The Devils Backbone Tavern Ghosts

I know how things used to work in rural Texas. In the 1930s and 40s I spent a lot of time at Pollok in Angelina County. There were places that were only known by descriptive names. Here are a few: family names were used like roads named Fenley Flat and Edwards Loop instead of numbers like they are now. Other locations used place names like The River Bottom (Angelina River at the one easy access road. If you said you are going Across The River (Neches) that would be to buy alcohol and drink in a wet County. If you had fish to sell you would go to The Sawmill (Keltys was a company town).

That was all changed on July 1, 1963 when the whole country was assigned Zip Code numbers based partly on local reasons. With past ghostly events in Hays County, it accepted the zip code of 78666 as recognition of it's history. I am not trying to settle which came first the chicken or the egg but Devil's Backbone Road existed long before the Zip Code.

In the fall of 1963 - it was deer hunting season in Hays County. Four of us hunting on the D Ranch decided to stop for a beer on Ranch Road 32 otherwise known as the Devils Backbone. The name is partly because the road follows a local mountain chain. What happened during this time frame was very much like a step back into the then popular TV show of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone.

Beginning at Ranch to Market Road 12 (RM12) in Wimberley, Ranch Road 32 travels west to US281 south of Blanco. I think most Texans know of it. The highway known as Devils Backbone is only 24 miles long.

I have written about Roadside Mile Marker 666 on I-10. Purgatory Road and Devil's Backbone intersection are near the west and north boundaries of zip 78666. Purgatory is also a place believed by some religions after death to purify the soul.

For about 15 years or more, Don invited friends to gather a few times a year for a week or a week-end at D Ranch we would renew our comradeship with hunting, shooting pool and playing poker and chainsaw cutting cedar while drinking beer. We also told all our best old stories, one more time, just so we didn't forget how to tell them. We brought our rifles and other shooting irons to accompany us into the deer stands that we had built over many years. Have you ever heard the song that says a pistol is the devils right hand? Naturally some of our time was spent trying to kill a deer. Most of our time was spent doing what we called - BEING TEXAN.

On this particular November 1963 visit, all week end football telecasts were cancelled because of a Dallas event. Football telecasts were a big part of our entertainment at the ranch. That being the case four of us decided this would be a good time to ride the Devils Backbone Road. We had heard of awesome views from this road built on a mountain ridge.

The road is not Rocky Mountain high at 1250 feet elevation, but we were higher than the ground around us. The Devils Backbone Tavern eventually appeared in front us and our thirst helped us decide to stop. The Tavern is on the south side of the road near the Hays County line. The four of us walked in and went to the small end of the "L" shaped bar. In the vernacular it is what we call the gunfighters seats. That means seats positioned so that when someone comes in the door, you can see who is coming in and judge his attitude. The long part of the bar seats your backside facing the door.

The Barkeeper came over to our small section of bar and said, "I won't serve you in these seats, you will have to move.'" We thought - Well, what the hell? He said something to the effect those seats are reserved for men who are dead now but when occupied by others it causes changes to occur in this place. He said that the customers here change and begin to act belligerent. The images on that wall (he motioned - behind the long bar) sometimes move. Just take a seat at one of the tables over there. Puzzled - Our thirst encouraged us to do as he said and quickly.

As he recited that story we thought it was according to some legend. Or maybe the driver misjudged a curve killing all of them on their way here for their usual visit. None of us were aware of the mysterious stories from this areas past.

We discussed our belief of what we thought we heard. When finished with our beers we instinctively looked over our shoulders behind us and then walked out the door. We got in our car and left. I don't remember any of us discussing this happening that day or all the years that have passed since.

Now fast forward 54 years to 2017. It is time for my old hunting buddy, Gene, and I to meet to swap stories of our original trip to the Devils Backbone Tavern. While we waited I asked the lady bartender to tell me about the ghost stories that have been written about this place. She would only say - they vary, and walked away.

Gene arrived and we renewed our old acquaintances, and drank our beers. I shared my remembrances of the original trip here and he agreed he remembered that day. Gene read the notes that I had written and his attention was really pulled in when he remembered we were in the gunfighter's seats back then. That old west expression helps you realize it's the ghosts of the gunfighters who haunt this tavern. They get upset when other people sit in their seats. You bet that is Trouble spelled with a capital T. The expression I use in situations like this is -- people begin to be hombres - bad hombres. Experience tells you don't mess around with these men whether they are present or their ghosts from the past.

Gene and I have always been friends but have not necessarily always agreed. At times we could be like two desperados waiting on a train. This time Gene said I really hit the nail on the head about the chill that we felt when the thought about four ghosts were on our tails. He recalled the gunfighter's seat means facing the door and only having to shift your eyes to know if trouble just walked in the door.

Now that small section of the bar is no where in the room. Over the years this was probably someone's idea of how to eliminate others from sitting in that reserved position. Gene and I witnessed nothing of a ghostly nature in 1963 or now in 2017. That does not affect our belief in the past claims made here or other claims now of the dead interacting with the living as described in my story of Seul Choix Point, MI.


December 2, 2017
Copyright Ken Rudine