Urban Legends in San Antonio and South Texas

🏇 Restless Revenants & Headless Riders

Theme: restless dead, improper burials, headless apparitions.

Headless Nun of Santa Rosa Hospital – Revenant motif.
Burial Ground of Milam Park – Restless dead of improperly interred bodies (fabulate).
Southwestern Insane Asylum – Tormented restless souls (fabulate).
The Menger, Emily Morgan, Crockett Hotels, Majestic Theatre – Classic revenant-haunted institutions (fabulate).
Spirits at San Pedro Springs Park – Restless dead tied to land (fabulate).

Potential search terms

"headless ghost" OR "headless rider" AND legend
revenant AND folklore AND burial
"improper burial" AND restless dead
"haunted asylum" folklore
"haunted theatre" AND legend

Note: UTSA’s catalog will be a bit lean on urban legends specific to our region. We unfortunately do not have a folklore program or a center for horror studies. As such, it may be beneficial to broaden the search language so you can still pull useful scholarly sources in JSTOR, Project MUSE, Anthropology Plus, etc., through the UTSA Libraries search. You can also use Google Scholar!

The themes (weeping women, children ghosts, headless riders, etc.) show up in lots of cultures, so you can compare across regions.

Some materials to get you started

Death Lore
ISBN: 1282555421

Publication Date: 2008-01-01

This Publication of the Texas Folklore Society examines places where people are buried, either permanently or temporarily; how people die and the rituals associated with funerals and burials; some of the stranger stories about what happens after we re gone; and offers some philosophical musings about death in general, as well as our connection to those who have gone before."
Spirits of San Antonio and South Texas by Reneta Byrne; Docia S. Williams; Robert Wlodarski
ISBN: 9781556223198

Publication Date: 1997-11-30

In San Antonio and parts of South Texas, things occasionally do go bump in the night. While San Antonio may be the number one tourist destination in Texas, it may also be one of the most haunted cities in the entire state. Steeped in history and tradition, San Antonio has numerous buildings and locations that, many claim, are also home for some interesting and intriguing spirits. Docia Williams and Reneta Bryne have spent years tracking down the spirits of San Antonio and other South Texas cities. The search has taken them to such places as the Alamo, the Institute of Texan Cultures, numerous hotels and restaurants, the city library, the choir loft of a Methodist church, the site of the Midget Mansion, and even the haunted Sea Captain's house. The results of this search are found in this book.