The Black Swan Inn, is it haunted? ................

[Kelley (Texas)]

Most folks that have had anything to do with the Black Swan Inn tend to think that it is haunted. The minute you step onto the property, you sense that something is not normal about the place...something is just not right.

The Black Swan Inn sits on a hilltop among some Live Oak Trees facing Salado Creek in the northeast part of San Antonio. The land that it sits on has a long history of violence, murder, and suicide. Archaeological surveys on the property has shown evidence of Indians occupying the land approximately 5,000 years ago and that there is a burial site located somewhere on the property, suspected to possibly be directly under the Inn. The Battle of Salado Creek in 1842 between the Texans and Mexicans also took place on the land where the Black Swan Inn now sits. This was a bloody battle, leaving 100's dead. The Texas army men buried their dead in shallow graves on the property, while the Mexican dead were left where they fell and died. At a later date it is known that the Texan's bodies were retrieved from the shallow graves and buried elsewhere, but there is no record of what became of the dead Mexican soldiers...it is assumed that they were removed and sent home to Mexico.

A few years after the Battle of Salado Creek, the Black Swan Inn was built by a German by the name of Heinrich who died sometime in the 1850's. It was then owned by an attorney who was later found dead with his hands tied behind his back...the death was ruled a suicide. It is rumored that the ghost of the original owner was roaming the property and drove the attorney to commit suicide. There has since been many owners and the property has been used as a restaurant, bed and breakfast club, and even as a place to hold weddings.

There has been many ghost sighting over the years...a ghost will stand at the foot of the owner's bed, dolls in a certain room would be rearranged, the original owner's ghost is known to roam the property, boys fishing on Salado Creek have been chased by a ghost that appears to be an Indian, the sound of a military bugle is heard on occasion...there are just too many ghost sightings which leads many folks to believe that some of the ghost stories just may be true.

While researching the history of the Black Swan Inn, I found the following on the Internet: "This sight has been investigated by the San Antonio Paranormal Network. They recorded a lot of activity such as cold spots, doors opening and closing, music coming from the walls, flickering lights and a general heaviness in the ballroom. The team also recorded temperature changes with EMF recorders and several EVP (electronic voice phenomena) when specific questions were asked. Other patrons have seen full apparitions of spirits in the house and on the property as well as loud noises and banging. SAPN has deemed the Black Swan Inn as an active paranormal site."

When I visited the Black Swan Inn today, it appeared to be closed and the gate was locked shut with a chain and Master Lock. Because it appeared to be vacant, I decided to walk closer to the main building and get some better pictures...wrong! As soon as I stepped foot on that property, I felt a strong cold breeze hit me in the face. On second thought, I decided that it might be best that I not enter the property. I do not know whether or not there is such a thing as a ghost, but I will give it the benefit of the doubt...why tempt fate. Kelley (Texas)

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[Jackpine Savage]

NOW the question is.. Just how brave are you?

HH Tom

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

there is such a thing as a ghost, then it would depend on what it was going to do to me. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Royal]

one of your feed store buddies stand at the gate with a video camera, and while you went onto the property try to get some good videos of what happened to your body when the ghosts latched on to it.

It is a beautiful old estate!

 

[George-CT]

Fancy looking old place with all that history has to have some goodies in the ground. Not sure what ghost would do if anything.
Maybe bring a watch ghost person for ghost patrol. Easy to say, not easy to do. There are a few sites here with the same types of stories and once someone knows the story, they all seem to get some kind of sense that tells them to leave it alone. I found 3 Geocaches this winter to go find and all 3 of them have the same type of stories attached. As long as they have been there they don't' seem to get a lot of attention at their sites.

Really interesting history for that place. Keep us posted if you try it again. I like Royals idea, bring backup with camera and a rope tied to ya to pull you back off the sacred ground.

I've seen once what I perceived as a ghost. It sure looked real to me. I never saw it again but I always look when I go by there which is pretty often. I never knew the story of the place until many years later, and exactly what the story described is what I saw. Real, mind playing tricks on one, who knows. Like you said, better safe than sorry.

George-CT
I

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

As such, I tend to use caution just in case they do exist....no reason to pizz one off, right. I have had situations where things did not seem normal and the hair on the back of my neck would stand up...can't explain why. I am like a lot of people, mention that the place is haunted and I immediately use caution. Also, this site is now designated as a historical site...no metal detecting or treasure hunting allowed. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

and they would be leery of going to the treasure site...lots of folks that way. If someone makes mention of a ghost at the treasure site, it would not prevent me from going to the site, but I would be more careful than normal. Kelley (Texas)

 

[George-CT]

I'm not sure what I believe in regards to ghost. Could be, I guess, Like you I don't want to find out the hard way. Thats the problem back east here. Everything becomes historical. Fine when it is but a lot of folks registered their homes with the historical society and right away, even though its your land, you cannot detect at them. Fact, here it has to be keep correct historicially in how you replace things. One of our neighbors had a slate roof on his place. Major money to repair that and bunch of other things. They sure look nice but if one can't do the work themselves, it becomes very expensive. Even some of the beautiful old homes that left to the state of Ct here they are closing for lack of funds to keep them going. You need to heat them here in winter or they got to he!! in a hurry. They were even talking about closing the Mark Twain House until a very well off person put up some serious to keep it available to the public...

Geo

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I guess with our mild winters, that is one thing that we do not have to worry about. I do not think that we went below freezing but maybe one or two days this past winter. Our spring is already here, trees are budding, and temperatures in the upper 70's and have already reached into the lower 80's once or twice. You folks have some beautiful old colonial type homes, nothing like that down here. If anything, our homes are ranch style homes, often with a Spanish flavor.

In regards to the ghost issue, I just don't see any reason to take a chance of pizzing one off if it happens to end up being true. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Rob/Windsor Ont.]

If it doesn't feel right, I stay away too. Gotta go with your gut feeling.

 

[Micheal_R]

We were fortunate that the spirit [or whatever one chooses to call it] was not malevolent and we got along very well for several years. Some who visited us were not so lucky at times. :

calm seas

Micheal

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

Did you ever see the ghost? Kelley (Texas)

 

[Micheal_R]

But she had a wry sense of humour.... and could be very demonstrative when she was upset. We had an old farmhouse. When you went to the top floor, the top was divided in half. There was no landing as such.. you got to the top stair and went in either door which entered the stairway at a 45 degree angle.

When you were downstairs, very often, you could clearly hear footsteps going from one room to the other upstairs.... but they went through the wall.!!! No door opening, no cessation of step... just back and forth.

Occasionally, when we were downstairs, there would be a loud crash, as if of breaking glass,. This would happen when a guest was there and would scoff at our story of our [for by now we thought of her as 'our'], ghost. There was never any sign of actual broken glass though.

One other time, we had a skeptical friend stay over. He awoke to violent shaking of his bed.... but the glass of water beside that bed was perfectly still.

She also tended our daughter. Many, many times we would awake to sounds of our daughter laughing and chorkling away in the middle of the night. The first little while, we would hurry to investigate., As soon as we opened her door, there was a sense of a whoosh and then the daughter would start to cry. .. even when Alice and I picked her up. We came to an understanding and said, out loud, that we would not disturb any more nighttime laughs... but we would be there in an instant were we to hear any crying.

From that point on, we never had any problems..... but out daughter continued her nighttime laughing and chuckling. Only once, when we were asleep, did Alice feel/sense a presence by her when were asleep at night. No words, or any overt signals.... but something gave her a sense of urgency so she got up and found our daughter choking. She stopped the choking.... but realizes that she would never have heard any noise... it could only have been our ghost helping us out and helping our daughter.

There are more stories.... perhaps I will write a tale for the forum.

Calm seas

Micheal

 

[Kelley (Texas)]

I have read stories similar to yours, but I have never had a ghost before as per se. I have had what I considered supernatural experiences before, sorta like a sixth sense. There was a spot on a neighbors property that I use to stop at to take a break...little hill with lots of trees. For some reason, when I dismounted and started to drink my cup of coffee, a cold wind would start blowing. Later, I found an unmarked grave among the trees. The next day I fenced the grave off so that it could not be disturbed. Mike, from that day forward, that cold wind disappeared, never came back when I took a coffee break on that little hill. I have had things like this happen, but never saw a ghost. Kelley (Texas)

 

[Wayne in BC]

given that billions of people on this planet have died, why we are not up to our ears in ghosts?
'scuse me a minute, i have to convince this Caveman ghost that i am not into eating Sabertooth liver