Ghosts along the Texas Coast

by Docia Schultz Williams

  Today the ship is no longer sailing; she is no longer the launching pad for countless naval aircraft. She is no longer painted blue, either. When she was given a streamlined island structure and a new mast, and her deck was angled to accommodate the coming of the jet age, she was also given a new paint job. Today she is “haze gray.”

  From 1962 until November of 1991 she served as a training carrier, based at Pensacola, Florida. From her first training operation in 1963 until her decommissioning in 1991, an average of 1,500 pilots were carrier qualified on her each year.

  Now, men are known to love their ships. That’s probably why they have always referred to them as being of the feminine gender. A ship always seems to be called a “she.” As for the “Lady Lex,” there are some men whose spirits have never left the ship they served and loved so well. They still remain in the staterooms, briefing rooms, decks, passageways, and sick bays of their ship. Therein lies a story, or several stories, in fact.

  Soon after my husband and I visited the Lexington in February of 1993,1 spoke with a friend about having seen the great ship. This gentleman, Sam Nesmith, is a well-known military historian, and he also possesses great psychic powers. After I mentioned my visit, he told me that he and his wife, Nancy, had recently visited the ship as well, and he said he felt the ship had a number of “resident spirits,” earthbound to the ship and either unable, or unwilling, to leave. He said he especially felt a deep sense of pain and sadness in the dark corridor near a first-aid station, and in the “fo’c’sle” area, near the anchor, he also noted a very strong “presence.” But it was in the Pilot’s Ready Room Number One that he felt an overwhelming presence. It literally filled the room! Sam had brought a camera, with very high-speed film. He took a direct shot into the room. When the film came back from being developed, there, very visible, was a pilot, seen from the shoulders up. Very discernible was a collar and a head with a World War II era pilot’s helmet and goggles. The face appeared to be “skull-like,” according to Nesmith, who strongly believes it was the spirit of a pilot who did not make it back after a sortie, and is still struggling to return for his debriefing.

  The U.S.S. Lexington after modifications to superstructure and deck, 1960s

  As we were planning another trip to Corpus Christi in August 1993, I decided to try and contact someone connected with the Lexington Museum to see if anyone there had experienced any unusual encounters of a supernatural nature. A telephone call to the curator’s office brought me in contact with Derek Neitzel, assistant to the curator and the resident graphic artist at the ship museum. He didn’t laugh when I asked him “Could there possibly be a ghost on the Lexington?” Instead, we made an appointment to meet on the ship on Friday, August 13.

  I met Derek, a very personable young man, at 10 a.m., and we spent the next two and a half hours in conversation as he showed me some places on the ship not on the regular tourist route. He also told me about some of his personal experiences, as well as those of his coworkers. He showed me a short videotape made by a local television studio, that included an interview with Derek speaking about some of his experiences with “spirits” as he took the TV crew over various parts of the ship, where he later took me. He said one of the first experiences he had was at twelve noon on a Saturday, when he was working alone in his office. This was very soon after he had come to work on the ship. He heard, in a passageway near his office, the loudest banging and rattling imaginable! He traced it to the metal door to the ship’s former radio station, WLEX. The door was actually shaking and vibrating. Derek said, “Hello,” to which there was no response, and no letting up. Then he went to find the “D.C.” (damage control) personnel. This is the name used on the ship for the firemen, paramedics, and security staff people. When the man arrived, there was no one there, of course, and no way to explain the vibrating, banging door. Incidentally, the door, which Derek pointed out to me, is a very heavy metal sliding door which is secured by a sliding metal bar.

  We discussed various “happenings” that Derek recalled during the months he has worked on the ship. One night stands out above all the others. It was the night of February 13-14,1993, and the “spirits” were really active all night long! In fact, there was no holding them back! Derek gave me a Xerox copy of the ship’s log with the hourly reports noted by the “D.C.” personnel as they signed in at all hours of the night while making their rounds. Derek said he had been there in his office, working, most of the evening. Since so much activity was taking place, he just stayed on throughout the entire night.

  As various members of the Damage Control staff made their entries in the log, it became apparent this was a most unusual night, and a very wet one as well.

  Some of the entries noted included the following:

  0010: Water still coming down in Hangar #1, due to problem in C.O.’s room above.

  0155: Smoke detector 02-126-1 malfunction. Checked out. All ok, reset system.

  0300: Made routine round of all tour areas. Found two areas with water running into sinks in C.C. Admiral’s quarters. One sink full of water. Unknown why water running. Still can hear water running in pipes in bridge area.

  0345: Found sink in Admiral’s quarters with water running, sink full, water on floor, this seems very strange why fresh water left running.

  0400: Made rounds of pier area. Unable to go to fo’c’sle area due to fresh wax.

  0410: Wayne notified about water running. He advised D.C. to secure all water running in heads (toilets).

  0530: Made rounds of bridge and flight deck. Raised flag.

  0630: Made rounds of pier, opened gate, water leak in hangar stopped.

  And so it went. Derek attached his own personal notes to the D.C. log for the night of February 13-14 as follows:

  In addition to those incidents reported in the D.C. Log by Richard Longoria who was scheduled at the time, Wayne, with D.C, was there with Wayne Fellers of Ship’s operations at the Admiral’s galley at about 9:20 on the night of the 13th. I overheard a radio report of water running in the Admiral’s galley which was locked and sealed at the bottom with screws. It has a two-part door.

  I ran up to help, in that I might be able to find a key since I have access to the locksmith’s shop. I was told to bring either a key or a crowbar. I was gone approximately 7 to 10 minutes. When I returned, the group of Wayne F., and his son, Wayne with D.C, and Art Smith, the ship’s electrician, had already pried the door open. I came down to the hangar deck and caught up with Wayne to ask what the cause of the water running was. I was told that a water faucet had been turned on. I know for a fact (for I was there) that I witnessed Pete Valentine (the ship’s locksmith) lock the door a number of weeks previously and I had installed the screws on the back side. This was just a day before we opened this tour line. I also know Pete was the only one who had a key. One final note: I was in the next compartment aft (the admiral’s stateroom) at 6:00 the same evening working on lashing ropes for the stanchions in the same room and I would have heard it had it been occurring at that time.

  And then on February 17, Derek notes:

  Addendum. Today I talked to D.C. “Shane” who was on duty during that night (February 13) He reported that two of the sinks were behind locked doors and one instance was the shower being on in the captain’s sea-cabin on the 06 level. This was accounting for the water running sounds which he and Richard Longoria traced to the sea cabin. All in all, it was four sinks total, plus the shower and a faucet in the galley. D.N. 2-17-93.

  Derek, in discussing this strange night, said that some of the faucets that were running hadn’t been turned on in a long while, and he added they were so stuck and tight that it would have taken a strong man with a wrench to turn them on. Yet there they were, running freely, and in compartments behind firmly locked doors! He said the whole week centered around February 14 was “very active” and he referred to it as “hell week.”

  Derek went on to tell how the swivel chair that the bookkeeper uses often would swivel and squ
eak when she wasn’t even there. This chair is in the photocopy office.

  A man named Wayne, on the Damage Control staff, has a son whose name is John. This young man told his father that he had a very strange experience on the ship. He suddenly felt terrified for no particular reason. Then, he heard a distinct voice speaking to him, saying, “You’d sure hate to be here when them planes were taking off.” The voice was very clear, and there was no mistaking what it said. John has never forgotten this incident.

  Numerous times Derek has experienced the sensation of being followed down various passageways. He hears the sound of heavy military type shoes following along behind him. When they come to the coamings (raised door openings in the passageways) they do not break cadence as they should. He has also been followed by the same heavy treads as he comes out of the “head” (restroom) near the officer’s dining room. These footsteps have followed him for some distance.

  Another time, as he was disassembling a table in order to move it from the galley where it was located to the passageway outside, Derek could hear footsteps. There were no lights on in the passageway, but he had a flashlight. The steps were going from aft to forward. He asked, “Who is it?” but of course, there was no answer.

  Derek took me on a tour over many areas that are off limits to visiting tourists. I felt the presence of “something” in several areas, sort of a feeling of loneliness and emptiness. The place that drew the most shivers in me was the former brig where there were a number of small, dark, barred cells. However, my host said that there had never been any reports of any ghostly happenings around that area.

  Derek told me many of the ship’s staff members have discussed their own experiences with an “unexplainable presence” on the huge vessel. One of the volunteers, John Dau, told Derek he had served on the carrier in the 1960s, and he knew then there were ghosts on the ship even while it was still on active duty.

  One of the janitorial staff working there on contract, Jimmy Caldwell, told Derek he actually saw a medical corpsman in the sick bay about 5 a.m. one morning. He saw the figure just briefly, and then it totally disappeared.

  Although Derek, who spends lots of hours on the ship at night in the print shop or doing artwork, is not fearful of the resident spirits, he says that they are at times very “disturbing.” Finally, after one particularly exasperating night, he asked them to “Just lay off . . . just quit bothering me and trying to frighten me. I can’t do my job as well with you disturbing me.” He said he believes they are really intelligent entities, and they understood him, because he has had a relatively peaceful time of it since he made that request!

  I might add a postscript to this story:

  A very recent visit with Derek aboard the Lexington revealed the spirits are still active. Two security guards have reported hearing voices when no one is around on several occasions. Derek, who is convinced that these otherworldly seamen will never leave the Lexington, is not worried about any more disturbances. He’s moving soon to West Africa.

  The U.S.S. Lexington during World War II in the Pacific. Note the original superstructure and flight deck.

  The Disappearing Nun

  There have been a lot of hitchhiker ghost stories told down through the years. The most frequently told ones usually involve a dark and rainy night, a lost and distraught young woman who is found wandering beside the road, and a kindly motorist who gives her a lift. Then suddenly she vanishes before her destination is reached, leaving a very disturbed motorist to ponder what might have happened to her.

  There’s a story that was told for years down around Corpus Christi that might be called a variation of the old disappearing hitchhiker stories. I first read the story in an article entitled “Ghosts of the Coastal Bend” by Jane Ammeson of Corpus Christi, which appeared in the October 1983 edition of Texas Highways Magazine.

  It seems during World War II a bus load of sailors was traveling from Houston to Corpus Christi. At a small town bus stop, a Catholic nun carrying a suitcase got on the bus. Soon after she sat down she started to talk to some of the sailors seated near her. She was very interested in them and told them she thought the war might end soon. After traveling some distance, the tired sailors were dozing and the bus became silent. Just before they reached Corpus, someone realized the little nun was gone. But she couldn’t be! The bus had made no stops! A thorough search revealed neither the nun nor her suitcase.

  As soon as the bus arrived in Corpus Christi the driver and a couple of the sailors went out to the convent that the nun had mentioned. They asked one of the sisters there if the missing nun had arrived there. The sister told them they weren’t expecting anyone to arrive, but she would be glad to show them some photos of the convent’s sisters to see if any was recognizable as the missing nun.

  The driver and the sailors all selected one photograph, saying “There’s no doubt. That’s the nun who talked with us and then disappeared.”

  The sisters at the convent were stunned. “It can’t be. That sister has been dead for several years,” they said.

  The Circle of Flames

  Along with the story about the missing nun, Jane Ammeson wrote in the October 1983 issue of Texas Highways Magazine in her article entitled “Ghosts of the Coastal Bend” about a strange occurrence that took place in Corpus Christi many years ago.

  There was a county judge who was highly respected named Judge Walter Timon. Once when he was visiting in the home of his father on Mesquite Street in Corpus Christi, he was startled to suddenly look up and see the apparition of a man, standing by the fireside. What made the figure so strange was that a circle of flames surrounded the figure’s waist. As the startled judge watched, flames engulfed the entire apparition. Then, just as suddenly as they had begun, the flames started to recede, and then the figure disappeared as well, leaving the puzzled judge standing alone in the room.

  Other people have also seen the same apparition. Mrs. Millie Sullivan Timon saw it on midnight, November 2, 1909. She was alone, as her husband was away selling some cattle from the Bayou Ranch where they lived, on the Nueces River. At first she thought the figure she saw was that of her husband. Then, realizing it was not, she watched in absolute terror as flames started to encircle the man. She was speechless! She finally found the breath to murmur, “Lord, have mercy on his soul,” before the flames and the figure both disappeared.

  Ammeson wrote that the apparition appeared once more at the Bayou Ranch house. This time a friend who was taking care of the Timons’ children while they were out of town saw the figure.

  Later on, the Bayou Ranch burned down. Was it because of the ghostly figure? Who was he, and why did he come? To this day, no one has been able to find out.

  CHAPTER 5

  The Ghosts of Galveston

  Galveston Island

  Galveston Island was first explored by Europeans, who found it to be frequented by Karankawa Indians. Pirate Jean Lafitte established a settlement there in 1817 which he called Campeche. Galveston Island was so named for Bernardo de Galvez, Viceroy of Mexico, and the city was first called Galvez-town. Lafitte was, in 1819, president of the Galveston Republic. The interesting island city has a lot of “firsts” to its credit: it had the first Catholic convent in Texas, the first telegraph station, the first brewery, and the first medical college! And while the disastrous storm of 1900 completely inundated the island, drowning between 5,000 and 7,000 people and destroying countless homes, today a vast 10-mile-long seawall protects the city, and has proved its worth many times during heavy storms. Galveston is truly a city that would not die! There are spirits in the grand old city that are content to stay there, too!

  Strange Spirits at the Williams House

  At 3601 Bernardo de Galvez Street in Galveston, there’s a charming old house in the midst of one of the city’s most historic neighborhoods. This was the home that Samuel May Williams, an early Texas pioneer, built for his family in 1839, just three years after Texas won her independence from Mexico.

  Wi
lliams had served as secretary to Stephen F. Austin and had helped to finance the Texas Revolution. As the first banker in Texas, he had often foreclosed on people’s property. According to an article by Stephen Long which ran in the October 29, 1993, edition of the Houston Chronicle, Williams would never have won any popularity contests. In fact, according to Long, who quoted Shirley Holmer, who works for the Galveston Historical Foundation, Williams was reputed to have been the “most hated man in Texas.”

  Mr. Mario Cecacci, next-door neighbor to Williams house (which is in background)

  Maybe that’s why strange vibes have stuck with the old house! It seems “Little Sam,” Williams’ son, died of an unknown illness when he was just 10 years old. And apparently a slave once tried to kill Williams’ wife, Sarah, by lacing her food with finely ground glass! Fortunately, the glass was discovered in time. The guilty servant was locked up in a room below the kitchen as punishment.

  Today the house is open to the public for viewing. It is a project of the Galveston Historical Society. An unusual, and very effective, audio-visual program lets the visitor listen in on “conversations” with the Williams family members and their friends. One can almost sense Samuel Williams relaxing in his favorite chair while his young daughter, Caddy, plays the piano in the old parlor!

  Upstairs were the children’s bedrooms, those of young Sam and his sister, Caddy. The former director of the Williams House Museum, Kathleen Hink, told me she had had no personal encounters or experiences of a supernatural nature while she served as museum director, but according to Long’s article, she had told him as she worked there late one evening, a lamp in the downstairs hallway was turned on. She turned it off, and then the lamp started rattling “ninety to nothing.”