Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 29, 1982)
ween olor pigM® mv varied pie able. Oneol 'con ation purp; i 'Bd mall sugai take 's very gooiait's >est kind (ci "It hssixtoeigl 8>out inches in iwer, sniK'agy, t has a high ^an pumpkin! aer varietifi toore for jack ing- said thei f for I , ■ pumnpB.'|ked is of way Mis pumpkin [kTOad fall. TheNi*rys- d candy d ,,v ith kins. AnliKis, i are high i* are as snacks. I : : probably fel role ; poumpb^'O'- tradition ns was te»ed during lhtj?gra- n the 1'- J'rld hideous :;..P of rollowed test'd es — puniiipsil- - and wd®m mdles.li';' ! P art Irish's r I? 115 md saysfer' 0, ‘ lantern" comes an man named jack, who was notorious for drunkeness and stinginess. One evening when Jack was at a local pub, the devil appeared to claim his soul. Jack invited the devil to have a drink. When the devil turned himself into a coin to pay for the drink. Jack snatched it up and put it into his wallet which had a clasp shaped like a cross. The devil was trapped. Jack let the devil go only after Satan promised Jack would be allowed one more year on earth. When the year was up. Jack again play ed a prank on the devil and gained another year. And so it went until finally Jack's body wore out. Barred from heaven because of his sins and from hell be cause of his pranks. Jack, in despera tion, begged the devil for a live coal to light his way out of the darkness. Jack put it into a turnip that he was chew ing, and as the legend goes, walks the earth with his lantern held high, wait ing for Judgement Day. As Jack roams, pumpkins are grow ing all across the United States. Longbrake said most of the pump kins sold in Texas also are grown in Texas. Almost every state grows it's own pumpkins, he said, because of the high cost of shipping the bulky veget able. The pumpkin is a close relative of the squash and belongs to the same family as squash, watermelons, canteloup, honeydew and gourds. It is native to the Americas — primarily the tropics. Tlosts of nuns bin B-CS home Mser W/ fgoblins and 5:•No 1 -' around H, |Verv town i«fc |Ptipn. of town, IjjJI dirt road, tiicp. Only the gjiNe to ven- tgf and then „.Jwus house “ght not be- l It lories of this LMough su- p'many from l this: Ursuline ,,,,1 of nuns, at the site. ScHcome by • tmats, nap- fifor the com- wm of the 58- K had their afl ;| those who f : 'he house. A ted as their g* ft. house in William #jetary in the H c "jhFrance for A 1 ®:.Ps, returned .tb 1 ! to Bryan and purchased the land. When they left, the sisters took the bodies of those buried in the graveyard with them. Many feel the spirits of those bodies remained, however, to haunt those who passed the sacred grove of trees. One gardener at that time, while trimming the grass around the trees, swore he saw three nuns sitting beneath one of them whispering. They flew after him, but disappeared when he screamed. After that time, the grass in the grove would never be cut for fear of disturbing the nuns' spirit. Another story that originates from this house is that German Nazis hid in the basement dur ing World War II. They were sent there by Adolph Hitler, the story goes, to decipher mes sages sent from Allen Academey, which was an Air Force Academy at the time. Whatever the story, the house seems to frighten many who get within a witches cackle of the area. The estate has remained abandoned, so it seems the spir its have been doing their job, and doing it well. Horror stories don't have to come from abandoned houses, however. In Galveston, the staff At Ease, The Battalion Friday, October 29, 1982 staff photo by Jorge Casari Even Bryan-College Station has haunted houses window of this house was seen at dawn. This and ghosts. The supernatural force in the upper deserted — maybe haunted — house is in Bryan. at the historic Ashton Villa has been telling its own ghost stories for quite some time. A bedroom in the restored 1859 house contains a rose- colored taffeta bedspread which seems to have a mind of its own. It refuses to stay made up. No matter how many times the staff straightens the spread, it is mus sed the next time they check it. Some believe that Bettie Brown, a vivacious, flamboyant resident of the house during the late 19th and early 20th century, is the cause of the strange occurrance. It seems that the bedspread lies on a bed which is not part of the original furniture of the house. The bed belonged to another estate down the street before it was donated to Ashton Villa. Some say that Brown might be expressing some ghostly negative feelings about having a neighbor's bed in her home. The spirited bedspread isn't the only strange happening in the house, which is now a museum and tourist attraction. While alive. Brown poured much of her energy into de veloping herself as a painter, and the Villa is filled with her works. One of her larger paint ings contains a gravestone. And, if you are patient enough, the staff claims, you can see dis tinct images appear on it. The one most often seen is of a Sata nic looking demon. Added to the puzzling paint ings is another Ashton Villa mystery — a photograph that shows a "ghost image." Taken in 1901 the picture shows a por tion of the grand Ashton Villa dining room, displaying a fami ly servant stepping into the room with a tray. Perched in the air seven feet above the servant, is a face, stem and solemn and seemingly floating in air. Like most ghost stories, this one has many theorys, but none can be documented. People still believe in spirits, and among them is Judy Schiebel, administrator of Ashton Villa. She admits a close "something" with Brown. It's nothing fearful, she says, it's just a sense of shared fun and devilment. The bedspread caper may be the work of a mischievous ghost or just the result of a lumpy mat tress. The demon in the painting may have been a revelation of Brown's fiery personality, or, a trick of the paintbrush. The "ghost image"? A reflection, a photographer's whimsy? Who knows? The mystery may never be solved. But, as long as there is Halloween their will be ghost stories. And like spirits they will live on forever.