To
anyone who followed my travels over the summer, particularly the Aegean Odyssey
that took me to Athens and five islands of Greece in August, it might seem that
I have been uncharacteristically quiet for the past few months. Amid a particularly busy year of travel, conventions, and speaking appearances, however, I have been working to finish up my Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country, the latest title in publisher Clerisy Press's America's Haunted Road Trip of guides to reputedly haunted places people can visit. Anyone interested in the fascinating history and ghostly lore of this area should be sure to pick up a copy of this book when it comes out and in the meantime can find previews of most of its chapters at the site dedicated to it. As of this writing I have submitted all the chapters and most of the front and back matter to my editors and have just two miscellaneous sections to finish up for Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country.
I have organized the 27 feature-length chapters into four sections, San Antonio, which includes downtown and everything within the 1604 Loop that surrounds the city; Greater San Antonio, which includes sites in the counties surrounding the city; Austin, which covers sites in the state capitol; and Texas Hill Country, which covers sites in the wooded highlands to the north and west of the city. In addition to its 27 feature-length chapters, it was also important to me to include a robust section of Additional Haunted Places that has brief writeups on another 60 sites throughout south-central Texas, which helps give this book a comprehensive nature. I will also support it indefinitely through the Ghosthunting San Antonio, Austin, and Texas Hill Country blog, which will include things like historic images of sites, new things I learn about places covered in the book, additional haunted sites I discover, and my ongoing paranormal adventures in the title area.
As things stand now the release date for the book is set for September 24, 2015. That might sound like a long time, but a lot of editing, layout, design, promotion, and marketing needs to take place between now and then. I have also got an exceptionally busy new year scheduled already, to include a roadtrip from Chicago to Washington, D.C., in March — which I will, of course, cover here with articles and photos!
Top, the entrance to what is now the giftshop of the Alamo, which has long been believed to be haunted by the spirits of its slain defenders. Above, the sumptuous lobby of the Menger Hotel in San Antonio, which has a ghostly history going back to the middle of the 19th century.
