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Spooky Travels - Galveston, TX
20 Plays1 month ago
Nym and Nylene hit the road seeking out more spooky travels, this time in Galveston, TX. They talk about their trip, the dark and devastating history of the island, and Nylene guides us through the Broadway Cemetery Historic District in a Grave Encounter.
Enter the Nightmare for show notes, sources, transcripts, and more!
Music by Nine Inch Nails
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Overview
00:00:29
Speaker
Welcome to Nim and Nyleen's Nightmare Cottage, where we explore history, mysteries, and other tales of the macabre. I'm Nim. And I'm Nyleen. Let the nightmare begin.
00:00:47
Speaker
disturbing and mature content to follow into the nightmare if you dare. I'm getting any
Nim's Recovery and Joy of Health
00:00:57
Speaker
better. i know it's been rough.
00:00:59
Speaker
yeah
00:01:05
Speaker
Dude, I just, I don't know. I feel like I died for like a week after we came back from Galveston. And I've told you, you're not allowed to die. You're part of the plan. Dude, like, I don't know what happened. Like, I had a little tum-tum-tum-ache and it turned like, just like, do you know like when you get so nauseous?
00:01:24
Speaker
That like even the thought of something makes you gag and then that gag like it just it just gets worse. Right. Yep. It was like that. And then so I couldn't take any of my medications for like a whole day.
00:01:38
Speaker
and then so the next day i had a migraine because I couldn't take my medications. So then I got nauseous because of that. So like I couldn't eat for like four days. Like I kept trying to eat and it was not working.
00:01:50
Speaker
I feel much better now. My throat kind of feels a little raw from like, let's not get too graphic here. But, you know. But, yeah. Other than that, like, ah dude, do you know how good it feels to not have an upset stomach?
00:02:04
Speaker
The relief of like when you're feeling really shitty in any way, shape or form for like more than a second and it stays that way and it stays that way. The thought of just feeling normal yeah is like the only thing in the world you want. Exactly. Yeah. Yes. And then when you do, you're like, oh, my gosh, I forgot what it was like to like not for this to not suck.
00:02:27
Speaker
Yeah, no, I definitely get
Nyleen's WoW Nostalgia and Play
00:02:31
Speaker
that. I definitely get that. Yeah. But how are you? I'm all right. I'm a little i hesitate to even say anything because I'm kind of embarrassed by it. But i know no, Don't do that. Well, I told you already about this, but I have such feelings about it.
00:02:49
Speaker
My monkey got me playing World of Warcraft again. ah you bitch. yeah and it's And it's World of Warcraft classic. So it's like, anyways, it's been this whole thing. so I'm never going to see you again. no no, no. You will because I now have boundaries in my life. I did not have boundaries when I played before. like It was absolutely, definitely a problem before.
00:03:08
Speaker
But I have no problem. Like after I've done two quests, I'm like, okay, I've really, I've got to be asleep in two hours. So I've got to stop. So I have no problems with that. That's not a problem. But what is a problem is that I'm playing with him because he's playing with these people that he likes to play with. But it's it's his gaming group that he plays with, and that's what they're playing. He finally gave in because he was the one, he was the reason we stopped playing back in the day. and We played for years and years. Anybody who's played World of Warcraft, you know. get your group, yeah. And you probably, if you don't know, you probably had somebody close to you that... That was a flick. You or someone you know has been affected by a World of Warcraft. Right. So any of you who do know, know that so many of us are either very truly, there's two factions. There's the alliance, which is your human, blue, boring side. And then you have the horde, which is where you have the orcs and the trolls and tauren and like really cool things. And, you know, their colors are red and black and they're just, they're way cooler. Anyways. Yeah.
00:04:07
Speaker
Bet you can't tell what side I'm on. Anyway, so these people he's playing with, her but they're playing the side that we don't play. And i played Horde for so many years. That I have this visceral reaction.
00:04:18
Speaker
And I, in the middle, i like, you know how you were always telling me when your dogs are barking and stuff is going awry, you say, I hate this place. Yeah. I am constantly saying, I hate this place every time I'm anywhere. I know. And it's like, I'm in my forties. am an adult. This does not matter. And this is not real, but I have these like visceral, like I hate it. No, but I feel like I've gotten to a point now, too, like that I was definitely not in my 20s. Like, I'm definitely in a good place. But it was one of those things where I just remember my 20s. Like, I'm just I'm not spending that time anymore.
00:04:52
Speaker
It's like it's not worth my time. If it's if it's gonna if it's gonna like yuck my yum, I'm not feeling it. No, I'm not. I'm not going to be. Oh, no, I'm not going to feel inconvenienced. Oh, for sure. It's definitely um the only reason I'm actually. Oh, to do it with friends, though, I would probably.
00:05:07
Speaker
I'm it's a cozy game now. It's not. Yeah. Like for me, because it's nostalgic and there's no stakes. There's no stakes in this game. If you die, it's whatever you show up. There's no stakes. What do you eat?
00:05:20
Speaker
Well, actually, there are stakes and the whole cooking thing and whatever. But it doesn't matter. The only reason I actually brought this up, because I was actually even embarrassed to say anything about it because, you know, whatever.
00:05:31
Speaker
But because I'm having to play Alliance, one of the races that they have is called Draenei. And they're kind of like a a goat race or whatever. So he has this character named Krampus. Of course he does. Of course he does. Because he is Krampus. So I made mage.
00:05:50
Speaker
No, who is, of course, as if you've been listening, line if yes, yeah, she's our and people can compare her to ah being a female version of Krampus, which is incorrect. And if you want to know how, go back and listen to that episode.
00:06:03
Speaker
But dang, she said, um we already talked about this. We did. I'm not going to waste your time with it again. Go back and listen. But so I made her mage. So she has all of these stories about like spinning yarn, like spinning threads and and things like that. So I made her, you can have two professions in World Warcraft. So I made her a tailor. She's also known for slitting open bellies and stuff. So I made her second profession a skinner. So I've got Perkta, a goat, who she's also associated with goats.
00:06:30
Speaker
She is a goat who does magic. is a tailor and skins things. So I made her as folk. Oh, and the guild that he was in, because he just like joined this guild yeah and that invited him randomly, is called Folktales. yeah I love all of this. It is very cozy. The only reason I even wanted to bring it up is because I've got Perkta running around with Krampus and we're both goats and it's very folklore-y and dumb and nerdy. So there you go. love that.
Galveston Travel Tales with a Toddler
00:07:06
Speaker
So we went on a trip together. It almost didn't happen. Yeah. It almost didn't happen. so many reasons. For so many reasons. Like in a couple of those reasons, we'd planned. We'd planned to do this trip. Yes. We paid for the place to stay. We we had it all figured out and lined up. And the day before we left, the day or the day before that, before we left,
00:07:27
Speaker
Monkey broke a fucking tooth. Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. Right. So we had to like emergency get that looked at and we're able to get it in in time. But then the day before we were going to leave. Yeah, that happened on like a Friday. You're right. And we left on a Monday. Yeah. And he. Yeah. that They couldn't see him until Monday. Right. yeah That's right.
00:07:47
Speaker
Right. It was right before we left. God. Yes. That holds it. It feels like 10 years ago. Okay, so the other thing that happened, though, is the day before we left on a Sunday, and it was strangely hot that day, we noticed the air conditioner wasn't working. Oh, and yeah, i forgot your AC. What happened with that? It was a power issue or something. I don't know what it ended up being, but he was able to it was luckily where we bought it from was one of those places that you can get dispatch on the weekends. Oh, fancy.
00:08:21
Speaker
ah But they got somebody out first thing in the morning that, you know, they couldn't do anything about it. Oh. At 8. They got here at 8. I had wanted to leave. I was hoping to leave the house by 10. They got here originally at 8.
00:08:34
Speaker
They couldn't do anything about so they sent to an electrician. The electrician came at 10 and fixed it, and we were on the road by 1030. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, you still made it there, like, shortly after us. Right. I was not traveling with a four-year-old. Yes. It was fascinating.
00:08:52
Speaker
um Honestly, it was better than because, I mean, we went to Pennsylvania with him and that was i mean, it's where're we're in the South, like we're in Texas. So, I mean, the drive to Pennsylvania was um think like 17 hours or something like that.
00:09:07
Speaker
And it was fantastic. But, you know, so this was actually like so fast and so nice. But of course this was a ah ah pretty short one. But. It was still one of those where like every hour he wanted to go pee.
00:09:22
Speaker
Every hour he wanted to go pee. He wanted to stop. He definitely wanted to go to Bucky's. Well, you can't drive through Texas without stopping at Bucky's. It's like the law. Yeah. And then he got really upset because he got spoiled when he was in Pennsylvania.
00:09:36
Speaker
not in Pennsylvania, but we were on our way back to Texas from Pennsylvania One of the Bucky's that we stopped at had an actual like mascot in it. Like a guy dressed in a Bucky's costume. ah And so he got spoiled by that. So now he thinks that happens every time he goes to Bucky's. So he like makes us wander around the whole store looking for Bucky. That is the saddest thing because you know you're not going to find him. I know. It's so sad. It's so, so sad.
00:10:07
Speaker
There was a point to this. apologize. apologize. You were just talking about traveling with a four-year-old like this and how it was different. Yeah. But I mean, I'm sure your your travel was much more peaceful. Oh, yeah. Monkey fell asleep. I offered to drive because driving stresses him out and I actually enjoy it. It's one of those like survival things now that I have this long-ass commute to work. Yeah. um i I used to hate driving. Now I actually enjoy it. I enjoy being in the car. And because he was sleeping the whole time, I could just listen to my audio book. Yeah.
00:10:34
Speaker
And but i would fall asleep. I would fall asleep. ah he did and um but i know i i can because as as long as it's like an engaging story and it
Galveston's Historical Significance and Personal Ties
00:10:44
Speaker
was a i mean fuck it we'll do it as a bonus nightmare feel but it's um autumn springs retirement home massacre god i know it's like it's a slasher mystery with old people and in return like ptsd nightmares of like being murdered oh so it was such a great book though so anyways i You're going to make Monkey have Freddy Krueger in his dreams. Eh, he's, you know how I say I'm the I want to believe, but I don't until there's evidence. Oh, yeah. He doesn't have any interest in believing. He is like the most. He had the hat band experience. Yes, I know. But that is a scientifically explained thing. Hey, electricity used to be magic.
00:11:23
Speaker
Electricity was electricity. We just didn't know what it was. It's still magic. i don't make me I still don't believe electricity is real. Don't make me have. I don't like being on the side of the argument. I want to be as whimsical and stuff. But when you challenge me on it, I have to argue. So don't challenge me.
00:11:40
Speaker
i am the challenger. damn Anyways, so we went on this trip to Galveston. And I mean, I guess what was the main point for you? Because I feel like you and I both like obviously we had the podcast as as our one of our main focuses. But yeah.
00:11:56
Speaker
Well, I mean, obviously, I'm going to consider how I can find a spooky travel or a grave encounter or both out of any trip I ever take for the rest of my life. yeah So, obviously, that's a part of it. But that's just like, what what how am I going to like take that nugget out of it, right? But um no, my whole point was that you asked me if I would join y'all, asked us if we would join y'all. And...
00:12:22
Speaker
While there's almost always like a very clear reason why we can't, there wasn't. And i wanted to take that chance for us to do that. Like we've been besties forever and we've never. Forever.
00:12:33
Speaker
Have we ever gone on a trip together? Yeah. We went to Houston. Well, you and i you but but like with the guys, we haven't done like we you. Never with the four of us or even, yeah, not all of us. Right. So um I will also I do want to say that something I've noticed is that when somebody goes on a trip or has an experience, the thing that they keep repeating when people ask them how their trip was tends to kind of tell you what their favorite part was. Yeah. um And.
00:13:01
Speaker
I've been telling everybody that it was the first time I've been on a trip with a toddler. yeah. Yeah. He had so much fun with you. I had so much fun. Okay. First of all, anybody who has not been chosen by a toddler, it's a lot like being chosen by a cat. Guys, it's so crap because this is the first time that I have been the like the I'm I'm I'm mom. So I'm bestie. Like I have been bestie. Like he is he is my buddy.
00:13:28
Speaker
But apparently on this trip, like, forget me. Like, I didn't know. Like, he wanted nothing to do with me. I was very delighted by that. ah He would only let me buckle him in He wanted to hold my hand when we were going to places. It was pretty much the greatest. And because, like, this kid's really cool. You guys don't even know.
00:13:49
Speaker
I mean, he's just so sweet and really cool. And he's just a lot. He's very sassy, but he's a lot of fun. yeah He's just fun. And you know that's something I've always loved about both you and Ace is that you just as people are fun. And he definitely got that. Aw, yay. Yeah, i hope so. I really want
Quirky Historic Cottage Stay
00:14:06
Speaker
him to have a sense of adventure and whimsy but like still be rooted in reality yeah I know it's a tough balance yeah but yeah so I mean that was a lot of fun and and the place we stayed was so awesome it was so cute it was a very whole that okay it was like a nightmare in itself in a way but like in a good way so like
00:14:30
Speaker
For me, it kind of, it was really cool because like we had the the downstairs and it had a clawfoot tub. ah And it really looked like maybe, you know, they had like really like authentic kind of fixtures and stuff.
00:14:46
Speaker
The problem was that thing is so tall and the floors are wood. Like it literally felt like we were having to like climb in and out of it. Like Ace fell at one point trying to get out of it because it's so high up. Like you have to like do a high kick to get over it. I actually didn't even look at it. And the lip is, of course,
00:15:07
Speaker
out like this. right So you're having to like really like climb in climb in But I mean, it was so beautiful. it was right post close walk to the beach, which I mean, it was kind of cold. So we're not trying to get in, but it was just fun to be close. I'm going to put a hilarious counter story to your tub experience because we had the upstairs. Oh my gosh. ah The upstairs bathroom looked like something at a hostel. It really did. It looked scary for a second. It looked really scary. But the reason it looked scary is because The shower is in like kind of this hallway, but it's like a big ass shower that looks like a hallway and it's all tiled. So it looks like. Like it's a room. It's where you would murder somebody, right? Because it's got a ample room and a floor drain. White, like, but it's like floor to ceiling.
00:15:52
Speaker
The whole thing is the same tile and just white tile. Right. And like peaked because it's at the top of the house and it's a Victorian. and So it's yeah like that. Yeah. Like it was just scary in the dark, I guess. I don't know. It just looked like a scary room. It absolutely looked creepy as hell. But the water pressure was amazing and it stayed hot no matter if you guys had already taken 900 showers somehow. It's still I don't know. It was great. I had a great stay at that place. Yeah. No, I did, too. Like I i slept great. It was really a fun experience. It was so, so fun.
00:16:23
Speaker
We did end up actually walking around the town and the city because we wanted to really, the whole point of like getting out and out there was just to kind of see the history. i know that you had mentioned that. I don't know how much time you actually spent out there, but I know that you said that your dad spent some time out there. Yeah, my dad, it was actually my dad's favorite place.
00:16:45
Speaker
We didn't do trips when I was little, um aside to like family stuff. But I remember in high school, maybe late middle school, a couple of times he took us out to Galveston and because he loves two things more than anything in the world, and that's fishing and history. Oh, I love fishing. You're right. And there is and there is you know more of that than anybody can handle in Galveston. So he did end up moving there and was able to spend the last few years of his life living in a place where he could walk out into his back dock and fish. Yeah. so And that was the cool, that was like just the geography. i don't know if it's geography or topography. Well, we're actually going to talk about oh nice a little of all of that. Yeah. I have had ties to Galveston. My my family, my dad's whole, my whole dad's side of the family is, you know, a Houston Galveston. Well, Houston really based. And i had been there when I went. I was a teenager. I didn't care about anything, but I've been several times since. And it's a pretty great place. I enjoy it. They've got ah so many things that we didn't even have time to glance or think about. it yeah
00:17:47
Speaker
So it's a good place to visit. enjoy it. So, i brought you know, you you picked a good place as far as making it a really easy thing to do. I've been wanting to go and it was it wasn't too far away. So if you guys have any thoughts of like, you know, places, you know, closest to Texas, you know, that maybe we should go and visit somewhere off the beaten path. Please don't give us a random coordinate. We will not go there. That sounds scary. But, you know, places like a city that has some really good history that and we should visit or look into. Please let us know.
00:18:19
Speaker
Oh, nightmare cottage at gmail.com. Sorry. Uh, but yeah. Um, had you been before? Had you been to Kelviston before? No, never. First time. Okay. Right on. Right on. What was your favorite part?
00:18:31
Speaker
I mean, honestly, the favorite part was like the, the company and like, you know, being able to like, Bash is for. So, you know, this kind of thing is exciting. It doesn't take much to like, you know, set him off and I'm not set him off, but like, you know, excite him and make him crash out. Exactly. Make him crash out. Yes. Oh, she she just kept saying that I'm going to crash out. But he he like says it like he thinks it's funny. Like the day that we left, I think he learned he heard you say that yeah were going to crash out. And then that was his phrase the whole trip. He's to crash out. And it was the. cut
00:19:06
Speaker
Yes. Honestly, it was a ah nice, inexpensive little family vacay. Like, don't get me wrong. I'm not looking at like crystal beaches and crystal waters, but like it's a fun little town. Like it it had really good vibes, especially if you go on a weekend.
00:19:23
Speaker
But it has a lot of really great history. And that's our big thing is like we really like going to places that have like either like a really cool geography or geology know, history.
00:19:35
Speaker
um you know history Yeah. And this place is like it's so if it feels so unassuming, you think, because it's, you know, at least today, it's not really like a major city even in the state of Texas. Oh, yeah. It used to be known as a big party town, right? I'm definitely going to get into that, but it's it's been quite a bit more than it is
Exploration of Rosenberg Library
00:19:54
Speaker
now. But it's had so much.
00:19:58
Speaker
dark or twisted or interesting bits of its history that when you were like, let's go to Galveston, I'm like, oh, I could probably do something on. And then my brain was like this and this and this and this and this and this. And I got overwhelmed. But yeah because there's just so many cool things. So that is also to say that I'm not going to we're going to obviously we're doing a spooky travels episode. um I'm not going to cover even the tip of the iceberg here. yeah um Like it's it's as with everything. I mean, yeah, always. I know. i just I want to tell everybody absolutely everything about everything. Just let me just plug my brain into yours and we'll just download the. No, that would be horrible. Could you imagine? No, God, no. Stay out in my head.
00:20:47
Speaker
So part of why I ended up choosing, because like I said, there's a billion things about Galveston that would fit in our our podcast. Oh, yeah. But one of the reasons I chose what I chose was our visit to the Rosenberg Library, which is their main library.
00:21:03
Speaker
Holy crap. I loved that library. That was amazing. It was so beautiful. And I believe it has like an inscription on the side of that I think it's the first or the oldest library in Texas.
00:21:18
Speaker
I would believe like currently standing. Let me see. um Oldest continuously operating public library in the state of Texas, serving as a community hub museum and historical archive since 1904.
00:21:34
Speaker
And it's really cool. We walked in and they were having actually like they were doing one of their book sales or whatever. So they had like books, boxes upon boxes of books just in the middle of everything. and And but we kind of just like walked past all that and then went upstairs to the museum. Yeah. It had this like you could just go up there and look at all of this really cool old stuff.
00:21:52
Speaker
And ah they had like um ah like like stuff in and they had art on the walls and they had like stuff in cases It was actually really cool. I'll put some stuff up about that. There's actually an episode I might have to do one day about one of these, but that's for another day. Yeah. A lot of the stuff in that part of the the main part of the museum, there was ah obviously art and stuff. There's a lot of focus on their nautical history, which is huge for Galveston, obviously, because it was a major port city. ah Still is, but it was like the major port city. But while we were up there looking through at the museum, we also stumbled upon their, it their rare book collection? Yes.
00:22:29
Speaker
And now I need to go to every single library I can and like see if I can look at their rare books. um Because it's not necessarily like what what you would think of like, you know, just... It's not like the restricted book section or anything like that. It's it's just...
00:22:42
Speaker
Things that things you can't check out, but you can pull down and look at and write things down and really cool stuff. Yes. A lot of really cool stuff. One of my favorite things that I actually i took a picture of it. I'm going to see if I can find it. But it was basically this guy found his great great grandmother's journal and they.
00:23:02
Speaker
had it like the The back of it was the photocopy of it, but the front, the the first half of it was a transcription of her entire journal. She was a really fascinating person. and it was She was just an everyday whatever, right? But she fought for women's suffrage and you know she had things to do with a lot of the historical things that happened in Galveston and she had things to say about all of it. And it was like 50 years worth of her life and some of it was just like... You know I went and I got these things from the grocery store. Yeah. And what was life like during that time? Yeah. I love that. I love just like a good.
00:23:32
Speaker
Like mundane, but with sprinkles of, you know, the things that make life. Right. And so it was and that was really a cool find. Yeah. Do you remember anything cool you found specifically in the rare find or in the rare? I mean, there were so many books. There were so many books. I was looking at and a lot of the stuff with the cemetery, which we'll talk about more later. um Just because it was it's such an old, old cemetery and it has so much history. It talked a lot about um the great flood of 18 1900 1900, which we are.
00:24:04
Speaker
I'm assuming you're probably going to talk a lot about today. I am actually. that is what we're talking
Recounting the 1900 Galveston Storm
00:24:09
Speaker
about today. Yeah. Yeah. So i won't to go into that, but just a lot of it's so interesting because you think of these catastrophes, right? And you think of all the like pre-planning we do ahead of time insurance wise, or like even gathering stuff, you know, together or the sandbagging or like building walls, whatever, like all that stuff we do now. I mean,
00:24:33
Speaker
We didn't have all of that in the nineteen hundred That's what led us to where we are now. And so amount of... You want to know the shit thing, though? Those technologies existed, but they didn't think they needed them.
00:24:44
Speaker
Because of... There was this guy who... His name is Isaac Klein. He was this major meteorologist that also was the director of the Galveston Weather Service. And he had, in 1891, so nine years before this big hurricane destroyed the fucking city, spoiler alert...
00:25:00
Speaker
He published this article saying that what we know about hurricanes now tells us this. And he like says this really smart sounding thing about trajectory of storms and how they will originate in the South Atlantic. And then they'll come up and then they hook northeast and go to Florida. And if something happens and it does go to Texas, it's going to dissipate. Yeah.
00:25:22
Speaker
Because of the landmass and that it should. Right. Yeah. But the problem with that is that not 10 years earlier, or no, I guess it was 20 and 30 years earlier, there was another port town called Indianola that was kind of the rival port town to Galveston that got wiped out first in the 1870s, completely wiped out, even though they were this prominent port town. They did rebuild. And then 10 years later, before they like got to glory or whatever, they got completely wiped out again, like completely wiped off of the map. that it just And they rebuild and then they get wiped. and they re No, it was that they done that was it oh for this place. That was it because there was not the infrastructure everybody took off. it was They were just done. And that had happened in the 1870s was the second time. and Can you imagine how much is buried in that mud?
00:26:10
Speaker
Dude. like It would be amazing to do a study of that. I'll put some of our our pictures, especially from the cemetery. That's the history. I mean, those were the people that lived here during that time. There are graves there from the late 1800s, early 1900s, or memorializing people from that period. It's really amazing the things that you can find, you know, looking at everyday people. And, you know, there were people that came here from all kinds of places, which, and think of the the things that they brought with them, you know, when they migrated over here. So imagine the the treasure trove of information and knowledge and just history that was lost in these places.
00:26:49
Speaker
really great catastrophic floods where people were getting wiped out and the water was reclaiming everything. When I was researching this, I had a Library of Alexandria kind of feeling yeah because we're not promoting this, obviously, but i we have talked about using newspapers.com all the time, right?
00:27:07
Speaker
So I love me an old newspaper article. oh yeah But you know what got wiped out in that storm? the archives. Oh, wow. Yeah, i didn't even think about that. So there was nothing to digitize. Yes. So, I mean, i believe there are some ah outliers from people who had copies of things, but there are not, know, you don't get the microfiche situation with the 1900 Galveston. But we're, yeah, I mean, this is kind of spoiler alert, but everything gets obliterated. So, and that includes the historical records of, of the newspapers, except for any articles that were syndicated to other, other things.
00:27:40
Speaker
Part of the library experience in their museum was they had this whole room that had a documentary rolling that you could, you know, start at any time. And it was like this 45 minute long documentary about the great flood of 1900 and how Galveston went through that. And man, the great documentary, you cannot find that online. you have to go to the Rosenberg Library to watch it so And it's really cool, actually. It was a very cool watch. Yeah, it was really interesting. I didn't find any other videos, like good documentaries. Not that there's not any other good documentaries. I didn't find any other good documentaries. I did find a great Texas history podcast called Wise About Texas that had just the richest stories because this guy's family is deeply entrenched in Texas history and and he he's experienced a lot of things. But he has this like his whole thing is a Texas history podcast. And this is like just an episode about that linked in the show notes. And there's like pictures and stuff that flash in the background, but it's not a video. But those pictures are worth looking at.
00:28:37
Speaker
So I guess I'll go ahead and get into it. A bit of a brief origin story to kind of paint a picture of Galveston before all of the shit we're about to talk about. So the first European settlement on the island was actually established by a French pirate, Louis-Michel Ori. He was aligned with Mexican revolutionaries seeking independence from Spain.
00:28:56
Speaker
While he was away on a campaign against Spain in 1817, famed pirate Jean Lefis took over the settlement, naming it Campeche and ruling over his so-called kingdom. He was partially acting as a spy for the Spanish government, but he saw this as an opportunity to build his empire.
00:29:12
Speaker
Galveston became a smuggler's haven and was quite wealthy. This lasted for about four years before the U.S. Navy forced him out after one of his privateers targeted a U.S. ship. Yeah. He burned everything to the ground because he he can't have it. Nobody else can.
00:29:26
Speaker
And he sailed off to his next adventure. Oh. um now quick So he just, he was like, F this. I'm going to go pirate elsewhere. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And I will say there was a bit of a pirate theme, but you can, like there used to be more of a pirate. um So I feel like it really depends on the time of year we're off Yeah. Maybe we were off season. Right. Because they have like this whole thing that y'all didn't even see. They have like Dickens on the Strand, which they do this whole. Dickens.
00:29:50
Speaker
sorry Where they do this whole everybody dresses up in Dickensian clothing and and they decorate all the shops and there's actors everywhere. that's kind of cool. Yeah, they do this whole thing. and I'm not doing it justice because I don't remember the details, but y'all can look that up. it was It's something that they do. and It's real. And they're famous for it.
00:30:09
Speaker
But i'm I'm assuming that we probably weren't at prime pirate time as well. That feels like a summertime. I don't know. I will say a quick note that Jean Lafayette was actually a piece of shit. He was a slave trader and a human trafficker.
00:30:22
Speaker
Pirate stories can feel fun and romantic, but many were truly dark and terrible people. Now, you say that. Yes. But honestly, i did end up getting that book and...
00:30:33
Speaker
Yes, there were some that were actually good people that were doing their thing and they were labeled wrong by the law or whatever. Like, ah I know there's good, good people stories, but there is a lot of pieces of shit. Oh, yes. One hundred percent. Yeah. Yeah. I just I mean, but there's pieces of shit everywhere.
00:30:46
Speaker
That's all I'm saying. I just don't want to label all pirates as pieces of shit. If you identify as a pirate, we don't want you to feel like a piece of shit because we don't think you're a piece of shit. Yeah, that's true. Steve, the pirates. Yeah, that's what I'm trying to say.
00:30:59
Speaker
I also was not saying that all pirates, hashtag not all pirates, but I also think it's important to also know the real history and just be aware.
00:31:11
Speaker
Also, everybody should know all the history because it's neat. All knowledge is worth having. Because knowledge is power. Without yelling G.I. Joe, what do I do? um But I'm sure one of us will probably cover more about pirates at some point. so Always. yeah So anyways, the island continued to be a prime destination for immigration, shipping, and military strategy even after the pirates took off.
00:31:35
Speaker
a Big area for that. So a lot of port cities grew to extreme prominence and wealth. like you You see that especially in the Victorian times and and I guess maybe from the 1700s on because everything's growing up and brand new and and when you're the the big shiny port town you have all the money. Yeah.
00:31:53
Speaker
But I mean, it was almost like another Alice. Yes, that was actually, it was like that before the storm even, but after the storm, they really increased their efforts as as a way to kind of build the population back and it worked. And it was very much the Ellis Island of the West.
00:32:13
Speaker
The reason it's is such a valuable port is because the bay was really deep and so ships could come in safely without having to do anything big and crazy and different. Yes. So that made it a strategic naval position and it became one of the most prominent shipping ports in the country. I think it's also its connection to the major rivers, right? Because I think the Trinity is right there, which ends up connecting and Louisiana is right there as well. So in New Orleans was more or less once once Indianola was out of the picture was the other rival port at that point.
00:32:44
Speaker
By the late 1800s, Galveston was the third wealthiest city in the country and the the wealthiest city in in Texas. Massive ornate buildings shot up all over the island and the population boomed to almost 40,000, which the island not huge. So 40,000 is bustly place. Mm-hmm.
00:33:00
Speaker
So billie this time, Texas was part of the U.S. We're past the Civil War, which I didn't realize that battles happened that far south, but there was a Battle of Galveston. And that makes sense because now I know about the naval position, which I like i I knew it was like I know. But when you see it in person, it is very i had seen it in person and I knew. But but I was like, yeah, of course, it's next to water. They're going to store ships here, whatever. You know, like I i didn't really think about the militariness of it because I was never in interested in that. So it was so fascinating. I didn't. The more you know.
00:33:29
Speaker
Even though it had already been doing well for itself pretty consistently for almost a century, Galveston was now operating at peak booming port city status. Prosperity, luxury, and opulence were everywhere and obvious. High-level business trading, scientific and medical advancement, and elite military training were just everyday trappings of the island.
Galveston's Economic Rise and Fall
00:33:48
Speaker
The city was prominent internationally because of its shipping status, and there was nothing but prosperity. Mm-hmm.
00:33:55
Speaker
At this point, they had electricity and telephones, and this is like we're talking late 1800s. Yes, that existed, but only in yeah the busiest of areas. They had strong buildings, better roads, and everything was just awesome.
00:34:09
Speaker
They even had super advanced weather service building that we talked about and top-of-the-line meteorological instruments and staff, as Mr. Isaac Klein, as we mentioned before. So all of this to build up this sense of untouchability.
00:34:22
Speaker
Everything was amazing. What could go wrong? Our chief weather guy said that we are not going to get... don't know. Was he a weather guy or a meteorologist? Because they're different. He was a meteorologist. He was definitely a meteorologist. He was a weather scientist. He was, yes. And one of the most prominent ones in the country, let alone the state. So he was considered...
00:34:43
Speaker
to be one of the foremost experts on the subject, period. So it made sense to trust what he said. So why would we be worried about this? So I'll tell you. um Let me tell you. yes Sorry, everybody. Okay, guys, this one's, I mean, I know we always do this. This is some really dark shit and it's really sad and I'm sorry.
00:35:05
Speaker
On September 8th, 1900, the city of Galveston endured the deadliest storm in the United States history to date. To date, still to this day. So bigger than Katrina because Katrina was huge for our.
00:35:19
Speaker
More deadly than Katrina. wow. Yeah. Like in volume or in people? People. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's staggering. um The Great Storm of 1900 was a hurricane that decimated the island, destroying most of the structures and killing somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people, which that unknown disparity is nightmarish enough on its own. Yeah.
00:35:44
Speaker
The day started normally enough. It looked like it would be stormy, but this is normal for island life. There was a known hurricane developing out in the Gulf, but as I mentioned, Isaac Klein had said there wasn't really a worry of that hitting us, and if it does, it will be very chill.
00:35:59
Speaker
So when the massive waves started coming in, people just thought it was wild and fun. They were like, surf time! Yeah, they were playing in the water. and They were watching these crazy high tides coming in, and they just thought it was novel and delightful, like a snow day, but with floods, I guess. I don't. I mean, you don't see it often. Yes. And keep in mind, you know, a lot of these people, like we had mentioned, have migrated from other areas. So.
00:36:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah. One hundred percent. Like, even though these things, these devastating things happen not super far away just 10, 20 years ago, nobody there had any idea what it was like to go through that kind of a thing.
00:36:33
Speaker
So as the day progressed, the wind was really picking up. early in the noonish times, there were reports of the anemometer on the weather service building of 30 mile per hour, which to me, that's already extraordinarily intense. When I start to see half of that, I start worrying about the old trees in my neighborhood. like Oh, yeah.
00:36:48
Speaker
And even that day we were there, it was very, one of the days we were there, it was very windy. Yeah, the day we went to the beach, it was very windy. And then there ended up being clouds that had rolled in. And and we were it's like we were in a cloud. It was crazy to see like nothing in front of you. And that's what I kind of imagine it's it being. Like you you hardly see what's coming for you. Exactly. Yeah.
00:37:10
Speaker
So, yeah, it was already pretty severe. But the day was still going forward. People went to work um and were like, if it gets super bad, I'll go home. Why why make a big deal out of nothing? Why you freak out? There's no reason for that.
00:37:22
Speaker
So there's this journal that was found at the medical school written by a nurse whose name was unfortunately lost to the storm. The school was on the bay side of the island, generally figured to be completely safe.
00:37:35
Speaker
Yeah, because it's almost landlocked. Yeah, it's not, but it feels like it is, you know? It's it's it's right there. It's fine. Her morning entry talked about how the water was rising so quickly and how she was trying to comfort the other nurses.
00:37:50
Speaker
Her entry at noon stated that the bay was in a torrent and she could see flames in the distance. Oh. Her last entry around 3 p.m. said she was losing hope and that darkness was falling over the island.
00:38:00
Speaker
Gosh, how terrifying, like how terrifying would that be? I've never been in rising waters. I couldn't imagine that's like my worst nightmare. Yeah, the part that most people realize that everything was fucked was when that the water from the bay and the water from the gulf met in the middle. That's when everybody realized, okay, yeah this is not this is not our normal storm. this is Everything is going really horribly wrong right now.
00:38:25
Speaker
So they don't have electricity. They don't have anything. The water is rising rapidly fast. At one point, there's reports from multiple places that the water rose four feet in a matter of seconds, like real fast. We'll never know how strong the winds are. the anemometer that was talking about 30 miles an hour earlier recorded 100 miles an hour before it was ripped from the Weather Service building.
00:38:46
Speaker
Now, the Weather Service building is one of the few structures that did survive the storm. So that's still there. the The highest elevation point on the island was nine feet. And the waters. On the whole island. Yes. I forgot about that. No, no. that that's That's the normal elevation of the the the highest peak of the island is nine feet. Yeah. The water got to 15. Oh, my gosh. Yeah.
00:39:07
Speaker
so So the island is normally nine feet above sea level. At its peak. At its peak. And it got to 15 feet above sea level at its peak. Right. But most of it is below that nine feet. Like that's like. yeah it's like in a valley. Exactly. Or at least it's flat. It's mostly flat or was. And we'll talk about that too.
00:39:27
Speaker
So there were a few very sturdy structures with smart, fast thinking and lucky people that adapted, bunkered down and tried to take in as many people as possible. Is it bunker down or hunkered down? Are you bunkering or hunkering?
00:39:41
Speaker
I'm going to argue you you can say it either way. And I'm going to leave it. You could let us know at. Nightmare Cottage at gmail.com. But yeah, so people were trying to save people that were outside. and I found an account that said that the Tremont Hotel managed to shelter at least 8,000 people from the storm. And like everybody that was in there survived. Oh, wow.
00:40:06
Speaker
Unfortunately, there were so many people who were not fortunate enough to be in one of those safe havens. One of the most heartbreaking stories I came across was from St. Mary's Orphan Asylum. Oh my gosh.
00:40:17
Speaker
Ten nuns were caring for 93 children through the storm. They moved everyone to the newer, sturdier part of the orphanage and were singing to the kids to soothe them through the storm. As it became clear that the building was coming down, each nun tied several children to her waist with clothesline to help keep everyone together. oh my gosh.
00:40:37
Speaker
When they were found, only three of the children had made it and each of the nuns had perished. Oh, that's horrible. So for anybody who is visiting, um the site of that orphanage can be visited by going to the local Walmart.
00:40:54
Speaker
Which in my Ghosts of Galveston book, which was my I always get ah a ghosty book, souve you know, the haunted history of a city's book is the souvenir. That's why their Walmart is haunted. I want you all to remember how she scoffed at me trying to get her to envision what it was like to be around someone who's possessed. okay And then remember that she also really, really likes to hear all the ghost stories. So don't tell me you don't like ghost stories, but then you do like ghost stories, but you don't. Here's the thing.
00:41:29
Speaker
I don't believe in ghost stories, but I like them. I don't know what else to say. I would love to experience any of these these things. I very, very much want evidence. and You've never experienced something you couldn't explain?
00:41:46
Speaker
Not that felt ghosty. I don't know what to tell you. i don't know how to answer that question. going to haunt you so hard. I hope so. and Well, I don't want you to die.
00:41:58
Speaker
Dang, you heard it here first. She said, I hope so. Bitch. I am the editor of this podcast. We'll never see the light of day. Did you know there's new He-Man movie?
00:42:11
Speaker
Yeah, I saw. Oh, so excited. It looks good. It looks cute. I haven't looked at anything on it because I've seen Hollywood shit on my childhood far too many times. And i just like. Well, now I have a child and I have to create a new adventure for him. So I i just need to be positive.
00:42:29
Speaker
I'll let the nerds on the internet tell me if I should be angry. Let us know nerds. but Nerds unite. Yes. we We pushed up our glasses. We did both actually.
00:42:41
Speaker
and kind of heard a little bit. These are brand new.
00:42:46
Speaker
Oh, I'm so sorry. it's just like we have to be stupid because that was really sad.
00:42:54
Speaker
Some of the accounts from those that did survive depict some very bleak situations also. Wood frame houses were being washed off their foundations and ripped apart by the muddy torrent. oh yeah, because we build with wood.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah, and they're like they're wood frame houses, so they don't like they come apart altogether. Yeah. People tried to climb out from whatever opening was at the top when it would fall over and try to find something solid or floating to hang on to, like another roof or something that had torn off another building. Yes, they could Titanic it. Exactly.
00:43:27
Speaker
Poor Jack. The wind was flinging debris like bullets and cannonballs, adding to the already impossible task of trying to not fucking drown. So, like, projectiles are flying at you at enormous rates. Mm-hmm.
00:43:43
Speaker
Like we're talking like they had ah like slate shingles were really popular buildings real at the time. And those are fucking sharp. Yeah. So those are just flying through. Like, say you got out.
00:43:55
Speaker
Say you found a safe place to be. You might get your head chopped off by a fucking. Roof tile. Yeah. Like it it's it's.
00:44:05
Speaker
Or anything else. Or anything else. Nature is scary. Dude. Very scary. The horror didn't end when the storm subsided. Through my source links in the show notes, you can see photos upon photos upon photos of fields of debris studded with a few standing structures,
00:44:24
Speaker
stacks of bodies being stored. Yeah. Like, i mean, were they they had to have them somewhere until they could deal with them. yeah And there was so many. And yeah, that's one of the big things that I remember from that movie they showed in the library, just the way they dealt with the bodies. I'm sure you're about to get into that, but it's just so tragic. It really is. They, there was no way to provide burials, like proper burials for everybody. um Some people were buried on the spot where they were found.
00:44:54
Speaker
the The children from the orphanage were among those. Men were forced at gunpoint to gather and transport the dead, and then they were paid in whiskey. And they had to stay with them until they were able to transport them.
00:45:06
Speaker
One attempt at disposal had hundreds of dead pushed out to sea on a barge to then be pushed into the ocean. But all of the bodies washed back up a few days later. They then had to resort to massive funeral pyres along the beach and throughout the city. And you can find a lot of photos of that as well.
00:45:23
Speaker
Wow. Yeah. It's like there's a Bishop's Mansion, that badass building with the metal roof. They have beautiful mansions there, guys, by the way. Yeah. Like just old houses that have been restored that are just really beautiful part of history. Yeah, I mean, before the storm, I mean, we're talking Victorians everywhere. Massive. Like, so many rich people had so many big, beautiful... So many rich people, guys. Dude, so much money went through this place.
00:45:49
Speaker
But... Oh, so there's this picture of one of those massive funeral pyres in front of that bishop's mansion, which... I don't know. is And then the, that picture from inside that pirate shop that we were in that had stacks on stacks of bodies. I mean, it's it's really, really dark.
00:46:10
Speaker
So like I said, between 6,000 and 12,000 people were lost the storm. 7,000 buildings, including half of which were but where people's homes, were completely obliterated in a matter of hours. Like the the pictures of the storm, it's like it's just boards, streets upon streets of just boards, piles and piles boards. And that's it.
00:46:29
Speaker
But somehow the resilience of the survivors persevered. There was a reported exodus of around 2,000 survivors after the storm, but the rest were determined to rebuild.
00:46:41
Speaker
Plans were made to raise the island by 17 feet and install a 10-mile seawall to protect the island from incoming storms. And they pulled it off. If you visit Galveston today, you can see all of that. they built They raised everything up and built on top of it. Yeah, how much how high did they rebuild the whole city? Because like they ended up like losing a lot of land, basically, to build everything back up. 17 feet.
00:47:04
Speaker
17 feet up at the at the seawall, right? Yes, at the seawall. And then all the way back, they graded it down right to B level. yeahp Right. and it's ah and the And the seawall is 10 miles across the island.
00:47:18
Speaker
And... Because today at work, I was actually bitching about some construction that's going on near our office that's been going on since I worked there. And it's been four or so years now and it's still going on. And I'm like, they raised the entire island of Galveston in just like two decades, like the whole thing in two decades.
00:47:39
Speaker
They can't finish this one damn thing. And I was going off to my work people and they were all looking at me like it was weird. So. I mean, but like you also have to think about all those people that were like forced to do things at gunpoint. So I'm sure rebuilding all that stuff was not fun or great or easy. No, but these people could have left and they didn't. They wanted to rebuild their home because this was their home.
00:47:59
Speaker
So Galveston never did return quite to its former international importance. Investors got nervous and pushed their sites to Houston. They were building a new seaport there. And that just was smarter from an economic standpoint. yeah you're investing big business in something, this is definitely a more sturdy way to do it.
00:48:18
Speaker
And I think Houston is one of the major ports right now. Oh, it is 100%. Yeah. And less than a year after the great storm, the massive Texas oil deposit was discovered in Beaumont, which is real close to Houston, which is, again, part of what drives the wealth of Houston. So the...
00:48:33
Speaker
the economic attention diverted from Galveston to Houston. Same thing with the, I don't know a lot about Catholicism, but i they had a diocese in Galveston and that was like the official Texas diocese. who But then after all of this, the bishop put in a request or whatever to have a like co-diocese in Houston that covers all of Texas. And so there's one in each. Oh, nice. and they like split the diocese up. Yeah, but he but he just wanted to be able to be closer to more of the people that were like, there was just more people to serve over here, but they didn't. Which you find, I mean, i appreciate that you brought that up because I will ah talk. And when whenever, whenever you finally stopped talking, I'm just kidding. But yeah, whenever, whenever we really look at the cemetery stuff, like just how, how many different nationalities of people as well as religions were and the way that people were split up, like, and because of the religion, know,
00:49:31
Speaker
And the way that burials were required for each religion at that point in time.
00:49:38
Speaker
So despite all that undeterred, the city of Galveston promoted itself for immigration, as we talked about before, and was even called the Ellis Island of the West, welcoming tens of thousands of Jewish and European settlers, which helped shape the immense cultural diversity of the area.
00:49:52
Speaker
Within a decade, the population was back to near the same levels as they were before the storm. Wow. So the dark history of the island continued as it became a haven for casinos, sex work and other salacious attractions. Yeah. Through the prohibition era until like the late 1950s.
00:50:09
Speaker
There's a lot of fucking fascinating and stories from this time. Think like Studio 54. But like as far as like fame and debauchery and all of that. But like the island, the whole island. Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:22
Speaker
Different. Yeah. It's a different debauchery than what we're seeing But since the island has primarily thrived on its tourism with beachy and historic draws, of course, as really any part of the island being a potential grave, there are many reports of hauntings throughout the island. And there are several tours available if you want various details on that. Like there's a lot of tours. I saw a lot of them were rated really highly. We didn't actually get a chance to do one. But yeah, we were kind of having fun exploring on our own. Yeah. But i' but some of the ghost tours looked really cool.
00:50:52
Speaker
They looked cute. And there was like one, a hearse one. It was just really cool. Yeah. Fun, spooky vibes. And man, just a lot of a lot of history.
Cemetery Exploration and Historical Impact
00:51:02
Speaker
The next thing on my notes is actually about the Broadway Cemetery Historic District. I am normally the one who brings us our grave encounters and I am sort of still bringing it to you because I was there. But I think Nyleen has more on this than I do this time.
00:51:16
Speaker
I thought it was really cool. you know, I always wonder how I'm going to find the cemetery I'm going to find when I'm going to a place. But when we're driving in, we drove by. oh wow. It is a very impressive cemetery. It is very large. It's like two or three city blocks large. It's huge. um And in the middle of this very densely populated area. Yeah. So I will say like people do cut through it very often. it seems to be just like a normal route.
00:51:45
Speaker
People take through the city, which is is very interesting because you do see a lot of the vibe and the culture of the people around there. Yeah. So there's a few things that led me down some some silly little rabbit holes. And so I'm just going to. Well, first. In no particular order. First, though, this was this was your first time going to a cemetery with the thought of doing. Yeah.
00:52:06
Speaker
of Of trying to, like, come back with something. just wanted to find my purpose was to just find things that like, like, not just like the the big things that were reported, just interesting little things. I don't know.
00:52:17
Speaker
I don't know. We'll get into it. So I did notice there were the separated cemeteries. so I think you had the actual numbers and separate. Yeah, there's I believe it is seven individual specific cemeteries that are divided and maintained separately, whether that's between the different religions or when they were like what their purpose was like the potter's field and things like that Exactly. So it's really interesting because that separation, you can see the separation in the different areas. like And besides being labeled for most of them, you know some of it's privately owned, some of it's publicly owned, and you can tell which is which. yes And that led to a lot of you know differences in the structure and and the flow of the different areas. Something that I will post pictures of is
00:53:05
Speaker
It's very interesting, the layout, you know, some of these graves are just on top of each other and just all over the place. So I will say something that when they raised the city, they raised it and they moved the stones up, but they did not disturb any of the bodies that were already buried. Yes. yeah So, yeah, i imagine there's a lot. And you can tell in some areas that there's just a lot built on top of a lot. Yes. It was actually just a really interesting Really beautiful historical place to go look at, like just some really beautiful graves, some sites and just nature.
00:53:41
Speaker
There were a lot of stone monuments and a lot of them had a lot of rust in them. and i And I was looking into like, you know, the whys and trying to figure out, you know, what was going on in the area. And not only like you mentioned, you know, there was a flood and a storm and there's a lot of moisture. Yes.
00:53:57
Speaker
You know, it could have been the the salty Gulf air nearby, the flooding that happened, at metal rods that are used in construction of some of the the stones. But some of the older stones, like the ones that we looked at here, yeah i found that they're probably actually made with marble.
00:54:13
Speaker
And that ah was material that was very dominant in American graves in the 19th century. because the white faces, you know, they would stay that white, but you're going to see that black patina on them, which is just, you know, the the rock breaking down.
00:54:31
Speaker
After about, yeah, a decade, the weather kind of starts pitting it a bit. um and And you'll kind of see how the inscriptions kind of start to fade away. So, yeah, that was really interesting just to see the different materials because there are a lot of different graves that you could just see.
00:54:45
Speaker
Some people really spent everything that they had and some of them didn't have much. Yeah. There were a lot of graves that had something written on them about being lost in the storm. Yes. When in particular. The evergreen section of the cemetery, which was originally the Cahill, Cahill, but it's now the evergreen section. That one was built specifically for storm victims.
00:55:09
Speaker
But yeah, so there were a lot of graves just really memorializing the storm victims. It might have just said, let's see, like some of them just said lost in the great storm of or baby Elliot or whatever. A lot of it just it's.
00:55:24
Speaker
I think that they just didn't know if these people had passed or not. So it was kind of one of those like, we don't have a body, but here's um a monument. There was a lot more stone than I expected to see, especially in Texas. I haven't really seen a lot of the big cement slabs covering the the grave.
00:55:44
Speaker
area. I got you. Like the mausoleum style and not even the mausoleum style. Like there was a whole area that was just literally on the ground. The whole face was just cement. And then there were like marble faces that had names on them.
00:56:00
Speaker
Yeah. I think that was a baby grave though. Yeah. You'll notice a lot of similarities in the Mausoleums of Louisiana. Municipality. youre Like, no, I'm going drier than that. You know, the city planning and development of Galveston and New Orleans are very similar to each other. And what you see in Galveston, including in the cemetery, is very reminiscent. Obviously not quite as grand when it comes to cemeteries. New Orleans definitely
00:56:31
Speaker
in is extra but oh yeah but still that was a really like I it was it's I haven't seen one like that yeah and it did remind me of what what like a New Orleans vibe There were open mausoleums. some that yeah I mean, you couldn't really look into them without disrupting other graves. And I wasn't trying to yeah and give myself nightmares or anything in the nightmare cottage. You know you were just trying to keep from getting haunted. I don't want to get haunted. I mean, that was me with picking that rock up I found that was real cool. And then I couldn't bear to keep it with me. So I put it on somebody's stone. Yeah, i wouldn't do that. It was in the path. That was the only reason I picked it up. So at least it belongs to somebody now. That was another thing that was really cool, which I didn't get a picture of, I don't think.
00:57:15
Speaker
There were a lot of graves that had um stones on top them. have some pictures of that in my batch. And so did you figure out the reason? I felt like there was something somewhere that explained that to me somewhere in my life.
00:57:29
Speaker
And now I can't remember what it was. But there is something to do with putting a stone on. and i I saw it on a lot of the graves. Putting rocks or small stones on headstones a significant Jewish tradition. a mitzvah or setting of the stone symbolizes love, honor, and remembrance, often serving as a lasting alternative to flowers.
00:57:50
Speaker
Stones represent the permanent enduring nature of a loved one's memory and confirm that a visitor had visited and remembered the deceased. Yeah, it was in the yeah the section that's owned by the Hebrew Benevolent Society. So that's going to be the section that's going to follow the Jewish burial rites.
00:58:06
Speaker
So that section, that's where I noticed most of the rocks on the graves. I did notice in some of the other areas. It was very interesting how the Episcopal area, though, and I do wonder if it's maybe they don't treat for like the same with same chemicals or something like that.
00:58:22
Speaker
But the Episcopal area was very interesting because there were just slugs and snails all over all of the grave. i I say giant. To me, they were giant. These are not tiny garden snails. These were like the size of like.
00:58:35
Speaker
And it was only on that side, like the Episcopal side. It was like the size of a quarter, but then thicker, right? But like they were large snails, very large snails all over all of these stones.
00:58:45
Speaker
So some other stuff. There were some really interesting names so that i actually had fun looking at. Hortense B. Heckle. I just really liked that name. Born and died on March 5th of obviously to separate years, but March 5th. And they died at the age of 83. Oh, wow. So yeah, they just died on their birthday, which is interesting. The last name. So this was a mausoleum. They were the Blech.
00:59:14
Speaker
um which I just like it because it sounds like a metal sound. yeah It was a massive memorial stone and it had multiple names ranging with the deaths ranging between 1930 and 1957. So it was just a really interesting little plot for this family that had, you know, died within 20, 30 years of each other. There was also a tiny little white stone that was tucked against the larger one, which didn't match any of the other ones. And that one was for Maurice Blick,
00:59:42
Speaker
born in 1916 and they were age 12 and that's all it says. And that was another thing that I found very, very interesting is some of these didn't necessarily have birth years or death years. Some of them just had up maybe a birth year and said aged blah, blah, blah, maybe age 12, age 13, which, you know, I do wonder maybe they didn't know what year it was or maybe they didn't keep track of that. I don't i don't know how any of that works. Another really cool name was Nicholas r Nicholas.
01:00:11
Speaker
He seemed to be a World War vet. I think it was. Oh, sorry. World War one vet. I just thought it was cool that he had the same first and last name. um Some interesting stories. So, again, it's important to understand that there are seven cemeteries here and the boundaries touch.
01:00:30
Speaker
There's that patch of children's graves that I was telling you about. It's in a pad of flake Schneider. So I have some pics that I'll put online of those. There's a lot of that mix of the old and new, some really crazy configurations we talked about, which and the reason why is the timing. And it's crazy because you'll see grave from the late, early nineteen hundreds right next to one from you know two thousand five or two thousand and six There were also some very old graves that looked freshly dug. I was going to ask if you were going to bring that up. Yes. So um if anyone knows, I actually looked online to see if there was like a way to like contact and they're like just this phone number. And I was like, I am not going to be that person who calls this cemetery and lets them know.
01:01:14
Speaker
i was hoping there was like an email. Yeah. But so Annie Ryman, she was born in 1881, died in 1949. She is in the Hebrew Benevolent Society Cemetery. There were some paw prints near her grave and her grave looked like it had been dug out.
01:01:30
Speaker
So I don't know if Annie's there anymore. Annie, are you okay? I don't know, don't know. Annie, are you are you there? There were a few graves that had that had like them born in like a different country, which was very interesting because ah like Richard Oliver Harris, born in Canterbury, England, died 1874, age 35. have a picture of a few that were proudly born in Liverpool. Yes. And and that's yeah, it's so interesting. Some Switzerland and or whatever. And it's it's so interesting. Like, that's what they have. They were born here, died this. And it's just i ah appreciate that they they still had that mark of where they came from.
01:02:11
Speaker
There was one that just had a name. Nothing else. Catherine Harris. That was it. Nothing else. No year. Nothing. There were some that just said father, mother, birth and death year. Yeah.
01:02:23
Speaker
Those are the ones that I'm just like you wonder what the circumstances were in that kind of situation. Right. Because it could really go either way. It's just lovingly. This was just mother. I don't yeah you know. ah Or she doesn't deserve to have her name memorized in time. Which way was it? Yes. Correct. Yeah. So there was also a really cool one that I'll post online. Yeah. The J. Grasso Family Mausoleum. It's a prominent family in Galveston. In the Galveston area, they dated back to 1906 when Joseph Grasso Sr. emigrated from Sicily.
01:02:56
Speaker
At age 23, he worked as a longshoreman and eventually built a legacy from the ground up. He and his sons became major contributors to the commercial fishing, trawling, and exporting industries in that area and the success of it in that area. So a lot of the family is buried there as well as the family continues to work in the area. Nice.
01:03:15
Speaker
So I do feel like I need to mention, obviously we mentioned there was a war. There were battles fought in the area. So the Confederacy was a part of the history of this area. We do want to make sure that we mention all parts of the history of this place, regardless of what that looked like. To make sure that the picture is real and not just rose-colored. Correct. Yes.
01:03:38
Speaker
So um I did want to mention that there was a plaque that It said, in memory of 292 gallant Confederate soldiers who died in Galveston while serving the Confederacy, 209 soldiers were buried here in what was Old Potter's Field.
01:03:54
Speaker
In 1864, section was designated in the cemetery as Soldiers Rest. The other 83 men are located in Old City, Episcopal, and Old Catholic Cemetery.
01:04:06
Speaker
So I just thought that was a really interesting thing, how they were like, you know, kind of just. Still highlighting. Yeah, still highlighting the history of the area. And lastly, i thought it was really interesting. There were a lot of Mason graves. Yeah. And Mason graves. find um in my digging up of why Galveston was so prominent, it was that there was a a major Mason presence.
01:04:30
Speaker
Wow. In Galveston. Yeah, there was like a whole patch of Masons. But yeah, the the Masons, um that was like the the really, that was just, it was really cool to see a lot of those, um those graves and just the the differences in how the areas were kept based on private or public funding. But that's a conversation for another day. Someone should check on Annie and see if she's okay.
01:04:51
Speaker
Worry that there is something that's been dug up there. And, you know, with the conversations we've had recently. geez, you're not wrong. About certain grave robbers, maybe just.
01:05:02
Speaker
Well. The one we've he's he's behind bars at the moment. no
01:05:10
Speaker
So I feel like that was most everything. But I am going to tag on a little nightmare fuel. So you let me borrow the first of the Lemony Snicket. Yeah.
01:05:23
Speaker
And that was my vacation read. I started it when we got there and I finished it before we left. And I yeah understand why I was an emo kid. I mean, kind of like I am.
01:05:34
Speaker
So i'm I'm not the kind of person who cares like what genre a book is front for. I don't care what age it's for. If it's a good story, I want to read it. Same. Yeah. And this I don't know what I was expecting. But if you want something dark. Yes.
01:05:48
Speaker
Read the Lemony Snicket's books. oh Holy crap. That is so dark. They were supposed to be kids books. Which is amazing. Like I get I get that sort of like I but.
01:05:59
Speaker
Like these feel like very heavy topics for kids. I agree.
Dark Themes in Lemony Snicket Series
01:06:02
Speaker
I remember, yeah, reading it back as an adult, I was like, this is a very heavy book for for a child. But I really liked the vocabulary. I loved the theatrics.
01:06:12
Speaker
i loved how, love when books feel like a performance. And that one had a very big stage presence and there is a big performance. So very dark, yes, good book. um And it has so many twists and turns. And I think there's like 12 books in the series or something like that.
01:06:27
Speaker
yeah So that's my nightmare fuel is Luminous Nickets. I, you know, it's been in my peripherals because it's obviously like, you know, dark word fiction. Right. And so I really should have already been aware, more aware of it than I am was, but I'm glad I'm reading it. So thank you. Well, yes, you've just read the first one. So I want you to read, like, let me know if you read more of them and let me know which ones you actually like, because each book kind of has their own. That's you did hand me the second one. So I've got it. I haven't started it yet because I needed to get this podcast written. Yeah. Yeah, here we are writing podcasts. I know it. i know
01:06:59
Speaker
So yeah, we had our spooky travels and our brave encounters. So thanks for joining us, guys. We really, really appreciate it. We're going to get back to it. Join us next time for more nightmares.
01:07:10
Speaker
Sweet dreams. Good night. If you have topic requests, book or movie recommendations, or just want to say hi, email us at nightmarecottage at gmail.com or visit our website at nightmarecottage.com.
01:07:23
Speaker
Sweet dreams.
01:07:27
Speaker
Bye bye!
01:07:40
Speaker
by bye