Opinion
Collecting ghost stories
Bob Bowman’s East Texas
For years, the good people of East Texas have shared with us their stories of ghosts, haunted houses, unexplained events and other morsel of the macabre.
One lady even told us a story about a alien buried in a cemetery in Wise County — an event backed up by a story in a respected Texas newspaper.
Now, it’s time to put the ghosts into a new book.
And if you have a favorite story, here’s your chance to see it in print, whether you believe it or not.
You can call us at 936-634-7444, send us an e-mail at bobb@consolidated.net, or write us at 515 South First Street, Lufkin, Texas 75901. Our Web site is bob-bowman.com
Here are some of the ghosts of East Texas.
• In 1843, Milt Andrews built a splendid plantation mansion near Karnack. Sometime later, Andrews’ nineteen-year-old daughter, Eunice, also known as Oonie, sat alone in her upstairs bedroom when a bolt of lightning from a storm struck a chimney and raced down to a fireplace and struck Oonie. She was burned to death.
Over the years, stories rose that Oonie’s ghost never left her bedroom. Eerie noises, odd happenings, and ghostly apparitions soon became common. When the Andrews family sold the mansion to T.J. Taylor, Lady Bird Johnson’s father, in 1902, the ghost went along with the sale.
Lady Bird said she never saw the ghost, but admitted feeling a sense of apprehension and unease in the house as a child.
• At Patriot’s Hill, which stands beside the Sabine River near Hemphill, soldiers in the Civil War guarded the hill to keep Union soldiers from entering Texas. The men stayed at their posts until the war’s end, but many died from starvation and sickness.
Some people in Sabine County say the soldiers’ voices can still be heard on the hill and others claim they have seen men in Civil War uniforms silently standing guard in the woods.
Now that we’ve grabbed your attention, we’re waiting on your story.
Bob Bowman of Lufkin is the author of 42 books about East Texas. He can be reached at bob-bowman.
- Opinion
-
-
Nine phone calls and three hours later . . .
It seemed like such an easy thing to do — change the password on my e-mail account.
My free, personal, yahoo.com e-mail account that I have owned for about 12 years.
I’ve changed the password at least 25 times since I started it when I was in graduate school.
It’s an e-mail account I refuse to give up without a fight.
It was hacked recently, though. In fact, it was hacked twice in two weeks. -
Where is the real hypocrisy?
In the July 9, issue of the Daily Progress there appeared two letters which were each captioned by “hipocracy” [sic.]. I think the letter writers or at least the editors actually meant “hypocrisy”. [Next time they should at least use their computers to check the proper spelling of such words!]
These two letters are the latest in a series of such sarcastic letters by the same two authors. In their usual fashion many of the arguments utilize the same type of “non sequitur” reasoning they had been using all during the recent alcohol campaign. -
Woe, woe, woe
Jacksonville finally voted wet!
We’re told every day to look for the total collapse of our town.
Truth is, Jacksonville has always been wet. -
Inception earns four-tater rating
Editor’s note: A Jacksonville resident has been reviewing movies for friends for several years and has offered to share his thoughts with Daily Progress readers. His reviews come in personal letters to his nicknamed friend, Spud Nut. Our reviewer is Tater Tot, so consequently, the movies get ratings based on potatoes.
-
Middle School Madness
I recently stumbled across some old school memorabilia of Lee’s and Brittany’s from their Middle School days – a collection of great little books called Middle School Madness. Evidently, the students were allowed to make these books in one of their classes, and they are so cool.
-
Sorcerer’s Apprentice worth seeing again
Editor’s note: A Jacksonville resident has been reviewing movies for friends for several years and has offered to share his thoughts with Daily Progress readers. His reviews come in personal letters to his nicknamed friend, Spud Nut. Our reviewer is Tater Tot, so consequently, the movies get ratings based on potatoes.
-
Spud Nut, Tater Tot love Despicable Me
Editor’s note: A Jacksonville resident has been reviewing movies for friends for several years and has offered to share his thoughts with Daily Progress readers. His reviews come in personal letters to his nicknamed friend, Spud Nut. Our reviewer is Tater Tot, so consequently, the movies get ratings based on potatoes.
-
Shame, shame, shame
When I was a kid, I watched Gomer Pyle. One of the things I always remember is him saying, “Shame. Shame. Shame.”
Those words came to mind recently when Jacksonville started selling beer and wine. -
A slap in the face
There is a critical issue that affects the national security of America — and the safety of all Americans.
It is a wide-open platform in U.S. civilian courts for the Sept. 11, 2001, mastermind, the Christmas bomber and other terrorists. -
Outrageous hipocracy
That a store owner could use the whim of his religious beliefs to not sell alcohol, while at the same time refusing to heed the scientificly established medical evidence regarding the long-established dangers of tobacco consumption is absolutely, irrefutably absurd!
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Nine phone calls and three hours later . . .
