What’s Halloween without a few ghost stories? From ghastly apparitions to unexplainable phenomena, the Brazos Valley is purportedly home to some of the most haunted locations in Texas. Some such examples include the hallowed halls of downtown Bryan’s LaSalle Hotel, the abandoned classrooms of Hearne’s Old Hearne High School, and the worn gravestones of Calvert’s Sterling Cemetery.
Fred, the Friendly Ghost
One of the oldest haunts in downtown Bryan is the LaSalle Hotel. The hotel has been home to various businesses since it was built in 1928, from a traveler’s motel to a nursing facility. It was abandoned for a time until the LaSalle Hotel opened in 2000, according to Cindy Peaselee, the hotel’s former general manager.
“One of the original developers was up on the roof taking measurements with a metal measuring tape when it hit some exposed wires,” Peaselee says. “He was electrocuted and fell off the roof.”
Some believe that the developer’s ghost still lives at the LaSalle, checking on the building and helping out the living from beyond the grave. Peaselee and other employees had taken to calling the entity
‘Fred’ and even called for his help from time to time, Peaselee says.
“One of the managers was trying to get up the roof hatch and the hatch weighs 70 pounds, so she was having trouble moving it,” she says. “Frustrated, she said ‘Fred, open this hatch for me!’ and it just went right up.”
On another occasion while conversing with other staff members, Peaselee noticed a bright flash of light swoop past her and into the ceiling. “The only thing that struck us as odd was each one of us ducked out of the way … that tells us that it was a dimensional entity.”
Despite her experience, Peaselee believes the spirits at the LaSalle are harmless. “I always thought [Fred] was cute and entertaining,” she says.
Just Keep Rolling
The now demolished Old Hearne High School was built in 1930, down the road from a massive slave cemetery, which was (supposedly) later moved in the 1940s. (All that remains of the cemetery today is the grave of a former slave, Hollie Tatnell. She is buried on the median of Wheelock Street, a few blocks from Hearne’s main drag, because her descendants refused to move her from her final resting place.)
Throughout Old Hearne High School’s history, it has been a high school, a middle school, and a Boys and Girls Club. It was finally torn
down in 2016. No one knows if the old cemetery has anything to do with the school’s supposed hauntings, though it didn’t help dull the school’s creepy atmosphere, says Casey Unger, founder of TFC Paranormal Research.
Unger visited the school with her team and some locals in late 2015. “It’s a common tactic of paranormal researchers to set up situations in which an object is placed, and whatever spirit or entity that is there is invited to show their presence by moving it,” Unger says.
She and teammate Edwardo Elizardo placed a dusty baseball they found in the building against an upstairs banister, she recalls. The entire group left the school to go to the gym housed in a separate building, and when they returned, Unger says the ball was gone.
Elizardo and Unger were in an auditorium down the hall from where the ball was originally set up, Unger says. “To my sheer amazement, I saw the ball come rolling out of a row of seats and hit my foot.”
An Ancestor’s Blessing
Welcome to Sterling, a small settlement abandoned and forgotten for decades until the Calvert
Historical Foundation decided to restore the Sterling Cemetery.
Established in the 1830s during the Texas Revolution, the town of Sterling was home to Robert Calvert and several other pioneer families, according to Jennifer Caudle, president of the Calvert Historical Foundation.
“After the Civil War, Calvert and his associates wanted the Houston and Texas Central Railway to be built by Sterling,” Caudle says. “The railroad company said [Sterling] was too close to the Brazos River, but they said they could build it two miles east.” So the pioneers picked up everything and moved to be closer to the railway, settling in modern-day Calvert, Caudle says.
The only thing left behind was the cemetery. “A paranormal group contacted me and wanted me to walk them through the cemetery,” Caudle says. “I’m taking them around, and this one lady comes to me and says, ‘There’s a small man standing over there in a long black coat and black hat and he’s smiling,’” Caudle remembers. “I’m not a believer, so I just brush it off.”
A few minutes later, another woman who hadn’t been part of the previous conversation approached Caudle and told her the same thing. Caudle asked if the coat looks like a judge’s robes and the woman concurred.
“Robert Calvert was a judge,” Caudle says. “Both of them said, ‘He’s happy about what your organization is doing in restoring the cemetery.’’’ As Caudle reflected on the conversation, she remembers, “It was very sweet.”
Bryan Ghost Tours
Fridays and Saturdays, Sept. 17–Nov. 6; Sunday, Oct. 31
Private tours offered year-round.
Family tours at 7 p.m.; Adult tours at 9:15 p.m.
Begins at:
Carnegie History Center
111 S. Main St., Bryan
Cost: Senior and military: $10; Students: $14; Kids under 12: $12; Adults: $18
For more information on tickets and tours, visit bryanghostwalk.com.