.jpg)
Barefoot Mysteries
Kick off your shoes, get comfortable and join us, barefoot Pat and Dave, your Barefoot Mystery Junkies, while we explore the Unsolved, the Unexplained, the Paranormal and the Weird World We Live In.
Barefoot Mysteries
Guide or Ghost: San Antonio's Supernatural Saviours
Ever wondered if all ghost stories are meant to chill your spine? Or can they also warm your heart? Join us, Pat and Dave, your Barefoot Mystery Junkies, as we spin a tale of tragedy and redemption, set in the backdrop of San Antonio, Texas. In 1938, a devastating accident occurred, when a school bus full of innocent children met a tragic end on a railroad track. But the story doesn't end there. It is said that the spirits of these lost children linger, not to haunt, but to lend a helping hand.
Are these children's spirits here to guide and protect us? Or is everything just figments of our imaginative minds? We leave it up to you to decide.
Courtesy of: Hauntedrooms.com, Legends of America.com, www.sacurrent.com
Theme Music courtesy of Uppbeat
Artist: Alex Besss
Track Title: Threatened
Theme Music courtesy of Uppbeat
Artist: Alex Besss
Track Title: Threatened
Contact us at: barefootmysteries @gmail.com
Welcome to Barefoot Mysteries, where your Barefoot Mystery Junkies, pat and Dave, explore the unsolved, the unexplained, the spooky and the downright weird world we live in. Welcome back, everybody. I'm Pat and I'm Dave and he's Dave. And today, just because I have control of the microphone, no way we're going to talk about ghostesses, ghostess, spooky things, because I would never do this by myself. But because I have all of you around me, I feel safe. You guys can tell me don't look.
Speaker 1:You know, we always think of ghosts as and I think every movie and I am the first one in line to see the next scary movie even when they're bad, I think we always think of them as like evil spirits. They're angry, they want to get revenge or they're they are don't want anyone around them. They want to scare us, they want to throw things at us, they want to scratch us. But do you think some ghosts remain here to help or provide guidance for us poor living souls that are still here, or even try to save lives? You mean like Casper? Like Casper the friendly ghost? Yeah, yeah, maybe they're not here to frighten us all off. I hope so. Well, one of the biggest areas in the United States, speaking of big, and it's in Texas, so everything's bigger in Texas. Of course, san Antonio has a lot of paranormal places to go visit. It's actually been recognized as one of the top 10 haunted cities in the entire world. So are there ghosts bigger than everybody's Our story? Ghost stories bigger or more ghosts? Who knows, hopefully. Who knows.
Speaker 1:But that's where we're going to go. All right, we're going to go to San Antonio, texas. If you like, taking a train ride with your Barefoot Mystery hosts. I love trains. Yeah, here we go. See, all right, we're getting on the train If you want to go along for the ride. Toot, toot, yep, chug a chug, a chug, a chug, a chug. A Kick off your shoes, get comfortable. We're taking the Lyos train to San Antonio, not Clarksville, not Clarksville, not this time.
Speaker 1:Okay, it was a chilly December Sunday in 1938 when a storm crept into the San Antonio region. Despite the ominous clouds looming in the distance, a nun in charge of a school field trip thought, oh, they'd be able to make the journey back home before the storm arrived. As the sun began to set, she hurried the children onto the bus. She noticed that most of the children had already fallen asleep by the time she started the bus and they made their way down Shane Road. However, just as they were crossing the railroad tracks at the intersection of Shane Road and Villamain, the bus engine suddenly sputtered and died.
Speaker 2:Oh no.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right on the railroad tracks. You know this is how many movies, yeah, okay, do we see this in? And this is real life. Well, the nun glanced back at the sleeping children. She was hoping she didn't have to wake them to try to get them off the bus. So she turned the key. She goes, I'm gonna gotta get this bus started.
Speaker 1:She turned the key so she could get off the off the railroad tracks, but the engine only crackled and clicked. Her foot kept pumping the gas pedal and as she was about to turn the key again, somewhere in the distance, she thought she heard what sounded like the faint rumble of an approaching train. So she looked down the dark tracks, but she didn't see any lights on the tracks. Oh, praying, I'm praying that it's just an echo of a train that has passed by. Just as she was saying that prayer, she glanced to see a train, glanced up again and she saw a train with a broken headlamp hurtling right for them. Frantic to save the children, she desperately ran down the aisle of the bus, shaking them and yelling for them to get off the bus. Wake up, children, wake up, wake up. It's time to get off the bus. Well, the train conductor wasn't able to see the bus until it was too late. Yeah, can you imagine.
Speaker 2:No, no way.
Speaker 1:The dark air was filled with the screeching of the metal against metal and the sparks flying from the wheels as the conductor desperately tried to stop the speeding locomotive. The impact was so great that it tore the school bus in half and it hurled the nun through the windshield. Unbelievably, despite the gravity of her injuries, she miraculously survived. However, tragically, every single one of the sleeping children lost their lives.
Speaker 2:Only the nun was saved.
Speaker 1:The only the nun was saved, and she was the driver, and she was the driver, but fortunately, if all those children were sleeping, they probably never even knew what was coming, Hopefully merciful death. Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, months passed until the nun was able to recover from the accident, but she was so burdened with guilt that it was just too much that she couldn't bear it.
Speaker 2:She just couldn't bear it.
Speaker 1:No, just be too much weight. No, she couldn't go on, and so, grief-ridden, she decided to drive her car onto the very same tracks where the children had lost their lives.
Speaker 2:Oh, she wanted the same ending.
Speaker 1:Yes, because she was so guilty that was just weighed so heavy on her soul. So she sat there in the car, she turned the engine off and she sat waiting for the oncoming train to end her life. As the sun began to set, a light flickered in the distance and a headlight of an approaching train came into view. The nun closed her eyes and prayed, accepting her fate. But then she heard whispers. The voices grew louder and she could distinctly hear the sound of children. It was as if they were right there with her, just next to her, just as the train was almost on top of her. Her car suddenly lurched forward and came to a stop, safely off the tracks, and the train just whizzed by her.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:Thinking that someone had pushed her car out of the way, the nun jumped out looking all around wondering where the Good Samaritan had gone. It was then that she noticed something on the back of her car. What was it? There, on the rear trunk and bumper, were multiple sets of tiny hand prints. She fell to her knees knowing without a doubt that those were the hand prints of the children who had died.
Speaker 1:The children that she had been mourning all this time had pushed her car out of harm's way. The children ghosts yeah, they saved her life, even though she couldn't save theirs. They had sent her a message. The message was that she needed to live To honor their memories. She chose to open an orphanage where she actually cared and loved for each and every one of those children until she passed away, many years later. Oh nice, well, you would think how tragic. And she redeemed herself. And these spirits, these children's spirits. Did they arrive knowing what she was going to do, or have they been there waiting to maybe help someone?
Speaker 1:Since that tragic accident, there's been a lot of paranormal activity that's been recorded, and it is strongly believed by people who have experienced it that the children's spirits are still present. Kind of sounds that way, doesn't it? Yeah, so you think, well, maybe she imagined it, or maybe her car. She thought it was in park and it wasn't, and it rolled forward Since she saw those little hand prints. Well, man, maybe they were left over from when she was teaching at the school. You know, you never know.
Speaker 2:It depends how often you wash your car. I guess, yeah, I guess.
Speaker 1:Well, there have been several visitors and witnesses who have reported hearing eerie whispers and voices of children before their car is Are you ready? Mysteriously pushed off the tracks. Really, yeah, visitors will sprinkle the back of the car with baby powder after their cars rolled off the tracks. And an overwhelming number of those claiming that they saw small hand prints on the back of their cars and they were visible, because once they sprinkle the paper, the baby powder on it, they could see those.
Speaker 1:That's a good way to trace it. Yeah, those, okay, and obviously all those people that experience that they had no doubt whatsoever that the children who died on the bus are actually pushing visitors off the track to prevent them from meeting the same fate that they had had. Now you know.
Speaker 2:That's a friendly ghost.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. But can you imagine all these reports come in? Well, then we have the scientific brains. No, that's not logical. Let's do, we're going to.
Speaker 2:I can't help, but not with the naysayers.
Speaker 1:There's a logical explanation. Well, many have tried to debunk these paranormal claims. They say well, there's a slight incline that can cause cars to roll over to the other side of the tracks. Well, ok, gravity can certainly play a role, and numerous individuals had have testified to experiencing this phenomenon with varying sizes, weights and types of vehicle, with all the same results Interesting. So why is you? Know, it's a big truck, ok, well, how is gravity going to pull a heavy truck compared to a small car? Well, guess what? What? I wanted to check on this. Ok, let's, let's go down the rabbit hole a little bit further, let's go.
Speaker 1:I'm going to read some of some of the comments that people have posted that have been there. There's one that I oh my God, I absolutely love it. I'm going to. I'm going to do this. It's kind of a long winded thing, but it's so cool. The first one is from a gentleman who used to live in in Sequin, texas, and he goes. You know, I know a lot of people have disputed the legend of the railroad track goes. However, I was witness to one very indisputable event there in my late teens, early 20s. Personally, I don't think a tow degree declination is enough to push a 3600 pound car so two tons with passengers, over there's tracks with no starting momentum, but it happened. Yeah, good point. Here's another one. This is the one I love. What I mean? I could just see this. One afternoon I had gone to the railroad tracks with a few friends, after having driven over the tracks a couple of times. We were chatting with some visitors who had already taken a Lincoln Continental. Now the Lincoln Continental is two and a half tons plus.
Speaker 1:Hmm, OK so they had already taken it over the tracks once. They were a husband and a wife and they had a visitor in their vehicle. It was a visitor from Mexico and he didn't believe that this happened.
Speaker 2:You know, he said he was a naysayer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he said no, no, this didn't happen. He accused the husband who was driving the car of of doing something that. Oh no, you pushed it forward. So you know, the husband said fine, he and his wife got out and they let their Mexican visitor take the wheel for himself. They staged the link in about five yards back from the tracks. So that's quite a bit.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:They turned the engine off, their visitor was in the driver's seat. All of a sudden they could hear the driver suddenly start to scream and you could hear him as he kept slamming on the brakes. He kept slamming and slamming and slamming the brakes, but he could not stop the car until it had completely crossed the tracks. He also tried putting the transmission in park, but it's still sped forward. He was terrified. Once the car finally stopped, he jumped out, still screaming and shouting in Spanish, then demanded that his host take him back to the hotel. He was leaving and never coming back.
Speaker 2:So did he believe in it or not?
Speaker 1:He experienced it firsthand.
Speaker 2:Did he need to?
Speaker 1:Yeah, need changes pants yeah probably Another person said I went.
Speaker 2:Are you beating my mind again? Yeah, no, yeah, no.
Speaker 1:I just, I just saw him, you know, screaming his pants oh, no, don't be, don't be, don't be, don't be, oh my God. Another one wrote I once went over in my 1968 Firebird convertible with a new parakeet in the car. With a new parakeet. Yeah, isn't that funny, oh, weird. The bird had been chirping happily until we staged the vehicle for the tracks when suddenly his chirping was completely silenced. It wasn't until we left the area that he began to chirp again. Animals, no, they sense it. Huh, I thought it was just like dogs and cats. Yeah, yeah, okay, this is the very last one.
Speaker 1:Once, when I used the baby powder on my car, I had multiple small hand prints and one set of adult sized hand prints. But these hand prints did not belong to me. They were larger than mine but smaller than my husband's. I had had no children anywhere around my car previously and was extremely meticulous about the appearance of my car. All the prints were either on the bumper small little prints or the ridge of the trunk. The bumper is too low for most adults to place their hands for it or anything other than pushing, and all the prints and all the prints were with the fingertips pointed up, unlike if someone just touches the back of the car, they're usually sitting on the trunk or opening the lid. Incidentally, I never went over the tracks with the engine running, unlike most who tried this, and this happened in the mid-70s, all the way to 1981. This intersection, as you can imagine, has gained quite the reputation as one of the most haunted spots in Texas. It does seem to point to spirit safeguarding the well-being of fellow travelers, though.
Speaker 2:Seems that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's. I don't think they've debunked it. I don't think you could deny that this evidence points to the existence of supernatural entities at this location.
Speaker 2:Well, you can always deny anything, but maybe you aren't looking at what's going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So guess what? What do you think? Do you think this proves that there are such things as Casper, the friendly ghostesses?
Speaker 2:Yeah, ghostesses, I like that Ghostesses, they are friendly.
Speaker 1:So this, even though it was like a spooky, it was kind of a good spooky.
Speaker 2:Indeed with people coming back from a tragedy to help others.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's not like. This is not a story, that true story, but it's not going to make me keep the lights on at night when I go to bed.
Speaker 2:Now kind of a pleasant story, even though all those kids got wiped out.
Speaker 1:Well, unfortunately, I know we have listeners in Texas.
Speaker 2:Yes, we do.
Speaker 1:Anyone near San Antonio, or have any of our fabulous listeners gone over these tracks and experienced it? Oh my gosh, okay.
Speaker 2:We're one of here.
Speaker 1:Here's your homework. Oh, don't call it homework.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, here's your fun time.
Speaker 1:Here's your, here's your, here's your, your chance to set us straight.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Is it true? Is it not true? Shoot us an email BarefootMysteriesatgmailcom. Let us know if you've experienced it or if you've debunked it. And what was that address? Again, it was BarefootMysteriesatgmailcom.
Speaker 2:Outta girl.
Speaker 1:Okay, next one has to be spooky. You know I mean this was nice and it was great and it was. You know it was tragic, but Well, it kind of has a nice ending to it. It has a great ending to it, see, so not all spirits are bad.
Speaker 2:I agree.
Speaker 1:Some spirits are good.
Speaker 2:They're hanging around to help.
Speaker 1:All right people. That's the end of it for today. So, as always, as we leave you, please remember to be good to each other and be safe. Be safe and only hang around nice spirits.
