Goliad Texas, Cabin Haunting?

While not an unbeliever in the paranormal I have always been skeptical of any phenomena that I have not personally experienced myself. I have from time to time, had experiences out of the realm of "normal" or coincidence. This story is a recording of the first that I have experienced first hand that I cannot logically explain any other way than a haunting of some sort.

We drove 2 hours from our home to stay at a friends hunting cabin in Goliad Texas. We had planned to shoot targets, have a barbecue and spend the night. I had never been there before but when I got there I liked it immediately, the place had a nice feel to it. It was a very rustic wood cabin decorated with antiques and assorted other eclectic memorabilia.
I spent a while outside on the large old fashioned porch rocking and reading while the kids took turns target shooting. The sound of guns firing was disturbing my reading so I went inside to lay on a cot in the screened porch area in the back of the cabin.

One of the boys came in to see what I was doing they sat in wood rocker that was across the room. We talked for a little bit and they left, and for some reason a while later I glanced up at the rocker and I noticed that it was still slowly rocking. Rocking so slow that if you did not watch it continuously you would not realize that it was rocking at all. There was no breeze and no logical reason that it should be rocking at all. This did not concern me very much however and I just continued to read. I felt very at ease and was not bothered by the chair rocking by it self.
In retrospect this seems like it would be spooky but I can't say that I was alarmed in any way. I felt compelled to sit in the rocker and I felt an energy there, not necessarily a bad one but I was not comfortable so I went back to read on the cot.
After dinner the kids set up their cots in the back porch screened in room. My oldest son laid in the living room on the couch. My husband and I were in the room off the bathroom, I read for a bit, then it was lights out.
It was very warm inside as there was no air conditioning and just a small fan in the room. I could not get comfortable or go to sleep no matter how hard I tried. I rinsed the shirt I was wearing in cold water and put it on and I was significantly more comfortable. I began to doze off. I think I may have fallen asleep.

I was awoken by the sound of a crying boy. I thought it was my three year old, I hesitated for a moment before getting out of bad, Trying to wake up fully and get acclimated to the dark and unfamiliar surroundings. I heard a voice and I can't be sure if it was in my mind or out loud but it said go to him. I went to where the kids were, everyone was fast asleep. I thought that odd as I was sure that I had heard crying.
I crawled in to the cot with my three year old and snuggled up to him. I finally fell asleep again when I was awakened by the sound of a train in the distance. I was not startled by it, I laid there and listened as it got closer and closer. Soon it sounded as if it were right beside the cabin. The walls and floors vibrated and shook and for an instant I felt as though our cabin was actually in the train and moving. Then it was gone, I was wondering if I was really awake yet.
My daughter stirred in bed and I asked her if the sound from the train had woken her up. She said, "I didn't hear a train". She said she was afraid but she did not want to leave the room to sleep with her father.
In the morning I asked my husband about the train and he said no that had there been a train nearby he would have heard it, in fact he said there was not even a railroad near by.

I wanted to stay another night to watch the meteor shower that evening but my daughter had plans for the evening and was very adamant about wanting to leave. I do not know why but at this point I did not really realize that I had experienced anything out of the ordinary. The moment that I really understood that something out of the norm was going on was when I was bathing in the old claw foot tub. The water was very hot and in the rising steam I thought I saw the figure of a person. The impression of a person, there were no sharp details, just a figure. Still I can't say that it was anything that unnerved me.
After we got back that afternoon and I was in the car with my daughter alone I asked her why she just had to leave and that I thought it was a little unfair of her since I really wanted to view the meteor shower. She then confessed that she did not want to spend the night there ever again, I asked her why and she brought up the floors and walls shaking, she said that it freaked her out. This was the first time that I realized that anyone felt it but me.
I asked her why she had said there was no train when clearly there was. She then shared with me that she never heard anything that sounded or reminded her of a train and that she was awoken by the shaking and vibrations of the floor and walls moving. She also said that later that night she thought she saw her brother, the one who was suppose to be sleeping on the couch, rocking in the chair but that when she started to talk to him he ran out of the room and that the chair never stopped rocking.

We have plans to visit the cabin again in a few weeks, I don't know that my daughter will be going with us. This time I will most likely sleep with the children.
I shared the story with a friend and she said that sometimes when a tornado hits or just before it sounds like a train. There was a major tornado in the general area in 1902 that killed over 100 people.

Contributed by Lydia Nolen and Copyright © 2007 all rights reserved.

NOTE: After submitting her story Lydia informed us about a severe storm that occured in the area. The following text appears on a plaque, put up in 1978, in the Goliad County Courthouse:
"Goliad Tornado of 1902 A Cyclone considered one of the two most disastrous in Texas history, struck Goliad on Sunday, May 18, 1902. The twister touched down on the south side of the San Antonio River at 3:35 p.m. Sounding like a heavily loaded freight train, the storm ripped a mile long, half-mile wide path across the northwest section of town, destroying over 100 homes and leaving an official death toll of 114. At least 50 members of a black Methodist church died when their sanctuary was razed. After the disaster, the Goliad County Courthouse served as a temporary hospital and morgue."
- Source Texas Settlement Region Historical Markers Guide

According to Wikipedia the Goliad Tornado is on the top ten list of deadliest tornadoes in America.

Is it possible that Lydia actually experienced some sort of paranormal expressions when she felt the cabin shaking and heard the train-like noise? What about the young boy both her and her daughter witnessed? Was he one of the victims of the tornado? I believe that the answer is "Yes" to all of these questions.

If you want to read details about this deadly tornado visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~txbhs/G/Goliad_02.htm

1902 Goliad, Texas tornado outbreak

The 1902 Goliad, Texas tornado outbreak was a tornado that struck the town of Goliad, Texas on May 18, 1902. The twister touched down on the south side of the San Antonio River at 3:35 p.m.
It travelled northeast and struck Goliad. A total of 114 people died, 250 were injured, and $125,000 damage occurred. Inflation put it at $3,424,800 damage. Within a few hours, 85 people were reported dead and 29 more over the next several days. Across the city, 150 homes, 100 businesses, a Baptist church and parsonage, a black United Methodist Church, a white United Methodist Church, and the second story of the county courthouse were destroyed. At least 50 people were in the black church. None survived. The first floor of the county courthouse was changed into a medical center. After the tornado, all the bodies were buried in a trench due to lack of time and money.
It is tied with the Waco tornado of May 11, 1953 as the deadliest in Texas history and tenth overall in the United States.

TERRIFIC CYCLONE AT GOLIAD


Terrific Cyclone at Goliad Death and Destruction in its Wake - 132 People Dead
Editor's note: This story first appeared in the Advocate 100 years ago, on May 19, 1902. As part of our "We Remember ..." series, we are reprinting the story exactly as it first appeared.

The tornado that struck Goliad 100 years ago today splintered trees, homes and buildings while killing 114 people. Today marks the first memorial service for those killed. The service will be at 3:30 p.m. at the Methodist Church, the same time and place the original storm hit. The cyclone is tied with the storm that struck Waco on May 11, 1953 for the deadliest tornado in Texas history.

Yesterday afternoon, at about 4 o'clock the appalling news was flashed over the wires: "Terrible Cyclone at Goliad Fifty houses swept away Many people killed." The intelligence quickly spread over the city, causing general consternation and apprehension for the safety of relatives and friends. Soon followed an appeal for help from the stricken town.

Doctors and nurses were wanted to attend the injured, and the O'Connor Guards to assist in bringing order out of confusion. The regular train had started for Beeville, but upon reaching Goliad found orders to return at once to Victoria In a short time Drs. Crouse, with two trained nurses, Drs. Hopkins, Rape, Swain, and Lee repaired to the depot, supplied with instruments and surgical appliances. The O'Connor Guards in uniform, commanded by Lieutenant Klein in the absence of Capt. Barron, and a detachment of the Fire Department together with numerous citizens were soon in readiness to depart for the scene of the disaster After a short stop, the train which had returned form Goliad, started back, crowded with people eager to respond to the appeal of distressed humanity. Later a train from Cuero having on board among the others, Dr. Reuss and trained nurses, sped through here, bound on a similar mission. Late last night a telephone message was received from Mayor Schneider, who had gone over on the first train, that the only needs of the people there, were doctors and nurses and that he had telephoned to Yorktown for physicans to come from that place by private conveyance.

The following is a graphic description of the storm, written by an eye witness:

FROM AN EYE WITNESS.

A strong gale blew from the southeast up to 3:30 p. m. when it commenced thundering heavily in the northwest, dark clouds gathering rapidly Large hailstones, but scattering, commenced falling. I was sitting on the gallery of the old Fannin hotel talking to Col. Whitney, the proprietor, and to Messrs J. E. and W. B. Pettus. Suddenly a noise came like a heavy train running in the distance, it rapidly increased in power and sound until it sounded like a million ton engine running away. Everything turned to my eyes a dark brown or red color. Limbs of trees, debris and everything filled the air. God seemed night. A horrible roar, a sigh as tho the earth were dead and the rapid dum, dum, dum, faster than you can think was over. I rushed to the western part of the town as soon as the storm had for a moment subsided. One block west of the square - the greatlive oaks were up rooted; two blocks - horror! Shrieks of the wounded met the ear, the streets were a litter of dead everthing - people, cows, dogs, cats, chickens - in fact every imaginable thing that one could think of. In company with many others, I helped all I could. The dead were on every side, white and black locked in a last death clasp to what they had seized upon. J.W. Browne.

CALL FOR NURSES.

The urgent needs at Goliad this morning were nurses, and surgical supplies. All the drug stores were called upon and their stocks of bandages, adhesives, plaster paris, powerful stimulants and similar articles were nearly exhausted.

THE LADIES TO THE RESCUE.

When it became known that there was work for nurses, a number of noble ladies at once volunteered to undergo the hardships connected with such duties, all for charity's sake. They left on a special train. Among them were Mesdames Loper, Lowe, Abney, W. C. heath, McCan, Rosell, Misses Sullivan, York, Hornburg, Clark and many others, whose names we did not learn, but which we would gladly publish.

NARROW ESCAPES.

As usual in great catastrophes, there were some narrow and marvelous escapes. Instances are cited where the storm passed within a few feet of a residence, carrying away a fence and up rooting giant live oak trees, yet leaving the building untouched.

THE INJURED.

The sights met among the wounded were horrible, even for the gaze of the physicians. Frame houses were converted into avalanches of splinters, and fearful was the fate of the mortal found in the path of the death dealing storm.

PROPERTY LOSS

It is not possible to estimate to any degree of exactness the loss of property Brick structures were carried away as easily as frame shacks The county bridge was twisted into a formless heap.

TERRIFIC CYCLONE AT GOLIAD


Victoria Advocate
May 18, 2002

Terrific Cyclone at Goliad Death and Destruction in its Wake - 132 People Dead
Editor's note: This story first appeared in the Advocate 100 years ago, on May 19, 1902. As part of our "We Remember ..." series, we are reprinting the story exactly as it first appeared.

The tornado that struck Goliad 100 years ago today splintered trees, homes and buildings while killing 114 people. Today marks the first memorial service for those killed. The service will be at 3:30 p.m. at the Methodist Church, the same time and place the original storm hit. The cyclone is tied with the storm that struck Waco on May 11, 1953 for the deadliest tornado in Texas history.

Yesterday afternoon, at about 4 o'clock the appalling news was flashed over the wires: "Terrible Cyclone at Goliad Fifty houses swept away Many people killed." The intelligence quickly spread over the city, causing general consternation and apprehension for the safety of relatives and friends. Soon followed an appeal for help from the stricken town.

Doctors and nurses were wanted to attend the injured, and the O'Connor Guards to assist in bringing order out of confusion. The regular train had started for Beeville, but upon reaching Goliad found orders to return at once to Victoria In a short time Drs. Crouse, with two trained nurses, Drs. Hopkins, Rape, Swain, and Lee repaired to the depot, supplied with instruments and surgical appliances. The O'Connor Guards in uniform, commanded by Lieutenant Klein in the absence of Capt. Barron, and a detachment of the Fire Department together with numerous citizens were soon in readiness to depart for the scene of the disaster After a short stop, the train which had returned form Goliad, started back, crowded with people eager to respond to the appeal of distressed humanity. Later a train from Cuero having on board among the others, Dr. Reuss and trained nurses, sped through here, bound on a similar mission. Late last night a telephone message was received from Mayor Schneider, who had gone over on the first train, that the only needs of the people there, were doctors and nurses and that he had telephoned to Yorktown for physicans to come from that place by private conveyance.

The following is a graphic description of the storm, written by an eye witness:

FROM AN EYE WITNESS.

A strong gale blew from the southeast up to 3:30 p. m. when it commenced thundering heavily in the northwest, dark clouds gathering rapidly Large hailstones, but scattering, commenced falling. I was sitting on the gallery of the old Fannin hotel talking to Col. Whitney, the proprietor, and to Messrs J. E. and W. B. Pettus. Suddenly a noise came like a heavy train running in the distance, it rapidly increased in power and sound until it sounded like a million ton engine running away. Everything turned to my eyes a dark brown or red color. Limbs of trees, debris and everything filled the air. God seemed night. A horrible roar, a sigh as tho the earth were dead and the rapid dum, dum, dum, faster than you can think was over. I rushed to the western part of the town as soon as the storm had for a moment subsided. One block west of the square - the greatlive oaks were up rooted; two blocks - horror! Shrieks of the wounded met the ear, the streets were a litter of dead everthing - people, cows, dogs, cats, chickens - in fact every imaginable thing that one could think of. In company with many others, I helped all I could. The dead were on every side, white and black locked in a last death clasp to what they had seized upon. J.W. Browne.

CALL FOR NURSES.

The urgent needs at Goliad this morning were nurses, and surgical supplies. All the drug stores were called upon and their stocks of bandages, adhesives, plaster paris, powerful stimulants and similar articles were nearly exhausted.

THE LADIES TO THE RESCUE.

When it became known that there was work for nurses, a number of noble ladies at once volunteered to undergo the hardships connected with such duties, all for charity's sake. They left on a special train. Among them were Mesdames Loper, Lowe, Abney, W. C. heath, McCan, Rosell, Misses Sullivan, York, Hornburg, Clark and many others, whose names we did not learn, but which we would gladly publish.

NARROW ESCAPES.

As usual in great catastrophes, there were some narrow and marvelous escapes. Instances are cited where the storm passed within a few feet of a residence, carrying away a fence and up rooting giant live oak trees, yet leaving the building untouched.

THE INJURED.

The sights met among the wounded were horrible, even for the gaze of the physicians. Frame houses were converted into avalanches of splinters, and fearful was the fate of the mortal found in the path of the death dealing storm.

PROPERTY LOSS

It is not possible to estimate to any degree of exactness the loss of property Brick structures were carried away as easily as frame shacks The county bridge was twisted into a formless heap.

THE SITUATION.

At present the dead and wounded are receiving attention through organized effort Hospital supplies, costs, etc. were telegraphed for, and Victoria contributed its quota. Physicians and nurses were summoned from San Antonio, Houston, Beeville and other places, and arrangements have been made to relieve the physicians now on duty. Capt Barron of the O'Connor Guards who had come in from the country left this afternoon with a relief detachment of twelve men. A number of colored men went over this morning to help bury the dead.

At two o'clock the dead was reported at 132.

DEAD-WHITE.

Pinkey Lott.

Mrs. Stopple and 3 daughters, Mr. Stopple was in Dallas, expected to arrived this afternoon.

Two Savage children.

J. T. Cayce, wife and daughter.

Margaret Pope, child.

Mrs. Johnson, mother of Mrs. Pope.

Mrs. Will Heard, two daughters and oneson. One daughter of Jesse Heard.

Three children of John Anglestein.

Three children of W. H. Maddox.

S. W. Dial.

Mrs. Herring, mother of P. P. Herring.

Mrs. Habberson and son.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith, late of Aransas.

Mr and Mrs Paul and one child.

Henry Angelstein, Sr.

Nabinger and one son.

Three children of Mr. Harringer

Two children names unknown.

Three Mexicans names, unknown.

NEGROES DEAD.

Haywood Jones, Joe Smith, Geo Patsy and baby, John and Abel Barefield, Will Weston and two children, Geo Taylor, Bill Tredwell, Cliff Douglas, Helen Simon, Joe Simon, Gussie Gordon, Fannie Robinson, Pauline Lott, Tommie Taylor, Topsey Tippin, Gussie Windex and baby, Floyd Lott, Claxton Taylor, Rufus Taylor, Terrel Hael, Mattie Lott, Alfrado Robinson, Abilene Jefferson, and some others whose names could not be ascertained.

There were 43 dead negros in one house, and 29 negros and Mexican in another. The list of the negro injured could not be gotten.

INJURED WHITE.

Three sons of Mr. Harringer very badly injured.

Mrs. Jno Gibson badly hurt not expected to live;

Jno Anglestein, hurt, not expected to live.

W. W. Lott, bruised, one child arm broken, and another head bruised.

G. E. Pope, hip dislocated and otherwise injured. Mr. Pope slightly bruised.

Mrs. Savage and daughter badly injured.

Mr. and Mrs. D. Mathis cut about head; Two Mathis children badly injured. In all ten hurt in family.

John Alexander, side and back hurt; baby arm broken. Mrs. Alexander badly injured They were all taken to Cuero last night.

R D Newcomb, leg and arm broken; daughter's leg amputated.

Dr Chilton's child was badly bruised.

Miss Jennie Herring spine injured. Two Herring children injured.

John Anglestein arm broken, and otherwise badly injured.

W. H. Maddex and wife dangerously injured.

Four Paul children badly injured.

Mrs. Smith of Aransas not expected to live; one son leg broken, and another badly bruised.

Ben Heeman, wife and child, badly bruised.

Lenard Van Dohlen slightly injured; wife badly bruised; one child leg broken.

Miss Buhler Dial badly bruised.