Ghost Stories of Texas written by Joanne Christensen published by Loe Pine Publishing. The
Ghostly Music of the San Bernard River Long Ago by the San Bernard River and
Bizzaria County and Old Hermit Fieldler was ruthlessly murdered by two pirates who sought refuge
inland as a storm raged along the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe it might actually
have been to fiddlers who froze to death beneath a tree on the river bank,
or a musician who threw himself and his instrument into the water after finding
his beautiful fiancee dead of a snake bite only hours before they were to be
wed. Then again, the devastating lover may not have commuted suicide, but
instead moved to a lonely island and the river to spend the rest of his
days making mournful music. It is impossible to know with any certainty what happened.
The stories are numerous and varied and shrouded in the midst of time.
But while the details of the actual tragedy are elusive, the resultant ghost story
has become a well known staple of Texas lore. For more than a century,
people have reported hearing sweet, haunting, other worldly melodies a music bend
on the sand Renown River. It is said to sound like a harp and
even a human voice. It has been described paradoxically as the sweetest and most
terrible music ever heard. It has been heard by many, both skeptics and
believers, and their stories are intriguing. One elderly gentleman lived for a time
with his family, whose house was near the river. Many members of the
family had heard the phantom music at one time or another. They were all
believers. The old fellow scuffed at them. All it's nonsense, he insisted.
To prove his point, he rowed his boat out over a music bind
day after day, and return each night to report that nothing out of the
ordinary had happened. One evening, however, the old man was pale and
chacken when he arrived back at the house. He told his hosts that he
had been rowing over the bend as usual, when a deep chill swept over
him. He felt every hare on his body stand on end, and then
he heard the music. Distant sweet strands of a violin grew closer, filled
the air, and seemed to envelope him in the little boat. I have
heard it, he whispered, and I never want to hear it again.
A similar sentiment was expressed back in nineteen twenty by the members every search party
who received the remains of two drowned girls from the sand Bernard near a music
bend. As the men pulled the lifeless bodies up out of the murky water,
music began to play. It was described as the most beautiful funeral music
imaginable. That said, the searchers all omitted that they never again wanted to
hear such harmonies. On rare occasions, people have reported seeing apparitions near the
haunted place on the river. In one case, a woman was one of
a large number of people enjoying a midnight boating excursion when she saw something she
could not explain. By the bright full moon, she clearly saw a man
on the shore with a brittle over his arm. He moved down the water's
edge, then turned and went back into the woods. This may not have
seemed but for three things. The woman was able to see only the upper
half of the man's body. He seemed to glide rather than walk, and
despite her efforts to point the man out to her companions, the woman found
that she was the only person on the boat that was able to see the
stranger. In another instance, a teenage boy was horseback riding at night along
a road just above the notorious Music Bend when he encountered a man and a
woman sitting in the middle of his path. Their manner was extremely particular,
and the boy's horse refused to advance on the couple. The horse's behavior,
combined with the proximity to the famous haunting waters, was significant to convince the
boy to find another route. Perhaps these strange apparitions are somehow connected to the
legend of the Spectral Melody, or perhaps there is something in the geography of
that small area that encourages ghostly manifestations of all kinds, that, along with
the origin of the haunted music, appears destined to remain a mystery of the San Bernard