< Previous20 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 FEATURE CEDAR OAKS INN Guests might encounter some supernatural residents sharing their rooms at Cedar Oaks Inn, a bed and breakfast in Dickinson. The 125-year-old Cedar Oaks Inn property, 3822 Water St., originally was owned by the Schaper family of Galveston before being sold to the Weigand family in 1897. It originally was meant to operate as a working dairy, but a noisy brothel and casino, which operated until the 1940s, weren’t ideal neighbors and plans changed. The brothel and casino oper- ated under the name Cedar Oaks Inn, which inspired the current businesses’ name, said Tanya Nuss, owner and operator of the inn. The inn is divided into two buildings, The Birdcage Saloon, designed in the style of an 1800s-era saloon in the Old West, and The Barracks, a building used as barracks for those serving at Ellington Air Force Base. Nuss, who has lived in and owned the property for 27 years, said there are unex- plained noises at night of people walking up and down the hallways and also reports of flickering lights matching Morse code. When Nuss’ daughter was a child, she was scared to go upstairs in the home, Nuss said. Later, PHOTOS: STUA r T VILLANU e VA COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 21 she told her family she had made friends with the spirits, Nuss said. A medium has examined the supernatural spirits and identified four ghosts, Nuss said. The medium, who deemed the ghosts harm- less, said one of the spirits is a man wearing a uniform who smokes a pipe, carries a glass of whiskey and never leaves. Other spirits on site include an older woman carrying a child who leaves the property at times. An old couple also visit the home from time to time who are described as poor with tattered clothes. The medium told Nuss the spirits like what she has done with the property. But the spirits never visit the kitchen because they weren’t happy with the renovations made by a former owner, Nuss said. – Trace Harris The Weigand House in Dickinson is rumored to be the sight of strange happenings. The Weigand family in 1897 purchased the property from the Schaper family to operate as a working dairy. Today, it’s a bed and breakfast called the Cedar Oaks Inn. The Weigand family restored the home in the 1970s, said Tanya Nuss, owner and operator of the inn. PHOTO: COU r T e SY22 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 FEATURE THE HENDLEY BUILDING The 1858 Hendley Building, 2010 Strand in Galveston, is no stranger to ghosts and supernatural happen- ings, in large part because the struc- ture is so old, Cheryl Jenkines said. Jenkines manages Hendley Market, the store that operates on the bottom floor of a former cotton warehouse. She and others who visit or lived in the building had plenty of experiences with ghosts, she said. “Anything this old is going to have something going on in it,” Jenkines said. “Galveston has too much history for there to not be something going on.” The top floors of the building house short-term rentals, but when long-term tenants lived there, they used to report ghostly encounters all the time, she said. They told of apparitions of a little boy or a wom- an in white in the hallway, she said. “Many male tenants have said they can hear her skirts rustling,” Jenkines said. Each year on Day of the Dead, traditionally celebrated Nov. 1-2, Hendley Market staff places an altar out. Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, is a day to remem- ber ancestors in Mexican culture. Staffers are sticklers for blowing out the candles at the end of the day, Jenkines said. “We had this three-step process to blow out the candles,” she said. “Consistently over the year, candles get relit.” Jenkines thinks the candle lighter is the ghost of Dr. Wilbur, whose portrait she found in the wreckage of Hurricane Ike in 2008 and hung in the shop. The ghosts are generally friend- ly and Jenkines likes having them around the historic market, she said. – Keri Heath (Above) A Victorian-era portrait hangs above an antique sideboard in the Hendley Market Lofts in Galveston. The building was listed as one of the five most haunted places in the state by Texas Highways magazine. (Opposite, from top) Carriages outside the Hendley Building, circa 1872; a Hurricane Ike-damaged portrait of Dr. Wilbur hangs in Hendley Market in Galveston. Cheryl Jenkines, who manages the store, thinks the ghost of Dr. Wilbur is responsible for relighting candles in the Day of the Dead altar the staff puts out each year; the atrium floor looks into the eclectic island shop. PHOTOS: J e NNIF er re YNOLDS COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 23 PHOTO: COU r T e SY r OS e N ber G LI br A r YBecome our partner in Galveston, we’ll take care of everything. Vacasa’s modern vacation home management makes the experience life-changing for your home and your pocket. 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Several original pieces Collins found in the home also are displayed, like the antique wash bowl and pitcher. (Opposite) A portrait of Leslie Stringfellow, the only son of Henry and Alice Stringfellow, hangs in a small, second-story room of the house. After Leslie’s death in 1886, the Stringfellows sought to make contact with him by conducting seances in the room. COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 27 STRINGFELLOW ORCHARDS Stringfellow Orchards, 7902 state Highway 6 in Hitchcock, once was owned by interna- tionally renowned horticulturist Henry Martyn Stringfellow. It also was the site of a tragic story of the loss of a child. The owners of the orchard, Henry and Alice Stringfellow, lost their only son, Leslie, in 1886. Alice Stringfellow was so devastated by her son’s death, she became bedridden, said Sam Collins, who now owns the property. Alice had tried reaching her dead son by conducting seances in the attic in the parlor of the orchard at 7 p.m. every night, Collins said. The couple had collected more than 4,000 letters of what were conversations with their dead child, Collins said. One of the letters is in the possession of the Rosenberg Library, Collins said. The couple would place their hands on a planchette, similar to a Ouija board, that held a pencil and was moved by the communicating spirit. There was a letter in which the supposed spirit of Leslie had designed his own headstone. The headstone can be found in Lakeview Cemetery in Galveston. Alice stopped conducting the seances after the death of her husband in 1922. Although Collins believes Henry Stringfellow was con- ducting the seances to appease his grieving wife, many wonder whether the Stringfellows’ spirits linger on the orchard grounds to this day. – José Mendiola28 COASTMONTHLY.COM | OCTOber 2022 FEATURE WALTER HALL HOUSE When Deborah Gammon spent nine months as a docent and guide at the Butler Longhorn Museum, formerly located in the historic Walter Hall House, 1220 Coryell St. in League City, she always felt the presence of a ghost roaming the building, she said. Gammon recounted a time when a group of three women went to tour the museum. One of the women grabbed her by the shoulder to tell her of the ghost on the stairs she had just witnessed. “I told her I was already well aware of the ghost, and told her that it was not harmful,” Gammon said. Gammon often witnessed the ghost on the stairs, she said. “Just about every time that I would walk up the stairs, I just felt like there was some- thing there,” she said. Gammon also never felt harmed by the ghost that roamed the halls and frequented the staircase, she said. Some have speculated the staircase ghost could be Helen Hall, who died in the house in June 2014, or Walter Gardener Hall III, the grandson of Walter and Helen Hall, who tragically drowned on the morning of his second birthday. Walter “Skipper” Hall III drowned in the pond in front of the home in League City on the morning of Aug. 1, 1950. There has been at least one sighting of the ghost of a child roaming the grounds, Gammon said. – Sarah Grunau editor’s Note: The butler Longhorn Museum is closed as managers look for a new site. The Walter Hall House in League City, formerly occupied by The Butler Longhorn Museum, is rumored to be haunted. FILe PHOTO: JeNNIFer reYNOLDS “Just about every time that I would walk up the stairs, I just felt like there was something there.” DEBORAH GAMMONNext >