Goliad Texas, Cabin Haunting?

While not an unbeliever in the paranormal I have always been skeptical of any phenomena that I have not personally experienced myself. I have from time to time, had experiences out of the realm of "normal" or coincidence. This story is a recording of the first that I have experienced first hand that I cannot logically explain any other way than a haunting of some sort.

We drove 2 hours from our home to stay at a friends hunting cabin in Goliad Texas. We had planned to shoot targets, have a barbecue and spend the night. I had never been there before but when I got there I liked it immediately, the place had a nice feel to it. It was a very rustic wood cabin decorated with antiques and assorted other eclectic memorabilia.

I spent a while outside on the large old fashioned porch rocking and reading while the kids took turns target shooting. The sound of guns firing was disturbing my reading so I went inside to lay on a cot in the screened porch area in the back of the cabin.

One of the boys came in to see what I was doing they sat in wood rocker that was across the room. We talked for a little bit and they left, and for some reason a while later I glanced up at the rocker and I noticed that it was still slowly rocking. Rocking so slow that if you did not watch it continuously you would not realize that it was rocking at all. There was no breeze and no logical reason that it should be rocking at all. This did not concern me very much however and I just continued to read. I felt very at ease and was not bothered by the chair rocking by it self.

In retrospect this seems like it would be spooky but I can't say that I was alarmed in any way. I felt compelled to sit in the rocker and I felt an energy there, not necessarily a bad one but I was not comfortable so I went back to read on the cot.

After dinner the kids set up their cots in the back porch screened in room. My oldest son laid in the living room on the couch. My husband and I were in the room off the bathroom, I read for a bit, then it was lights out.

It was very warm inside as there was no air conditioning and just a small fan in the room. I could not get comfortable or go to sleep no matter how hard I tried. I rinsed the shirt I was wearing in cold water and put it on and I was significantly more comfortable. I began to doze off. I think I may have fallen asleep.

I was awoken by the sound of a crying boy. I thought it was my three year old, I hesitated for a moment before getting out of bad, Trying to wake up fully and get acclimated to the dark and unfamiliar surroundings. I heard a voice and I can't be sure if it was in my mind or out loud but it said go to him. I went to where the kids were, everyone was fast asleep. I thought that odd as I was sure that I had heard crying.

I crawled in to the cot with my three year old and snuggled up to him. I finally fell asleep again when I was awakened by the sound of a train in the distance. I was not startled by it, I laid there and listened as it got closer and closer. Soon it sounded as if it were right beside the cabin. The walls and floors vibrated and shook and for an instant I felt as though our cabin was actually in the train and moving. Then it was gone, I was wondering if I was really awake yet.

My daughter stirred in bed and I asked her if the sound from the train had woken her up. She said, "I didn't hear a train". She said she was afraid but she did not want to leave the room to sleep with her father.

In the morning I asked my husband about the train and he said no that had there been a train nearby he would have heard it, in fact he said there was not even a railroad near by.

I wanted to stay another night to watch the meteor shower that evening but my daughter had plans for the evening and was very adamant about wanting to leave. I do not know why but at this point I did not really realize that I had experienced anything out of the ordinary. The moment that I really understood that something out of the norm was going on was when I was bathing in the old claw foot tub. The water was very hot and in the rising steam I thought I saw the figure of a person. The impression of a person, there were no sharp details, just a figure. Still I can't say that it was anything that unnerved me.

After we got back that afternoon and I was in the car with my daughter alone I asked her why she just had to leave and that I thought it was a little unfair of her since I really wanted to view the meteor shower. She then confessed that she did not want to spend the night there ever again, I asked her why and she brought up the floors and walls shaking, she said that it freaked her out. This was the first time that I realized that anyone felt it but me.

I asked her why she had said there was no train when clearly there was. She then shared with me that she never heard anything that sounded or reminded her of a train and that she was awoken by the shaking and vibrations of the floor and walls moving. She also said that later that night she thought she saw her brother, the one who was suppose to be sleeping on the couch, rocking in the chair but that when she started to talk to him he ran out of the room and that the chair never stopped rocking.

We have plans to visit the cabin again in a few weeks, I don't know that my daughter will be going with us. This time I will most likely sleep with the children.

I shared the story with a friend and she said that sometimes when a tornado hits or just before it sounds like a train. There was a major tornado in the general area in 1902 that killed over 100 people.

Contributed by Lydia Nolen and Copyright © 2007 all rights reserved. No part of this story may be used without permission.

NOTE: After submitting her story Lydia informed us about a severe storm that occured in the area. The following text appears on a plaque, put up in 1978, in the Goliad County Courthouse:

"Goliad Tornado of 1902 A Cyclone considered one of the two most disastrous in Texas history, struck Goliad on Sunday, May 18, 1902. The twister touched down on the south side of the San Antonio River at 3:35 p.m. Sounding like a heavily loaded freight train, the storm ripped a mile long, half-mile wide path across the northwest section of town, destroying over 100 homes and leaving an official death toll of 114. At least 50 members of a black Methodist church died when their sanctuary was razed. After the disaster, the Goliad County Courthouse served as a temporary hospital and morgue."
- Source Texas Settlement Region Historical Markers Guide

According to Wikipedia the Goliad Tornado is on the top ten list of deadliest tornadoes in America.

Is it possible that Lydia actually experienced some sort of paranormal expressions when she felt the cabin shaking and heard the train-like noise? What about the young boy both her and her daughter witnessed? Was he one of the victims of the tornado? I believe that the answer is "Yes" to all of these questions.

If you want to read details about this deadly tornado visit http://www.rootsweb.com/~txbhs/G/Goliad_02.htm

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