Lubbock Stories: Tech folklorist knows where the ghosts are haunting Tech professor emeritus of English, Kenneth Davis, tells a story. In the late 1960s, a distinguished professor from a western engineering school retired and came to Texas Tech University, where he began a chemistry program. The professor was popular and well-liked by students and faculty, said Kenneth Davis, professor emeritus of English at Tech. "He conducted a study hall in Holden Hall and he helped students with first and second semester chemistry," Davis said. Does the angel really shed tears? Here's a brief bit of Lubbock lore. A born and bred Lubbockite told the story of her ritual initiation into a high school peer group one night in late September. The story involved the statue of an angel that dominates the vista near one entrance to the City of Lubbock Cemetery. According to the storyteller, she was in her early teen-age years when she heard the tale. Friends told her that, after sunset, if she ran fast as she could from the front gate of the cemetery to the carved statue and touched the angel's feet, the stone, winged figure would shed tears. The House with the Gables On Oct. 31, 1950, a vacant two-story frame house at the corner of 50th Street and the Tahoka Highway burned to the ground, erasing from the scene what perhaps was the most mysterious landmark in Lubbock's history. Every town has its haunted houses and its legends, and it was around "the house with the gables" that was woven Lubbock's tale of discovered buried treasure and spooks. A haunting tale Old building gives workers eerie feelings Many who work at the Texas Tech Ex-Students Association look as if they've seen a ghost, when actually they say they've only heard and felt its presence. "I used to have these sensations that someone was walking behind me and running their fingers along my back," said Dana Gamble, business manager. CEREBRAL SPECTER When darkness falls in a haunted house... When my editor wanted me to spend the night on Friday the 13th in a haunted house, I jumped at the chance to do it. I'm not into all this booga-booga stuff, but if something should happen, I could get a great story. After I found a haunted house in Lubbock, I bragged to everyone that I knew how I planned to spend the night there. The Lubbock Lights 'Flying whatsits' visited the South Plains several times The 'flying whatsits' continued to zoom through Lubbock skies Friday night as numerous residents reported seeing flashes of light flying at "unbelievable speeds" and at least one person showed up with photographs of what he said he saw in the sky. Identity of the strange objects continued to baffle all who claimed to have seen them and three Texas Tech professors who examined photographs taken by Carl Hart Jr., 18-year-old amateur photographer of 2332 Nineteenth Street, could offer no explanation.
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Original A-J Article about the 'Flying Whatsits'
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Photo of a sign in Lubbock
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1977 Article about the Lubbock Lights
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Computer enhanced photo of the Lubbock Lights
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Area Stories A Haunting Tale Ghost hunter meets match in old hotel The sun had disappeared before I parked at the Commercial Hotel in Floydada. When I got out of the car, the air had a pleasant crispness to it, and an almost-full moon began to make its way across the sky, occasionally veiled by fingers of hazy clouds. As fall nights go, Oct. 26 was perfect for ghost hunting. Michelle Ruddell, new owner of the old hotel, stood holding the screen door for me. She bought the old building recently at an auction, and said she's making it into a Women's Christian Job Corps office called The Maker's Mansion. Wayland's ghost never reached her goal The Plainview campus of Wayland Baptist University is haunted. At least that's what some alumnae believe, including history professor Estelle Owens. The history professor told the story of young woman, perhaps 20 years old, who was obsessed with succeeding as a musician. Plainview High School haunted by Herkie Though no one seems to know exactly when or how the tale began, Plainview High School reportedly has a ghost. According to the book "Phantoms of the Plains: Tales of West Texas Ghosts," by Docia Schultz Williams, a ghost named Herkie is said to haunt the school auditorium. Old Matador jail home to mysterious guest In the tiny town of Matador, a relic of a jail reportedly houses a disembodied soul. Matador, population about 800, is northeast of Lubbock between Plainview and Paducah along Highway 70. The old county jail, in use until a few years ago, was built in 1891, complete with its own trap door for hanging horse thieves, murderers or worse, said Lucretia Campbell, Motley County clerk. Revenant stalks Bailey County jail Frightened jailers have told sheriff's deputies that something haunts the jail in Bailey County. Many jailers and several inmates report that a ghost is loose in the facility, said Deputy Sheriff Eileen Ciampoli. |