Beaumont, Texas 1926

A woman from Beaumont, Texas shared a great story with me tonight. The story is from her grandmother, who was Miss. Beaumont in 1921 and went on to the Miss America pageant. The story was reported in the local newspaper when everything came to light years after these events.

It all started around 1926. She and her husband lived in a little house, hallway down the middle, rooms on either side. Well, her husband did shift work, so she was alone a lot at odd hours. One night she was sitting in bed reading when a man appeared at the foot of her bed. Top hat, tails, very fancy. She said "What do you want?" and got no response. Again she asked, and he turned and walked into the wall.

She told her husband about it and he told her she was crazy. But later he found himself working nights and they were in bed in the middle of the day and the man appeared again. He just about came unglued, but she asked the man again, "What do you want?" Again, he just looked at her then turned around and walked into her wall.

Months after this her cousin came to visit. One afternoon she was in the bathroom, right off the bedroom, washing her hair in the sink, alone in the house. A shadow passed behind her and she called to Miss. Beaumont. No answer. There was a screened-in porch off the bathroom and the only way to enter it was to go through the bathroom, past her. She saw a shadow moving by the porch and again called out. Finally, she lifted her head out of the sink and standing in the doorway to the porch was the man in the top hat and tails. She fainted.

When the woman's grandmother came back, her cousin told her she could not stay with her anymore and left.

They moved away from the house and in 1938 all the houses on the block were torn down. Miss. Beaumont went to the demolition crew and asked them to let her know if they found anything when they tore down that house and gave them her name and number.

When they got to that wall they tore it down and found a door. They opened it up and there was a small room, inside was a skeleton in a top hat and tails with a bullet between his eyes.