I HAVE BEEN THEIR IT IS REALLY FREAKY. I CANT WAIT TO GO BACK.

i have heard that this was a true story on the discovery channel and it is a rather intersting thing to watch i plan to see if it is true during spring break cuz i love san antonio.

oh my god!!!!!! dj rn from dallas tx u are like a faggg!! if any1 agrees with me say I plzz!

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omg we pranked all of yall!!!! every time some1 does that we push there car over!! next time some1 bring a rubber and ill have cex with ya!!!!!!!!just hop out of the car and ill be there!!

P.S. bring more than 1!!!

i have heard of the story but i really havent gone there myself but my friend told me that it is true she showed me pictures and video camera but all i know that if i would have been there i proboly be so scared ill pee!!!!!!!!!!!1

wow!!! thats pretty freaky!!! i wanna go do that someday. if any1 here has been 2 huntsville, tx plz e-mail me at surfer-09@hotmail.com

I saw this story on TV. I believe it was on Haunted HIstory. I do feel sorry for these kids that were on the bus.

yah im sorry i dont think its true. but this story isnt real that i have written its not completed but tell me if you like it so far pleeeeeezzzzzz!

Rene was a woman whom can see ghosts. But only the spirits whom had stayed behind because they either thought that they were still alive or unfinished business with what had been once where they died or un happy –ness. Meanwhile she was helping Lorie sell antique’s in her house. While she was chatting about the job of Lories, mysteriously the door opens of lories dead twelve year old son denials room. It opens and toys started to move around. Lena took slow steps towards the train. Lorie yelled for her to step out of the room. You shouldn’t be in there your terribly rude and nosy. Is this your sons room René said in a scared low voice? Yes and you shouldn’t be in here. Here step aside. (Lorie shuts the door) personally while I’m working in this business I cant keep an eye on you or the photographers for the antiques I have to trust you alright? I said alright!? Yes loud and clear lorie im really sorry I, I saw the door opened and I was coming to shut it and…. Theres no ands or buts! Or whys! Is that clear lene… is it clear!? Yes ma’am. You no I cant….. You…… shouldn’t… I shouldn’t what lorie? Oh im…. Im…… im….. Im sorry, you know for going off on you like that. Its just that I cant stand to see that room. But you should really should stay away from this room! (whaa whaa whaaaaa) Fergie can you get that the babys crying again! Yes madam. (ring ring ring) hold on one sec. (creek, ha ha ha) what the? (slam) lene are you alright? Umm yes fergie im fine. Umm not really I have a question. Okay but why ask me? Well why is lorie so ashamed of this room. Oh its really nothing. Its just memories. Oh boy jess made a poopie, (giggle) ill be right back ok dear, ya. { whispers} oh my gosh, theres something messed up Im going to have to do some research. Ok im back, lene are you okay? Yah just a lil shivery. Oh my sorry I took so long I have a great deal with an antique so it for 1.4 grand. Can you believe it. Wow that’s great lorie. (wha wha wha) isn’t she the most beautiful baby you ever seen? Yes she quite is. { home shopping channel photographers} hey explain this piece of art. This antique is from classical times: derived from a period of ancient history, especially ancient Greece or Rome, or stylistically typical of such a period. a collectible decorative or household object, often a piece of furniture, which is valued because of its age. Thanks lorie. Okay that bout covers it. Now you can go home. Thanks. Yah sure any time.

Chapter 2
Next day back at the house.

(knock knock) hello any one home. (door opened) the heck. You shall not protect her (12 year old boy speaks in a scary voice) how did you see me in my room you starred right at me. Who are you young boy? (boy disappears) oh hello lene, hey fergie. Ehat are you doing here so late? Well I have a question. Ask way. Who is dan? Who? Dan? from the door. Oh hes lories son. Son what son? Her dead son. Maybe you should go!

To be continued.

what ya think about my story?

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I was watching a show on Sci Fi, it was tthe first time I heard the story. It was a show talking about myths that are true or false. the had a woman do the test and her car begin to move across and they also saw prints on the back bumper

i live in brownsville tx and my grandfather had went there and tried it and sad he saw the fingers of little kids the hand prints were only about 3-5 in”
creepy i know

Although i do believe in the spirit world i did some resurch of my own.The train wreck in question did happen..December 1 1938 @ 8:43 am a school bus headed for Jordan High School was hit by a Denver andd Rio Grande Western Railroad it killed 23 students and the bus driver the one thing is that the crash happend 1,100 milles from San Antonio in Midvale Utah…Heres the rest of the story.. LATEST REPORT.

The San Antonio Ghost Children

Digest Number 59

Exploring the facts behind an urban legend.

By Virginia and Daniel Barnett

San Antonio, which sits on the Salado River some 275 miles south of the Dallas/Fort Worth area, is home to an unusual ghost story that caught our attention a few months ago, especially when a film crew invited representatives of the North Texas Skeptics to participate in a documentary to be broadcast on The Discovery Channel in the not-too-distant future.
The North Texas Skeptics are apparently the only active skeptics’ organization in Texas today that we’re aware of, so it was only fitting that one of us ? in this case, Ginny Barnett ? lend some skeptical observations to the film project. Thus, Ginny and Danny made the six-hour trip down Interstate 35 to visit the film crew and the site of the alleged haunting.

Unfortunately, as many of you are now aware, Ginny developed a life-threatening illness down in San Antonio just hours before she was scheduled to appear in front of the camera, so Danny received permission from Ginny to take her place, as well as all of her research notes.

And where did Danny travel to find these ghosts on a sweltering Sunday afternoon in San Antonio? Not to the historic Alamo, where many Mexican soldiers and Texan defenders lost their lives in battle – prime real estate for the restless undead. Not to the nearby Hotel Menger, a lavish landmark believed to be inhabited by its own spectres, including that of the founder of King Ranch. No, Danny instead found himself chasing ghosts at an isolated railroad crossing out in the middle of nowhere with only a 32-oz. cola to help make the 100-degree heat more bearable. And he was far from alone, thanks to the legend of the San Antonio Ghost Children that has drawn historians, paranormal investigators, and the just plain curious from all over to this unassuming locale.

From Legend to Tourist Attraction

According to the legend, sometime in the 1930s or 1940s a San Antonio schoolbus loaded with children stalled on the old Southern Pacific railroad tracks at the bend in the road where Villamain Street turns into Shane Road, not far from the nearby Mission San Francisco de la Espada. A passing train plowed into the bus before anyone had a chance to evacuate; the bus driver and all of the children were killed in the tragic collision. To commemorate the young victims, the city of San Antonio named the streets of a nearby neighborhood after the deceased schoolchildren.

Reports of strange phenomena at the railroad crossing began to surface some time afterwards, with the first such accounts dating back to at least the 1970s. If a car stalls on westbound Shane Road 80-100 feet from the tracks, or if someone just stops their car at that same point and puts the car in neutral, an unseen force will push that car down the road, over the railroad tracks, and safely out of the path of any oncoming train. Dust the car with talcum powder, and mysterious fingerprints show up on the back of the car. Why, this must be the work of those poor schoolchildren killed so many years ago, forever pushing automobiles over the railroad tracks to prevent motorists from sharing their fate!

But wait, there’s more. Doubters were told that westbound Shane Road is actually an upward grade, which meant that the cars weren’t simply rolling downhill and over the tracks; the ghost children had to be pushing the cars uphill to clear the railroad crossing. Some who have visited the site also claim that the cries of these children can even be heard on occasion.

When Danny drove out to the site to rendezvous with a film crew from Actuality Productions in connection with the Discovery Channel project, he also found a steady stream of people driving up in their automobiles to experience the phenomena themselves. Sports cars, hatchbacks, SUVs, and even the occasional heavy truck attempted the experiment, positioning themselves at an appropriate spot on Shane that someone had marked on the pavement with fluorescent red paint. With only a couple of exceptions, all of them cleared the tracks ? traveling uphill, mind you ? and rolled onto Villamain. Even Danny’s car cleared the tracks in 3 out of 4 attempts.

Many of the drivers came prepared with bottles of baby powder to sprinkle on their trunks and rear bumpers. Unexplained fingerprints started popping up on the car almost as soon as the talcum hit. This understandably caused a lot of excitement with some folks. Various people came up to Danny swearing that this whole ghost thing had to be true; how much more proof did the skeptics need?

Ghost Story or Fish Story?

When Ginny researched the story of the “Haunted Railroad Crossing,” as the legend is sometimes known, she found a few problems with the original story. For starters, nobody could pin an exact date on the accident from which the story sprang. To complicate matters, not a single newspaper in Texas has ever documented any such accident taking place in San Antonio, not even The San Antonio Express-News. But Ginny didn’t let up; after some diligent research and a few phone calls, she finally got what she was looking for.

The accident occurred on December 1, 1938. At 8:43 a.m., a school bus loaded with students was heading for Jordan High School. Visibility was severely compromised by a snowstorm and heavy fog when the bus crossed the railroad tracks. The Flying Ute, a freight locomotive belonging to the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, plowed into the bus, killing 23 Jordan students as well as the bus driver. It was the worst motor vehicle accident in American history at that time.

There was just one little detail that somehow got overlooked. The accident took place in the small town of Midvale, Utah, which sits just south of Salt Lake City ? some 1,100 miles northwest of San Antonio.

So how did this tragic event develop into a San Antonio ghost legend? Owing to its very nature, the story quickly spread across the nation, appearing in newspapers everywhere from The New York Times to The San Antonio Express-News. The latter paper, for whatever reason, ran the story for about 10 days, including gruesome details of the accident. The local media saturation may have resulted in San Antonio residents telling their children that the wreck happened locally, completely forgetting about the Salt Lake City dateline. As for the streets near the railroad tracks allegedly named after the young victims, they were instead named by the subdivision developer after his grandchildren.

Now all we had to do was figure out why those cars were rolling uphill over the railroad tracks. And where were those fingerprints coming from?

Running “Up” That Hill

Jonathan Levitt of Actuality Productions spent a lot of time with some local surveyors who took careful measurements of the grade of Shane Road as it approached the tracks. While Danny didn’t record their exact readings, the surveyors did report something fascinating about that uphill grade that the ghost children push cars over ? turns out it isn’t uphill after all, but rather downhill for most of the stretch. It certainly looks uphill to many people approaching the tracks, but stand on the shoulder of the road next to the tracks and you may detect a slight downward slope. It’s all a perfectly natural but nevertheless convincing optical illusion.

Alamo City Paranormal, a local organization that conducts its own paranormal investigations, also had the road surveyed a while back. According to their findings as reported by Katie Phillips of the Lone Star Spirits Web site, if someone starts 80 feet away from the tracks and moves westward toward the tracks, the road slopes downhill about 12 inches in a span of 65 feet. The road levels off for 5-7 feet and then rises 6 inches over the remaining 8-10 feet.

The point is that if you set your car in neutral gear 80 feet away from the tracks, the car will slowly roll downhill for 65 feet, gaining enough momentum to carry that car over the small uphill slope and the railroad tracks until it’s dumped onto northbound Villamain. It’s an explanation that doesn’t involve poltergeists ? only a little basic physics.

As for the fingerprints showing up on people’s cars, many people wash their cars to remove dirt and older fingerprints before they drive over the tracks in order to avoid picking up their own prints. Their cars are definitely clean – but only up to a certain point. Just as traces of blood can be discovered with Luminol on floors and carpets despite careful cleaning, fingerprints demonstrate a similar resiliency due to the oils secreted by fingers that cause the prints (ask any criminal investigator). These oils are surprisingly durable and resistant, and can remain on most car surfaces, including chrome, for weeks or even years despite various rainstorms and trips to the car wash. This is yet another reason why museum curators become displeased if anyone touches the exhibits. Your best bet would be to wash the car with a degreaser rather than traditional car washing compounds and then see if any fingerprints show up after the car clears the tracks.

And the occasional screams heard at the site? There’s a peacock farm on Shane Road not too far away from the tracks. Suffice it to say that not all birds go “tweet-tweet.”

While the story of the San Antonio Ghost Children is indeed fascinating, our investigation seems to cast doubt on any poltergeist activity at the railroad tracks, providing scientific explanations for many of the phenomena observed at the site. Ours is by no means the last word on this subject, as some folks also claim to have captured ghosts on photographs and videotape at the crossing. We’ll leave such images for another time, though, especially considering that if any haunting resulted from the bus crash, it seems more reasonable to expect the ghosts to appear in a small Utah town instead of in San Antonio.

Special thanks to Scott Goldie, Jonathan Levitt, and the rest of the crew from Actuality Productions as well as Jim Lindsey of Jim Lindsey Productions. Watch for the North Texas Skeptics on the Actuality Productions program Miracle Hunters, to be broadcast on the Discovery Channel either later this year or in early 2004.

______________________________________________________________________________

SAN ANTONIO
– This is one San Antonio ghost story that refuses to die.

Many people have heard the story of the “ghost tracks,” reported on by the San Antonio Express-News. The legend holds that sometime in the 1930s (or maybe 1940s or 1950s, depending on who is telling the story), a school bus stalled as it crossed over a set of railroad tracks on the South Side. A train crashed into the bus, killing the children and the driver.

Some people say the ghosts of the children remain to push other stalled vehicles across the tracks and avoid another tragedy. Others say talcum powder sprinkled on the trunks of their cars will reveal children’s handprints on the trunk.

Some say the streets, with names like Cindy Sue and Laura Lee, are named in honor of the dead children.

Others say, at night, you can hear the cries of the children.

Docia Williams, who has written two books about local ghost stories, says it’s a bunch of hooey.

“The more I wrote it, the more doubtful I got about the whole thing,” Williams said.

One thing that’s certain, said Margaret Madrid, who has lived on Laura Lee Road for the last 15 years, is that hordes of people will pay a visit to the tracks this week as part of their Halloween fun. The tracks are located where Villamain Road turns into Shane Road and intersects with the Southern Pacific Railroad near Mission Espada.

Madrid, 60, said she used to go out to the site and do the same thing when she was in high school.

“We used to come out here also for that,” Madrid said.

The situation is always the same. A car full of teens will drive onto the tracks, put their car in neutral and wait to be “pushed” to safety by the children. Then, they’ll pull off to the side of the road and sprinkle some kind of powder on the trunk of the car to look for tiny fingerprints.

Madrid has seen it over and over at all times of the day and at all times of the year. But the traffic peaks close to Halloween, so much so that curious ghost hunters have to wait in line.

“We see kids there all the time,” Madrid said. “We see girls out by themselves there, looking.”

Madrid said the real concern is for the visitors to the area. Lighting is bad, and the condition of the roads has deteriorated over the years.

“I keep fussing with (railroad and city officials), and it needs to be fixed up,” Madrid said.

But is the legend true?

In a word, “no,” according to Williams.

In researching her books, Williams sifted through decades of newspaper clippings. She interviewed current and former railroad employees. For everyone who said they had heard of the legend, she pressed for details.

And each time, nobody could offer proof the collision ever happened.

The street names offer no proof because Tom McCreless, brother of Gordon Sealie McCreless, who built the McCreless Mall, developed the subdivision. Tom McCreless named the streets after his grandchildren.

“So much for that story,” Williams said.

But what about testimony from people who say their cars really are pushed over the tracks?

Williams said she believes that’s just gravity acting on an oddly sloped roadway.

But what about the fingerprints on the backs of people’s cars?

“My husband was in the Department of Public Safety for 37 years,” Williams said. “He says those fingerprints can be around a long time.”

Twentieth century history also helps to debunk the legend.

Jo Myler, manager of the Texana /Genealogy Room at the San Antonio Public Library, said the accident could not have taken place during the 1930s, because school buses were not state-mandated until 1948. That means the streets were named years before school districts had to provide transportation.

And if the crash occurred sometime in the 1950s, “I think I would probably remember something like that,” Madrid said.

So if the legend is not true, how did it ever get started? Williams said teen-age boys probably made up the stories to scare their girlfriends.

“I think that’s exactly what’s happened,” Williams said.

But what about the cries of the children?

“Another story says that on late afternoons, when it’s misty and cold and damp, you can hear moans and cries of those poor little spirits,” Williams said. “If you listen close, you can hear it’s coming from the peacock farm right up the road. They can really squawk.”
Sorry guys not this one…..

hey i do belive in ya i have been there and we stoped and i noticed we were going up hill and i was told that a bus stoped and it couldnt go and the train crashed and the streets are now named after the kids. and if you dont belive in it you should go there yourself.and then hopefully you belive in it. thanx

THIS STORY IS PRETTY FREAKY AND I WOULD LOVE TO JUST GO THERE TO SEE IF IT IS TRUE.