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Best Tales of Texas Ghosts

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Renowned storyteller Docia Williams gathers a medley of some of the best haunting stories from her four previous books-Spirits of San Antonio and South Texas, Phantoms of the Plains, Ghosts Along the Texas Coast, and When Darkness Falls-then she adds a hundred pages of new ghostly tales from the Piney Woods of East Texas and from North Central Texas, including the Dallas area.

Once again Mrs. Williams brings to light tangible evidence and eyewitness testimony in Best Tales of Texas Ghosts to validate an illusive world without dimension, one filled with bizarre and disturbing accounts of unexplained presences.

After interviewing hundreds of people with firsthand experiences and personally witnessing eerie manifestations, she has concluded, "There are things happening all around us that can only be labeled as supernatural."

404 pages, Paperback

First published March 25, 1998

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Docia Schultz Williams

9 books7 followers

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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 28, 2022
👻👻👻👻👻
This book was pretty awesome! It was on display at my library because it's "spooky month"! So it was literally the perfect time to read this!
I had to read this during the day because it was really scary! (I guess that's the point of the book, and it worked!) Being from Texas, I like that this Collection of ghost stories was specific to the state of Texas!!

I believe in demons. I believe everything in the book is truth. Demons mimic people's souls even after they pass on. These stories were riveting.

Sometimes the storytelling was lazily done and I would've liked way more details, but overall, this book was great.

I really enjoyed the author's poems scattered through the book, too.

Sometimes the author used to many exclamation points and cheesy words, so that the ghost encounters felt less credible.


Several times the author described certain photos that were taken of buildings or of ghosts themselves, and i wonder why she didn't put any of these photographs in the book. For sure she could have asked the owners of the pictures if she could publish them in the book. I was extremely disappointed by this. She mentioned one picture and said that it was up on display for all to see. Why didn't she put it in the book? It was the polaroid photo of the ghost at the Alamo Street Restaurant.

The chapter "Joe Lee Never Left Nederland" was super cool. This story was never told or published before this book!

In a lot of chapters the author spent more time talking about the history around the place the ghost encounter happened, and this was annoying at times. She told more than was necessary sometimes.
Not a big deal though!

Personal note: this book took me 11 days total to read, but I had to take five days off for personal reasons, so i really read this in 6! ☺️
Profile Image for Julia S. Akins.
2 reviews
July 6, 2023
I’m not much of a non-fiction reader but this was really interesting to read for someone who lives in Texas. I marked some of the locations down to visit for San Antonio.
Profile Image for Twila Godinez.
Author 8 books7 followers
December 31, 2024
Good stories, but very superficial. Lots of short surface level stories. Completely left out the central Texas region....maybe there is another book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Laura.
1,937 reviews27 followers
November 9, 2011
I've had this book forever and this was probably the third or fourth time I've read it. I seem to be compelled to read Docia Schultz Williams around Halloween.

I like the stories because they're all Texas-based. I'd like it better if, rather than describing photos taken of mysterious occurrences, the photos were published. From the way the book reads, she collects stories from around the state and then interviews some people or visits the place.

This is a "best of" collection. I don't agree with all her choices but it's nice to get a glimpse of stories from across the state.
Profile Image for Amy.
669 reviews
July 1, 2008
What's really cool about reading the ghost stories of different regions is that you find out history that you probably wouldn't have heard of, otherwise. I learned some incredible stuff about places in Texas which are no longer highly populated or as "important" to the state, but they had been in previous times. I wish I could go explore the historical sites in Waxahachie and Jefferson, Texas, myself.

The story telling is slightly weak at times, but still strong enough to give me chills at others.
Profile Image for Kristy.
646 reviews
August 9, 2015
While it does get a little repetitive, and some of the pieces hold together better than others, this is a pretty fun read. Surprisingly (or maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise) there is also a lot of Texas history in here, and that probably ended up being my favorite part. The author has obviously spent a lot of time researching and getting to know the people who bring her their ghostly experiences, and her fascination for the subject really shows.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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