8 creepy facts about Texas that textbooks leave out
From unsolved murders to unsettling origins of town names, these creepy facts about Texas will make your skin crawl.
Texas is coming up on its 200th anniversary of joining the United States, and there’s quite a bit of history within the Lone Star State. Of course, textbooks and history classes can only cover so much, and there are certainly some facts about Texas that people would rather remain hidden.
Luckily, we’ve got a curiosity that just won’t quit. Here are eight creepy facts about Texas you might not have learned about from your school curriculum.
Over 30 murders have occurred on a stretch of I-45 between Houston and Galveston
Driving from Houston to Galveston is relatively simple. Hop on I-45 and head south for about 50 miles, and you’ll arrive at the coastal city. But there’s a spooky stretch along the way—over the past 50 years, at least 34 bodies have been discovered in that region. From 1983 to 1991, detectives found four women’s bodies in the same 25-acre stretch of land in League City.
This is one of the creepier facts about Texas because many of the crimes have remained unsolved, and there are additional cases of women disappearing without a trace. While textbooks overlook this part of Texas history, you can learn more about it in the three-part Netflix miniseries, “Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields.”
The ghost town of Baby Head got its name from an actual baby’s head
Drive about nine miles north of Llano, and you’ll cross into Baby Head. During the late 1800s, this small town housed a handful of small businesses, a school, and a post office. However, settlers eventually moved to other locations, and it essentially turned into a ghost town. The last population update came in 1990, when the town had about 20 residents.
Today, you can still visit Baby Head Cemetery along Texas State Highway 16. If you’re wondering how the town got its name, it was due to an infant’s skull being left on a mountain. The people who found the skull believed a group of angry Native Americans placed it there. Apparently, the sinister act was also a creative inspiration for the town’s moniker.
People used to knife battle to the death in “Helena Duels”
The most famous Helena is the capital of Montana, but the Helena in Texas was once known as the toughest town on earth. Some residents of the city believed the “Hell” sound of the name was an accurate description. It was the site of the main action of the Cart War, but its “Helena Duels” became the town’s main attraction during the 1880s.
In these duels, two opponents would have their left hands tied together with buckskin. They’d receive a knife with a three-inch blade, be spun around a few times (much like you might spin around a bat or stick before whacking a piñata), and then be left to slash wildly at each other. The knives weren’t long enough to cause a single fatal stab by hitting an organ, so it was a “death by a thousand papercuts” type of spectacle. Crowds came to watch these gruesome events unfold, making bets on who would win.
Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that the town itself was also metaphorically killed. A bullet struck Colonel William G. Butler’s son Emmett during a saloon brawl. Looking to avenge his son, the father rode into town to find the culprit. When no one fessed up, Butler reportedly yelled, “All right! For that, I’ll kill the town that killed my son!” He had railroad tracks built away from the city and helped move the county seat to Karnes City. Helena ceased to exist shortly after.
The “Butcher of Elmendorf” killed women and fed live animals (and maybe people) to alligators in his bar
Joseph Ball was born in southern Texas and, by all accounts, had a normal childhood. He went to serve in World War I—but upon his return, he started committing crimes. At first, they were moderate in stature, such as bootlegging during Prohibition. Soon, his crimes turned deadly.
Ball opened the Sociable Inn near Elmendorf. The tavern served plenty of booze, of course, but it also had unique elements to attract more patrons. Most notably, Ball had a concrete pond filled with five alligators, and he’d entertain visitors by primarily feeding live dogs and cats to the gators. There was also a spooky trend where many barmaids who worked for him eventually disappeared.
When police went to question Ball, he took a few sips of beer and then shot himself in the chest. Clifford Wheeler, a handyman who conspired with him, led police to the remains of Hazel Brown and Minnie Gotthard, two women whom Ball had previously employed. He had killed them both—Brown because she had fallen in love with another man, and Gotthard because she had gotten pregnant. Investigators believed Ball also murdered his wife, Dolores “Buddy” Goodwin, though she eventually turned up alive and well after a temporary disappearance.
Since these murders happened nearly 90 years ago, Ball’s story has grown. Some people believe he killed up to a dozen others, feeding their remains to his alligators. That part probably isn’t true, but the alligators were relocated to the San Antonio Zoo shortly after Ball’s death to live out their golden years.
A “Phantom Killer” attacked eight people in ten weeks
In early 1946, the United States was moving into its next phase as a country. World War II had ended less than a year prior, and the U.S. was looking forward to what was ahead. Unfortunately, the end of the war didn’t mean the end of violence. And from February 22 to May 3, 1946, the Texarkana region experienced several violent crimes, including multiple unsolved serial murders.
The first three attacks took place at lovers’ lanes or quiet roads in Texas, while the fourth was at a farmhouse in Arkansas. Officers from city, county, state, and federal levels joined the investigation as more attacks occurred. In total, the “Phantom Killer”—a name first given by the Texarkana Daily News—killed five people and wounded three others. Though there were several suspects in the case, no one was ever charged. It remains one of the most puzzling, unsolved creepy facts about Texas.
Perhaps the earliest-known serial killer operated in Austin
From December 30, 1884, to December 24, 1885, Austin was rocked by a series of eight axe murders. The attacker killed seven women and one man, with all the victims initially attacked while sleeping and left in similar poses. Texas officials refused to believe the same person was carrying out all these killings, but residents felt otherwise. They thought the “Midnight Assassin” had the power to turn invisible, since neighborhood dogs never raised an alarm during the acts. Six of the eight people killed were Black, with media referring to the events as the “Server Girl Murders.” William Sydney Porter, who wrote short stories under the name O. Henry, used the term “Server Girl Annihilators,” since multiple victims were also mutilated.
These slayings happened three years before Jack the Ripper terrorized London. Due to similar modus operandi, people began theorizing that the Midnight Assassin and Jack the Ripper were the same man. That’s never been conclusively proven, though it certainly hasn’t stopped the legend from growing.
Texas is home to the largest bat colony in the world
When I was a kid, I enjoyed playing “The Adventures of Willy Beamish.” It’s a point-and-click computer game where you take control of the titular Willy Beamish and navigate life as a young boy. Some of the early stages of the game involve making decisions like lying about your report card or whether to feed the family dog your table scraps, but as you progress, things get a lot more intense. For example, your babysitter for the evening turns into a bat and begins terrorizing you and your sister. This was the point of the game that I could never get past. The bat was simply too fast and malicious.
So, does it haunt me a bit that Texas is home to the largest bat colony anywhere in the world? You bet. In fact, Texas offers a double dip of the furry winged creatures. Bracken Bat Cave, just north of San Antonio, houses between 15 and 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats, depending on the time of year. Austin also sports the largest urban bat colony, with up to 1.5 million bats settling under the Congress Bridge. People gather for the spectacle, watching them flutter into the night sky. For good measure, Texas contains 32 of the 47 species of bats in the United States.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is larger than Manhattan
You might not think this one is very creepy, but have you ever had to go from one end of the terminal to another to make a quick connection? It’s a scary situation to be in! (Or maybe we just wanted to end on a lighter note.)
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport is the third-busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic. It also happens to be larger than the entire island of Manhattan, home to Wall Street, Broadway, the Empire State Building, the New York Knicks, and dozens of universities and museums. DFW is about 27 square miles, while Manhattan clocks in at 22.66 square miles. In case you’d like to investigate this harrowing discovery yourself, DFW offers six direct flights to New York City every day.
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