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Ghostly Chills: The Devil's Backbone 2
The author describes his encounters with the ghosts of the Devil's Backbone region of Texas and offers reports of spooky experiences shared by other residents of the area.
92 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2017
Sometimes I just feel lazy when it comes to reviewing books that are part of a series. Especially in this case where there is an entire set of books that are essentially similar in form and content. Thus I will need to steal the introductory paragraph from my review of the first volume in these engaging folk histories of the beautiful and spooky area of Central Texas known as The Devil’s Backbone.
I was an anthropology major in college, with a specialty in archeology. I also enjoyed my cultural anthropology classes too, particularly those that dealt with regional folklore and the ability of oral storytelling to document the history of a particular area through stories and songs. Storytelling traditions are a powerful way to learn firsthand about the people who inhabit the backroads and other out of the way spaces that we might overlook if we only familiarize ourselves with general and popular histories. A lot of what we might describe as folk storytelling might fall under the category of “tall tales”. These are stories that might have a grain of truth that has been embellished for effect, or they might be outright fabrications that nonetheless feature a local personality or geographical attraction. Ghost stories and campfire rounds are particularly effective and fun ways to learn about the history and topography of a town or area.
Local Texas Hill Country author and folklorist Bert Wall has been collecting and telling tales about The Devil's Backbone for years now. “Ghostly Chills” is his second book detailing some of the ghostly stories that he has heard and/or personally experienced around the area.
The Devil's Backbone is a legendary paranormal hotspot located along a five-mile stretch of highway along Ranch Road 32 between the towns of Wimberly and Blanco. It's a scenic drive with a nice observation area and an elevation of over 1200 feet. You can see for miles from the highest points along the ridge. Comanche and Kiowa Indians used the area extensively and there is also evidence of Spaniard activity in scattered spots. It's not surprising that a land this beautiful and primal would have stories to tell, and I'm positive that the region has yet to divulge all of its secrets.
This is homespun folk writing in the truest sense. It isn't the embellished work of professional writers, only Wall telling these tales straight-up and his wife typing them out with little in the way of fanfare. Only one story really came across as scary, that of the family forced to move out of their new home by angry spirits. Most of the tales describe residual haunts or fairly benevolent intelligent encounters. All of the stories touch deeply on the immense presence of the land itself, as if the overwhelming beauty and ruggedness of the Devil's Backbone itself was a looming character in the book.
One can't deny that this particular region of the Texas Hill Country has a distinct sense of `Place' with a capital P. It's one of those areas that just seems like it has a thousand stories to tell, a place where the land itself is charged with a dynamic energy. I'm thankful that there are people like Bert Wall who are willing to bend an ear and listen to a few of the tales that the land has to tell.
I heartily recommend grabbing a couple of these thin volumes the next time you go on an overnight camping trip. Reading a few of these yarns out loud to your camp group should provide for some fun chills and more than a few laughs. You might even have a hard time going to sleep when things quiet down and you can hear that light breeze stirring up the woods….that light crack of sticks that sound like someone walking around outside of your tent…...
I was an anthropology major in college, with a specialty in archeology. I also enjoyed my cultural anthropology classes too, particularly those that dealt with regional folklore and the ability of oral storytelling to document the history of a particular area through stories and songs. Storytelling traditions are a powerful way to learn firsthand about the people who inhabit the backroads and other out of the way spaces that we might overlook if we only familiarize ourselves with general and popular histories. A lot of what we might describe as folk storytelling might fall under the category of “tall tales”. These are stories that might have a grain of truth that has been embellished for effect, or they might be outright fabrications that nonetheless feature a local personality or geographical attraction. Ghost stories and campfire rounds are particularly effective and fun ways to learn about the history and topography of a town or area.
Local Texas Hill Country author and folklorist Bert Wall has been collecting and telling tales about The Devil's Backbone for years now. “Ghostly Chills” is his second book detailing some of the ghostly stories that he has heard and/or personally experienced around the area.
The Devil's Backbone is a legendary paranormal hotspot located along a five-mile stretch of highway along Ranch Road 32 between the towns of Wimberly and Blanco. It's a scenic drive with a nice observation area and an elevation of over 1200 feet. You can see for miles from the highest points along the ridge. Comanche and Kiowa Indians used the area extensively and there is also evidence of Spaniard activity in scattered spots. It's not surprising that a land this beautiful and primal would have stories to tell, and I'm positive that the region has yet to divulge all of its secrets.
This is homespun folk writing in the truest sense. It isn't the embellished work of professional writers, only Wall telling these tales straight-up and his wife typing them out with little in the way of fanfare. Only one story really came across as scary, that of the family forced to move out of their new home by angry spirits. Most of the tales describe residual haunts or fairly benevolent intelligent encounters. All of the stories touch deeply on the immense presence of the land itself, as if the overwhelming beauty and ruggedness of the Devil's Backbone itself was a looming character in the book.
One can't deny that this particular region of the Texas Hill Country has a distinct sense of `Place' with a capital P. It's one of those areas that just seems like it has a thousand stories to tell, a place where the land itself is charged with a dynamic energy. I'm thankful that there are people like Bert Wall who are willing to bend an ear and listen to a few of the tales that the land has to tell.
I heartily recommend grabbing a couple of these thin volumes the next time you go on an overnight camping trip. Reading a few of these yarns out loud to your camp group should provide for some fun chills and more than a few laughs. You might even have a hard time going to sleep when things quiet down and you can hear that light breeze stirring up the woods….that light crack of sticks that sound like someone walking around outside of your tent…...
September 5, 2022
Unfortunately boring. Easy read and finished within a couple of hours. Could've been more interesting if it was written differently.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews