Urban Legends in Texas

Every state in America has its own set of myths and urban legends, and Texas is no different. Texas urban legends are some of the creepiest in the United States, and they might make you think twice before planning a visit.

Texan urban legends are very diverse, ranging from a deranged headless horseman, to a baby with fangs powerful enough  to rip out your throat, to children with pitch-black eyes that wander the night. Whatever horror you can imagine, you'll likely be able to find it in Texas. Check out the list below for some of the scariest stories from one of America's biggest states and vote up the creepy urban legends from Texas that scare you the most.

Black-Eyed Children

Children are creepy in any context, so any urban legend including black-eyed children is bound to turn some heads. In the late 90s, a journalist named Brian Bethel was working in his town of Abilene, Texas, when he encountered something that he'll remember until the day he dies.

He was parked outside a movie theater when two children knocked on his window. For reasons he couldn't understand, he was completely gripped with fear. He rolled down the window and the kids asked for a ride back to their house so they could get cash for the movie. His fear made him hesitate, but the kids were persistent. They kept saying weird things, like how they weren't armed or anything.

Once Bethel looked back at the kids, he was terrified to see that their eyes had turned pitch black. They started screaming at him that they could only come in the car if he invited them in, and he quickly drove away. As a journalist, he spread the word, and was surprised when other people wrote back saying they had experienced something similar.

Ghostly Nurse of Bexar County Hospital

If legend is to be believed, you don't want to go to the Bexar County Hospital. There, a murderous spirit wandered the halls, killing patients in order of their room number. It started in one ward in the hospital, where patients kept asking about a particular nurse. The staff checked the security cameras and found the patients were seemingly speaking to no one. Then the patients started dying in their room number order.

This urban legend is most likely based on the real-life Genene Jones, who was a worker at the hospital who poisoned at least 11 infants during her time there.

Demon’s Road

In Huntsville, Texas, the stretch of land officially known as Bowden Road is more commonly referred to as Demon's Road for all the strange occurrences that have happened on it. Perhaps it has something to do with the cemetery at the end of the road, where people have reported seeing ghostly figures wander around at night. The most popular myth includes a woman who saw a man walking around the cemetery, but didn't pay him any attention.

Days later, the woman was getting into the shower when all of the sudden the same man from the cemetery was there in her bathroom before quickly disappearing.

The Candy Lady

When parents say don't take candy from strangers, they really mean don't take candy from strangers! That's the moral of The Candy Lady urban legend. Back around the turn of the 20th century, a bunch of children started going missing in a small rural Texas county. The legend claims it was The Candy Lady, who was known for dropping off small candies on children's window ledges during the night. Soon the candy would come with a note asking for the children to come out and play with her, and the children were never seen again.

As time went on, weirder occurrences started to happen, like a father finding a rotting tooth in a candy wrapper, or the little boy who was found stabbed to death in a ditch with his pockets stuffed with candy. If a child goes missing today, people are quick to blame The Candy Lady.

La Llorona

El Paso, Texas, is home to many restless spirits and urban legends, one of the biggest being the story of La Llorona. Translated to "The Crier," La Llorona is just a bundle of horribleness wrapped in awful. She's part banshee, part horse, and haunts the riverbanks of the Rio Grande. She's on a never-ending quest to find her two children that she stabbed and tossed into the river in order to win the love of her wealthy boyfriend.

Reports on how she died vary, with people either saying she stabbed herself and drowned in the river because she couldn't live with her shame, or that an angry mob found her and drowned her in the river because of what she did. Nowadays, you might be able to see La Llorona walking the riverbanks at night, sporting a bloody nightgown and a horse head.

Summit Elementary School

In Amarillo, Texas, there's a closed school that everyone avoids. The Summit Elementary School is one of the most haunted places in the town, and it's dark history makes it a central hub for ghosts and spirits. There's a whole host of different urban legends surrounding the building. A few of the biggest include: it was where a janitor liked to throw students in the boiler; it was a popular spot for racially motivated murders; and there are supposedly murdered sex workers are hidden within some of the walls of the school.

Whatever happened in that building, people tend to stay away.

Arlington’s Screaming Bridge

Many urban legends are based on real-life tragedies. In Arlington in 1961, a car packed with teenage girls plummeted off the side of a burned-out bridge and killed everyone inside. The legend talks about how if you stand on the bridge at night, you'll be able to hear the tormented screams of the teenagers as they fell to their deaths.

Nowadays, access to the screaming bridge is a little difficult, as roads to it are now blocked off, but still plenty of people access it by foot in order to maybe hear snippets of that fateful night.

Hell’s Gate

If a lot of people die in one place, it's a safe bet to assume the place will have some spiritual significance. In Arlington, there's an ancient trail practically grown over with trees and underbrush. It leads to a spot where supposedly a large number of Union soldiers were executed. The last thing the soldiers saw before they were hanged was a gigantic iron gate.

Because of that, it was nicknamed Hell's Gate, and it's said that if you walk the trail, you can still hear the cries of the people who lost their lives at the spot.

Lechuza

Maybe in Texas it's best to stay indoors when the sun sets. If you're out and about, you might run into a Lechuza, which is basically a shape-shifting witch. According to legend, Lechuza are women who have made a deal with the devil, selling their souls in exchange for intense magical powers. During the night, the women transform into horrible hybrid monsters with bird bodies and human faces. They fly through their night, hunting for their prey.

When they find someone they want to devour, they perch somewhere off in the distance and start either whistling or making baby noises. Those who go out to investigate the weird sounds are quickly picked up by the witch, never to be seen again.

El Muerto

If you're a horse thief in Texas, you better be sure you get away with it. Back in 1848, a Mexican bandit named Vidal stole horses from a Texas Ranger named Creed Taylor, who proceeded to chase the bandit down. On his quest, he recruited another ranger named Bigfoot Wallace and two set off together. Once they found Vidal, Wallace cut off his head and mounted his body on the saddle of a wild mustang.

He then put the head in a sombrero and also attached it to the saddle. He then let the mustang lose to just roam the countryside, and presumably scare everyone it came in contact with. People still report seeing the headless horseman wandering around the Texas plains at night.

Dancing Devil of El Camaroncito

On Halloween Night 1975, a handsome, charming young man entered the El Camaroncito Night Club and changed San Antonio forever. The way the urban legend goes, the man was absolutely fantastic on the dance floor. Everyone wanted to be around him and he danced magnificently. As the night went on, he was dancing with a lucky lady when she happened to glance down at his feet. She shrieked in terror and pointed down.

Everyone at the nightclub was shocked to discover that the man's feet had transformed into long, clawed chicken's feet (in some versions of the story, it's goat hooves). The creature, who most assume was the devil himself, quickly made a mad dash to the bathroom where he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the bar with a strongly sulfuric smell.

The Donkey Lady

If you live in San Antonio, chances are you've heard of the Donkey Lady. In the legend, a young woman was involved in a fire that left her horribly disfigured. Her remaining skin had a droopy appearance, and her fingers were fused together like hooves. The accident left her completely insane and she stayed isolated from the world. For those who crossed her path, it meant almost certain death, as she would pounce on you.

Nowadays there are still reports and sightings of the infamous Donkey Lady and people insist she is still out there waiting to attack unlucky bystanders.

The Chupacabra

It's one of the most legendary urban myths of all time, and although reports of the Chupacabra initially popped up in Puerto Rico, over the years the creature, or creatures, seem to have migrated to Texas. One popular story occurred in Cuero, Texas, where a farmer was having trouble with a creature who was stealing her farm's chickens. Soon, the Cuero farmer found what appeared to be a dead dog.

Its characteristics were some of the oddest the farmer had ever seen: it looked like a canine/coyote hybrid. It had practically no hair, with grayish-blue skin and a long snout. The two incisors on the top and bottom of the jaw made it clear that the creature relied on blood for sustenance, a popular trait of the legendary Chupacabra.

The Fang Baby

This urban legend plays out like some sort of twisted horror movie. Back in San Antonio in the 60s, a group of friends were driving home late at night when they noticed something small in the road. They swerved to avoid it, but they all could've sworn afterwards that it looked like a toddler with a blood-stained mouth. The next day, one of the guys went back to that stretch of road to check things out, but blew a tire when he arrived.

When he stopped to rest for a bit, the guy drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, he found the toddler sitting on his lap. The last thing he saw before he died was that the toddler had two fangs sticking out over its top lip.

The Chinese Cemetery

An urban legend known as The Chinese Cemetery involves forbidden romance and lost love. In one of the oddest urban legends on this list, the story goes that the great-grandfather of the current owner of the cemetery forbid an uncle, who was of Anglo-Hispanic origin, from marrying his true love, who allegedly was a seven-foot-tall Chinese woman.

Both of them died and now they both wander the cemetery looking to be united with one another. The legend says that if you drive to the edge of the cemetery, the Chinese woman will reach out and touch you.  

Do you still want to visit Texas?!