< Previous40 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 CURRENTS | BOOKS MYSTERY AND MAGIC ‘Witches of Galveston’ takes readers to a supernatural world by the sea story by LAURA PENNINO | photo by JENNIFER REYNOLDS “T he Witches of Galveston” begins by tak- ing readers to a weathered house near the shore where a quiet school teaches more than reading and math — it teach- es magic. Lilith, a fierce and loving witch, guides a few gifted students while keeping the truth hidden from the world. But when a mysterious ghost dog appears and whispers of a long-buried crime, the veil between the natu- ral and the supernatural begins to tear. With her husband Caleb by her side, Lilith must protect her students and uncover the truth behind the shadows creeping into their lives. “The Witches of Galveston” is the debut, self-published fictional book by writer Joseph McClure, who lives in the Clear Lake area. Since its launch in late May 2025, the book has garnered strong ratings on Amazon and Goodreads. McClure already is working on a second book about The Witch School’s likable good witch teachers — Lilith, Melissa, Sabrina and Sky — that will demonstrate just how far their magical powers will go. In addition to plans for “The Witches of Galveston: Book Two,” McClure is translating the first book into Spanish. McClure was inspired to write “The Witches of Galveston” after he and his wife, Rachel, traveled to Salem, Massachu- setts, the site of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, where a wave of hysteria led to the wrongful accusation and execu- tion of 20 people for witchcraft. McClure dedicated the book to Rachel, who is his muse and his model for the character Lilith. Lilith emulates traits that McClure admires in his wife — superpowers such as strength, courage, love and kindness, he said. The cover of “The Witches of Galveston” is a stylized photo of Rachel, representing Lilith. “About a year ago, my wife and I went to Salem,” McLure said. “We like witchy gothic themes. We were looking around at all the witchy stuff, and we said it would be cool to open a witches’ school. Rachel is a teacher. So, the characters are based on my wife, her students and her co-workers. I original- ly planned to do the book just for Rachel and me.” The book is about family and friendship, McClure said. His favorite character is Lilith because she’s “strong and solid and good.” He also likes the sarcastic banter he has created between Witch School teachers Sabrina and Sky. And he spotlights the McClure sons’ real-life band, Backstreet Island. “I describe the book as real with a twist of fantasy,” Mc- Clure said. McClure includes real local haunts in the book — namely, Herb & Smudge Apothecary and Then & Now Bookshop, both in downtown Galveston; Fairview Cemetery on the is- land; The Empanada Bar in League City; and Timeout, which operates sports bars in Friendswood and Texas City. McClure sold out of books within an hour of his signing at Herb & Smudge Apothecary this past summer. He easily can fulfill orders for more books through print-on-demand capabilities. Joseph and Rachel are co-authoring the second book. The McClures want to take more time to develop the story and the characters in the sequel, they said. “Book Two will feature the same characters, plus two new students, one new teacher and a whole other school — a rival school,” Joseph said. “Rose Zepeda, the owner of Herb & Smudge, will be a character in the second book. She will have a cameo.” The second book in the series also will explore Lilith and Caleb’s relationship in more depth, addressing some of the struggles they have faced together. “We are up to the end chapters,” Joseph said. “Honestly, I don’t know where the end of Book Two is going yet. Rachel and I talk about it, and then we make changes.” “The Witches of Galveston” is available on Amazon and at Herb & Smudge Apothecary and Then & Now book Shop in Galveston. (Opposite) Joseph McClure dedicated his first book, “The Witches of Galveston,” to his wife, Rachel, his muse and model for the main character in the book. They are co-authoring a second book. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 4142 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 PHOTOS: COU r T e SY r O ber T PANICO COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 43 FEATURE KOOKY FOR THE SPOOKY Some locals go all out for frighteningly fun Halloween décor story by SHANNON CALDWELL S pooky season on the upper Texas coast is time for Hallow- een’s biggest fans to get their thrills by giving other people the chills. For 25 years, Bob and Deb- bie Panico have created a hauntingly good display in the front yard of their home in Galveston’s Cedar Lawn. The neighborhood is a destination spot for trick or treaters, attracting families from across the island, and the couple’s home has become a loved landmark, Bob Panico said. “We’ve had kids tell us they’ve been com- ing to our house for 10 years,” he said. The Panicos’ display includes a cemetery, a circle of witches dancing around the caul- dron, large animatronics, lots of lights, fog and spooky sounds. There also are skeletons in their windows, scary signs and other dec- orations on the house. All these elements are needed to bring the frights, Debbie said. “It’s also thanks to our son who is grown now and lives in Austin where he works in tech,” she said. “He is a real horror fan and loves to dress up. He would get on the microphone and say scary things like you’d hear in a horror movie. One year, he and his friends dressed all in black, laid on the yard, and grabbed people’s feet.” Halloween decorating is a special father- and-son tradition, Bob said. “He brought his wife down last year,” he (Opposite) Bob and Debbie Panico go all out for Halloween. The displays in the front yard of their house in Galveston’s Cedar Lawn have attracted visitors for more than 20 years. (Above) Skeletons and scary signs are among the decorations on the couple’s house. 44 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 FEATURE said of his son. “They are expecting their first child, so he’ll be able to do this with his own son soon.” Nostalgia for much-loved childhood mem- ories inspire Texas City educator, entrepre- neur and entertainer Donna Swartz to bring Halloween to life in her neighborhood and on Galveston’s streets. Known for founding the Tutu Live Krewe, Swartz worked with Becky Major to create Galveston’s first Halloween Parade. Now in its second year, Mystical Parade of Boo will return to Galveston’s streets on the evening of Oct. 25. “I was shocked when I found out that Galveston didn’t have a Halloween parade — the first one was a huge success and we are on track for it to be bigger this year,” Swartz said. Swartz gets her love of Halloween from her father, who made a haunted house PHOTOS: J e NNIF er re YNOLDS COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 45 in the basement of their Michigan home every year. “It is just very nostalgic for me and some- thing I’ve tried to replicate for my child,” she said. “I love the creativity of Halloween, the costuming and the idea of alter egos.” Swartz has lived on Galveston Island and in Texas City and both homes have offered a canvas for her Halloween displays. Pump- kin-headed creatures, a skeleton with a rooster head and a scary nun are just some of her creations made with a combination of modified store-bought items, natural ele- ments and upcycled props. “Halloween is really for the kids,” she said. “Even if you are the only house in your neighborhood, leave your light on and hand out candy. Maybe next year your neighbors will leave their light on and then the following year the neighbor’s neigh- bors.” SCARE TACTICS Krewe of Misfits President becky Major and Vice President Kathy Devries love Halloween and are expert character, prop and display creators. One of their most recent projects is decorat- ing Marmo Innovation’s Halloween party, The blackthorn ball, planned for Oct. 18 and billed as an evening of eerie elegance. Here are their tips for creating boo-tiful Halloween décor. From Becky Major: “Map out the different areas of your home and yard that you want to decorate and consider how you want each area to look. Draping or hanging plastic table cloths can make an instant impact and you can re-use them each year.” “Spray foam like you use for insulation can make great oozing shapes and you can paint it after.” “Pinterest and YouTube are great sources for inspiration and how-to advice.” From Kathy Devries: “You can transform household objects and store-bought items to make something new. One year, I put mop heads on skeletons and another year I wove dried flowers through skeleton ribs. both were eerie and effective.” “Glitter can transform anything. This year, a lot of Halloween décor is pink or mirror ball. I think people want something cute with all that’s happening in the world.” “No matter what the trends are, clowns are always scary!” Donna Swartz, with Tutu Live Krewe and Mystical Parade of boo, decorates the porch of her Texas City home with creepy displays she made. becky Major, left, and Kathy DeVries, who have had a major hand in the Krewe of Misfits, the Mystical Parade of boo and the blackthorn ball, create most of their spooky and creepy decorations for the events.46 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 PHOTO: AYMI e L FL e MING COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 47 COVER CONFIDENTIAL HAUNTINGLY BEAUTIFUL Hitchcock property was site of sadness and séances F or this month’s cover photo, Coast Monthly revis- ited Stringfellow Orchards, 7902 state Highway 6 in Hitchcock, through the gracious invitation of owners Doris and Sam Collins III. Sam Collins even provided the soundtrack — Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to our photo shoot as photographer Aymiel Fleming worked to produce an Amer- ican Gothic-style photo of our beautiful cover model Shay Rivera, a League City hairstylist. The hauntingly beautiful prop- erty lined with stately old trees once was owned by interna- tionally renowned horticultur- ist Henry Martyn Stringfellow. It also was the site of a tragic story of the loss of a child. Henry Stringfellow and his wife, Alice, lost their only son, Leslie, in 1886. Leslie probably died from malaria, Collins said. He became sick on Sept. 11. He took his last breath three days later. He was 19. Alice was so devastated by her son’s death, she be- came bedridden, Collins said. She had tried reaching her dead son by conducting séanc- es in the attic in the parlor of the orchard at 7 p.m. every night, he said. The couple had collected more than 4,000 letters of what were conversations with their dead child, Collins told us. One of the letters is in the possession of the Rosenberg Library in Galveston, he said. The séances weren’t hauntings, Collins said. They were acts by parents doing whatever it took to remain connected to a departed son. The couple would place their hands on a planchette, similar to a Ouija board, which held a pencil and was moved by the com- municating spirit. There was a letter in which the supposed spirit of Leslie had designed his own headstone. “It’s interesting to see a sketch of what he wanted,” Collins said. “Then you go to the cemetery and it’s there.” The headstone can be found in Lakeview Cemetery in Gal- veston. Alice stopped conducting the séances after her husband’s death in 1922. Although Collins believes Henry was con- ducting the séances to appease his grieving wife, many won- der whether the Stringfellows’ spirits linger on the orchard grounds to this day. This article contains excerpts from past interviews with Sam Collins III in The Galveston County Daily News and Coast Monthly. (Above, from left) Henry Martyn Stringfellow, a Confederate veteran, began his career in Galveston in the late 1860s and established a reputation as a pioneering authority on pears. He established his 30-acre orchard in 1883 in Hitchcock and completed his home there the following year; Leslie Stringfellow, the only son of Henry and Alice Stringfellow, died in 1886 most likely from malaria. His parents turned to spiritualism for comfort and conducted séances to remain connected to him. (Opposite) League City resident Shay Rivera at Stringfellow Orchards in Hitchcock. Hair and makeup by Shade & Shear by Shay.48 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 HOMEPORT ‘A WONDERFUL HOUSE’ Silk Stocking District home provides a warm retreat and plenty of history story by BARBARA CANETTI | photos by JENNIFER REYNOLDS C laire Wilkins is a history buff, which is one reason she loves her 1899 Queen Anne- style home in Galveston’s Silk Stocking Historic District. “I love history and I love stories, and this house and neighborhood have lots of both,” said Wilkins, who teaches history, government and economics at O’Connell Preparatory School in Galveston. Wilkins and her late husband, David Ehrhardt, bought the house in 2016 and it quickly became “food for my soul,” she said. Nearly everything in the home, except the furnishings, is original, she said. Architect George B. Stowe designed the house in 1896 for Edmund and Clara Noble Cheeseborough, who played a key role in Galveston’s massive grade-raising project after the 1900 Storm. A National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark marker from the Society of Civil Engineers stands on the property in recogni- tion of Cheeseborough’s efforts between 1904 and 1911. Wilkins’ home and several others on the street were raised an additional 8 inches during that time, the equivalent of COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2025 49 Claire Wilkins spends a good deal of time on the porch of her 1899 home in the Silk Stocking Historic District in Galveston. (Opposite) Wilkins’ home was built for Edmund and Clara Noble Cheeseborough, who played a key role during the grade-raising after the 1900 Storm. A National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark plaque stands in her front yard.Next >