San Antonio sits southwest of Austin, with Dallas and Austin it makes up the Texas Triangle. San Antonio is known for its eclectic and vibrant culture, but the city harbors a bloody history. You would not know it today if you walk the quaint San Antonio River Walk or visit the DoSeum. But there’s a hint of the dark past of San Antonio in the spectacular graffiti murals under I-35, and then there’s the Alamo, of course.
San Antonio cools down in the evening, and once you’ve strolled the River Walk once, we have a suggestion to fill an hour of your time in town, join us on River City Ghosts and see the city in a whole new light.
Taking our walking tour will introduce you to new areas of San Antonio and let you see the whole city through a different lens. Did you know the La Villita used to be a run-down district with a crime problem and a resident doctor who boiled the heads of Indians in his front yard to study their skulls?
The fascinating and spooky stories you will encounter on the 8 stops of our standard tour will take you just under an hour and have been thoroughly researched to ensure historical accuracy. We’ll take you to the site of one of the many watery murders of the River City, in a surprising location as well, at one of the most picturesque spots of the San Antonio River Walk!
If you have a taste for the macabre, the haunted, and the spooky, indulge with our extended tour, adding 4 more stops and a half-mile to your trip, depositing you right back at the River Walk, whether you need a drink and a sit-down, or a big dinner after our tour is really a question of your constitution. Still, you’ll have both at your fingertips.
Our historical hauntings have been drawn from reported eye-witness accounts, well-documented written and oral histories, as well as from the work of highly regarded ghost researchers.
The stories you will hear bring the past of this fascinating city to life and these stories are straight out of the history books—the haunted rooms at the Menger Hotel, for example. In the early nineteenth century, San Antonio lacked hospitals for a long time. Instead, people would travel from far and wide and stay at the Menger Hotel and be called upon by one of the city's doctors.
All the drama and death you can imagine at a hospital took place in the tranquil walls of the Menger Hotel, leading to more than a few hauntings. Nowadays, the Children’s Hospital and the Methodist Healthcare system offer much more sanitary surroundings!
San Antonio’s distinctive combination of Mexican, Native American, German, and Modern American cultures is unique to this city. the history of how it came to have such a unique cocktail of cultures is a part of the explanation for why there are so many ghosts.
The long, troubled, and bloody history of San Antonio forms the energetic emissions that produce an environment ripe for those traumatic events to manifest in hauntings. Shocking murders, gruesome wars, tragic deaths, and disturbing occurrences all contribute to this city's history.
Buildings that operate as hotels today were once full-scale hospitals where hundreds of people died of illness and disease. All-consuming fires, shocking murder sprees, and terrible suicides. All these traumatic events contribute to San Antonio’s rich tapestry of unpleasant history and horrible hauntings.
To understand why San Antonio is so haunted, a trip through history is necessary. However, this is not a trip through history that you want to take alone. Our tours give you the collective experience of learning about the spooky side of San Antonio's history but in a fun and engaging format that is guaranteed to thrill you and your family and friends
If you are one of many River City Ghost guests who does see a ghost, we advise you to remain calm, observe, and take a picture if you can!
Ghosts have had it hard. That’s why they are ghosts. Try not to make it any harder, for your fellow tour takers or the spirits we may meet.
San Antonio ghosts can be quick to temper, if you observe our first two rules you should be fine.
We haven’t lost anyone from our tour groups yet, buddy up and avoid becoming a story on our tours!
With rivers everywhere, San Antonio has lost a fair few people to the ‘slip and trip’ category of accidental deaths, watch where you tread and don’t become a statistic.
