actually seeing the

1:12:35

stone tape play out of

1:12:38

somebody suicide. Mm-hmm.

1:12:41

That, that would be so much. I know.

1:12:43

I know. I mean, it's, we've talked about

1:12:45

a place where, uh, you know,

1:12:47

you, you, you'd see, uh, somebody who,

1:12:49

who hanged themselves, you know,

1:12:51

stuff like that. You know, this is what you're,

1:12:53

isn't what you're catching. Yeah.

1:12:56

Now there are other visible entities that

1:12:58

have appeared at the bar as well.

1:13:01

Um, both residual hauntings

1:13:04

and intelligent hauntings. Um,

1:13:08

there is one residual haunting at the

1:13:10

bar. One person claims to have seen

1:13:12

two young boys dressed like,

1:13:14

it says dressed like extras from the set

1:13:16

of newsies. You remember that? Where

1:13:19

the little, the little English caps

1:13:21

and the knickers and everything. Oh

1:13:23

yeah. Yeah. In 20s looking. Yeah.

1:13:25

Um, but

1:13:28

as for intelligent hauntings, it

1:13:30

is said that the keys to the liquor cabinets

1:13:32

have been known to vanish from sight. Um,

1:13:36

sometimes people, when people, when people take

1:13:38

photos in the bar, a little

1:13:40

girl will appear in the background of their

1:13:42

photos. Hmm.

1:13:44

I mean, it's just one

1:13:47

right after another, after another, after

1:13:49

another. If you want to visit

1:13:51

a haunted hotel. Put

1:13:54

the Mingar in San Antonio on your

1:13:56

list. Okay. For sure. If you

1:13:59

spend. If you want to see

1:14:01

Sally then go to

1:14:03

the third floor But if you

1:14:05

want to see any of the other 44 spirits

1:14:08

just go there. Yeah, right It's

1:14:12

apparently sleep on somebody's head Yeah,

1:14:16

yeah, I mean, you know the bar You

1:14:19

know being a part of the original Building,

1:14:22

you know it it it has

1:14:24

a lot of activity But

1:14:28

I mean this place really I

1:14:30

mean that 45 spirits. I mean that's

1:14:33

Almost unheard of wild. Yeah.

1:14:35

Yeah, I'm that's

1:14:38

probably more at One

1:14:40

location and we've talked about Ever.

1:14:44

Yeah, I would say so if not,

1:14:46

it's very close Besides

1:14:49

like the The

1:14:52

Battlegrounds and stuff we've talked about where you

1:14:54

got a ton of people but like one

1:14:56

building. Yeah Yeah, or like these asylums where

1:14:59

there were Thousands of people

1:15:01

there over over the course of the

1:15:03

the years But but yeah for

1:15:05

a hotel to have this meaning it's

1:15:08

really strange. But when you look at all the things

1:15:11

Surrounding that hotel, you know murder

1:15:13

and death you

1:15:16

know suicide and then

1:15:18

on top of it it's on a Battleground

1:15:22

of a of an extraordinarily

1:15:24

bloody battle Yep,

1:15:26

and it was only it was built only 23

1:15:28

years after that so I mean there was a

1:15:30

lot of energy in that ground That

1:15:34

yeah, we're you know Yeah,

1:15:37

it may have still been stained red So,

1:15:43

you know, we've got a lot of

1:15:45

listeners in Texas And

1:15:49

I bet some some of you have actually

1:15:51

been to the Menger If

1:15:53

you have we'd love to hear the stories,

1:15:56

you know, if you've experienced anything Let

1:15:59

us know about it about it. And one of the best

1:16:01

places to do that is in our Facebook group.

1:16:04

Um, get in there. I mean,

1:16:06

we've got thousands of members that share

1:16:08

these personal experiences. Like it's a, it's

1:16:10

a private group. It's safe. No one's going to

1:16:12

make fun of you. We just all want to

1:16:15

hear these really great ghost stories. Check

1:16:18

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1:16:20

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1:16:22

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1:16:49

until next time, we'll

1:16:51

save you a seat in

1:16:53

the graveyard. Yeah.

1:17:28

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