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Texas has some of the richest folklore in North America. As well as Native American legends, Spanish and American settlers have made many contributions and there are many haunted places in the state.

Another historic city is Laredo. Here, a spectral woman walks the banks of the Rio Grande, desperately searching for the children that she herself pushed off a cliff into the river. In the Hamilton Hotel, children are heard happily playing, even when there are no children about. The La Posada Hotel, on the site of a former convent, is haunted by a phantom nun and the doppelgangers of staff. The Rio Grande Plaza Hotel is haunted by the spectre of a former cleaner wearing a brown uniform, as well as unexplained sounds of playing children.

Tte historic Excelsior House Hotel in Jefferson, has had distinguished guests including Oscar Wilde and Ulysses S Grant but also has a number of supernatural guests. They include a woman in a black dress, with a baby. She sometimes sets a poor example for her child by pilfering from mortal guests. There is also a headless man, a perfumed lady and a boy who wakes people up to ask whether they want breakfast. Steven Spielberg is said to have had a paranormal experience here.

Texas Tech University, in Lubbock, has a number of phantom residents. Sporting a beard and a stetson, the ghost of a former professor is seen in Holden Hall. The old President's House has "George", a rather harmless ghost. The biology building is the haunt of Sarah Morgan who was murdered by a student there. In the underground tunnels, a phantom student, presumably lost, is still trying to sneak into the girls' dormitories.

The coast of Texas is also well haunted. A great Native American deity, the emerald-headed serpent, is said to dwell in a crystal cave in the Gulf of Mexico. However, it may sometimes be seen from the coast when it rises to the surface with a wonderful display of light. Uncanny phenomena, including a bathroom that sometimes has a pink glow, may be experienced in the Tarpon Inn, Port Aransas. The Tremont House hotel in Galveston is haunted by a ghostly boy that the staff call "Jimmy", as well as a phantom Confederate soldier. Also in Galveston, the Hotel Galvez and Spa has at least three ghosts, one of which is known for leaving the scent of gardenias in a room.

The strange sensation experienced by guests who stare at a picture of a child holding flowers, on the third floor of the Driskill Hotel, Austin, is just one of the eerie phenomena shared by guests of thet establishment. In the Omni Austin Hotel, a suicidal jumper still haunts his room.

Miss Molly's Hotel bed and breakfast, in Fort Worth, was once a bordello and has ghosts in all of the rooms. One of them is still considerate enough to leave a tip for the maid. Then there is the Lake Worth monster, a weird creature that is part man, part goat and part fish.

In Abilene, those malevolent black eyed children (also known as Black Eyed Kids or BEKs), have been seen. A black eyed boy, also presumably a BEK, frighterned an airman on an unnamed military base.

If you wander in the twilight on Patterson Road, Houston, you may see phantom soldiers of the American Civil War. The Hotel Lawrence, in Dallas, has a number of ghosts, including that of a gambler.

In the dark hours before dawn, ghostly cowboys are sometimes seen walking in the courtyard of the Y.O. Ranch Hotel in Kerryville. The Faust Hotel, New Braunfels, has a number of hauntings, including a spectral black cat. Littlefield is known for the winged, humanoid monsters that lurked in the basement of two elderly spinsters.

Seventeen miles north of Fredericksburg, a mountain of pink granite, the groaning Enchanted Rock, is said to be genuinely magical. It was sacred to the Tonkawa, Apache and Comanche nations and it has been known as Spirit Song Rock and Crying Rock. Ghostly flames have been seen flickering at the summit.

Perhaps the most famous folklore of Texas are the tall stories of Pecos Bill. Bill was raised by a family of coyotes and his lasso was a rattlesnake called Shake. Pecos Bill's true love was Slue-Foot Sue. She tried to ride Bill's horse, the aptly named Widow-Maker. It threw her. How high? Well, Neil Armstrong was the first MAN to set FOOT on the moon but Slue-Foot Sue banged her HEAD on it. She should have stuck to riding catfish.

The spiny goat-sucker, the chupacabra, first appeared in Puerto Rico but it has also been encountered in Texas.