Haunting Day Trips

Hit the road for these 6 spooky trips to Central Texas

With Halloween approaching, it's time for a spooky road trip. In general, road trips are a fantastic way to break up the monotony of daily life and simply escape. Add a little seasonal spooky to that, and you're in for a real treat.

The following destinations come with history and lots of lore, they are creepy and interactive, and — best of all — they are all in Central Texas.

Grand Central Cafe
The Grand Central Cafe wasn’t always a cafe — or even located in Kingsland. The Queen Anne-style Victorian cottage was the principal location in the 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was shot in Round Rock. In 1998, the current owners purchased, dismantled, and moved the house to Kingsland, across the street from the historic Antlers Inn. The cafe offers American-style breakfast, lunch, and dinner options — with Leatherface nowhere in sight.

1010 King Ct., Kingsland

Victoria's Black Swan Inn
Chances are you’ve never heard of Victoria’s Black Swan Inn. The Victorian-era mansion was built in 1867 on the site of the 1842 Battle of Salado Creek (now called The Battle of Rosillo Creek). The inn, which functions more as an event venue these days, has a history rife with tales of tragedy, and, purportedly, the hauntings to back it up. Experience it for yourself every Friday night on one of the inn’s popular ghost tours. If creeping around a haunted house at night isn’t your thing, the inn also offers brunch every second Sunday.

1006 Holbrook Rd., San Antonio

The Devil's Backbone Tavern
Blink and you might just might miss this tiny roadside beer joint and live music venue. The Devil’s Backbone Tavern was built in 1932 and is situated at one of the most picturesque lookout points along FM 32 in Comal County. Inside you’ll find a charmingly aged aesthetic with old hardwood floors, stone walls, and even a bullet hole above the front window. Over the years, the Devil’s Backbone Tavern has garnered an almost cult status through its appearances in song (Todd Snider’s “The Ballad of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern”) and film (Drop Dead Sexy). It’s the tavern’s reputation for being haunted, however, that gives the bar an added, spooky draw. Be warned, this establishment is cash-only and shutters at midnight.

4041 FM 32, Fischer

Liberty Tree Tavern
The Liberty Tree Tavern is the epitome of a Hill Country dive bar: old and friendly and replete with cold, cheap beer. The building dates back to the early 1900s and, at one point, was the site of the town funeral home and mortuary. Presumably, this fact is where the bar draws most of its ghost stories.

117 N. Main St., Elgin

Old Coupland Inn & Dancehall
The Old Coupland Inn & Dancehall is probably the most popular place in Coupland. The building was constructed in 1904 and, over the years, housed a drug company, hardware store, newspaper offices, grocery, and possibly even a brothel. It is the latter that many blame for the alleged haunted activity onsite. Nevertheless, the Old Coupland Inn & Dancehall is a rare historical treat to behold, a slice of Texas history and culture about 40 minutes outside of Austin.

102 Hoxie St., Coupland

Caldwell County Jail Museum
Spend the day locked up at the historic Caldwell County Jail Museum. The dominating red brick structure, built in the Norman castellated style of architecture, served as the fourth Caldwell County jail from the early 1900s until 1983. The five-story building contains nine main cells on the second, third, and fourth floors, as well as a basement, which served as solitary confinement (and storage). The jail cells are foreboding, claustrophobic, and quite spooky in their aged, untouched state.

314 E. Market St., Lockhart

Victoria's Black Swan Inn, in San Antonio.

Victoria's Black Swan Inn/Facebook

Victoria's Black Swan Inn, in San Antonio.

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Airline News

American Airlines launches new gate program to foil early boarders

Photo courtesy of American Airlines

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Fort Worth-based American Airlines has launched a new system to catch passengers who try to sneak ahead in line.

According to a release, the airline is deploying a program in which technology is used to deter passengers who try to board before their official boarding group has been called.

Passengers who try to board early will not only hear a beep when they scan their boarding pass, but a tattletale message will pop up on the scanner, alerting the American Airlines employee of the passenger's correct group.

The airline trialed this modern technology over the past month at Albuquerque International Sunport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and Tucson International Airport. It will now be deployed at more than 100 airports across the U.S.

If a customer boards before their assigned group is called, the new software will not accept the boarding pass and instead makes an audible sound to alert the gate agent and customer that the group has not yet been called. In these instances, the American team member will invite the customer to rejoin the line when their boarding group is called.

According to a story in the NY Post, airline employees have a name for these people: “gate lice."

A statement from American Airlines says that those passengers who are paying for early access should get their just desserts. People who are paying extra are mad when others get the same benefits.

"The new technology is designed to ensure customers receive the benefits of priority boarding with ease," it says.

Surely a factor is the way American Airlines' current boarding system has become an exercise in the haves vs. the have-nots, with nine levels of boarding groups, from elite status members and credit card holders all the way down to the Basic Economy nobodies. It's gotten worse since the pandemic, with extra charges applied to every element of flying, including a charge if you want to choose your own seat.

As an explanation of why people might do it, the NY Post cites a theory that travelers try to get ahead "out of a tendency of conformity and a sense of competition."

Public shaming is a powerful motivator, and Larry David fans would surely agree that line-cutters should always be called out — but in this case, there is an actual valid reason for trying to get a jump in line, and that can be summed up in two words: overhead bins.

Too many travelers place their luggage in overhead bins that are not located over their seats. Who has not seen the guy breezily stash his suitcase in whatever bin is closest? And this is an inequity that is not addressed by flight attendants, who admittedly have enough on their hands.

But the fact remains that if you get on the plane when your boarding group boards, the odds are slimmer that your designated overhead bin is going to have room for your suitcase.

If the airline is not going to enforce the overhead bin situation, then it's hardly fair to blame gate lice for worrying about where their suitcase is going to end up — or worse, whether they'll face the horror of having to get their bag checked at the last minute because some other passenger stole their overhead space.

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