Around thirty years ago I bought a large three bedroom house on the banks of the Nueces river, at Old San Patricio, Texas. In the daylight hours it was very beautiful going down to the river bottom where we lived, but at night it looked real spooky. There were large live oak trees with spanish moss hanging from them. Still it was a real beautiful place and very quiet.
This place was located not more than a mile from where the last woman was hung back in the mid eighteen hundreds. I have forgotten the date now but it can be looked up. This woman I am talking about was Chipita Gonzales I believe best I can remember. On real dark nights some say they could hear a woman sobbing, may have been a ghost or who knows I never heard it. I don't take much stock in ghosts.
One night My brother-in-law, Wayne and his wife and kids came to visit and brought their kids. Now, their kids and mine were in the front room telling ghost stories so I knew they were a little spooked. A real scary movie came on and they were watching it and not paying any attention to much else. So, I went out the back door and came around to the front of the house. At the time we had no A/C so the windows were propped opened and we used fans to stir the air. I walked up to the window and was watching these kids. The bottom of the window was chest high on me so I stuck my head in the window and made a real loud cat screeching sound.
My word them kids acted like ten squirrels in a small cage the way they were running around hollering and trying to get to their mommas. I got tickled and forgot about the stick that was holding the window up and that darn stick flew out, and down that window came. It had me penned across my chest with my feet off the ground about six inches. So, I had both arms inside and the window had me good. I couldn't raise it so I hollered for help. Lands, that made the kids worse and even my wife and her brother and his wife had their hair standing up at first. They thought something had got me and were afraid to come looking for me.
I was quite upset by this time as I was running out of strength. Then it dawned on the older folks that I was in trouble. So, here they came and turned the light on. All of them got to laughing so hard and the kids were crying. Finally after a few minutes they lifted the window up and set me free.
Many years ago I built a three bedroom house in the town of San Pat, not far from the river bottom. People around there were always hauling their dogs off and dumping them near my place.
One day a bunch of us was called to come shoot a pack of over a hundred that had killed some cattle and were after a lady. She managed to get in a chicken house till we got out there to rescue her.
A few days before I had shot one of the wild dogs twice and my nephew had shot him once we thought he was gone.
Anyway it was close to halloween and spook stuff was selling everywhere in town, movies to rent and such.
Several days later I came in after dark and the car needed some fuses put in it so I was asked to do it. I had no flash light only my cigarette lighter so I was squatted down by side of my car and putting fuses in and thinking about ghost and goblins and what I could do in a few days.
About that time as I was squatted down something jumped on my back and started licking my neck. I almost filled my britches. I knew I was getting ready to be eaten alive so being a praying man I hollered. "Oh Jesus rescue me" and was almost to the forgive me part when I fell down looked up and it was that darn dog we had been trying to kill. He had me down now and no way was he going to let me up. He was one big old red sucker. I was afraid to pet him but I touched him and he was a good buddy right then.
So I went into the house and told the girls and they laughed and I called my nephew and told him to not kill that dog as anything that fought to live and wanted me to be friends he deserved to live.
