Scary, Ghostly Animals In Texas? It’s Not Just Monkeys Crossing Over

I recently wrote about a park in Texas haunted by the spirits of dead monkeys.  Turns out, it's not just monkeys that come back ...

The dead monkeys haunting Fuller Park in Athens, Texas aren't the only creepy critters coming back from the dead.

They're not all menacing creatures like bats or wolves either. While some are fairly loathsome, others are downright snuggly and two are delicious.

We'll start with the delicious one. A doctor, who apparently had dead patients trying to ride in his carriage with him constantly, told the tale of a Ghost Turkey.

It was heard by a young man out hunting in an area where there were NO turkeys.

As many of these guys as we slaughter every year for Thanksgiving, you'd think ghost turkeys would be popping up all over the place.

Ghost Dogs - Dogs are absolutely my favorite animals and, based on their loyalty to us, I can see where they would be reluctant to part with us.

One Texas ghost dog tail, err tale, goes back to an attempt by Mexican soldiers to free Santa Anna that was foiled by the barking of dogs that weren't really there.

The plantation where this occurred:

... kept no dogs, and for miles around, there were no neighbors who had dogs. A servant had purportedly seen the creatures and described them as strange, wild-looking animals with frightening eyes. There were three of them, all a dingy white. - texascooppower 

They were seen and recognized as having belonged to a former resident who went to fight in the Texas revolution and never returned. The dogs were said to be looking for him.

Ghost Cow - Yep, even cows can return and, like turkeys, have seen so many of their kind slaughtered by us, you would think we'd have ALL seen one by now.

That's why I'm skeptical of a lone ghostly cow, let alone a herd of them roaming Farm Road 511, near the Mexican border, causing accidents as folks swerve to avoid them.

I wonder if they inspired this song??

I also read about a shapeshifter of some sort who can turn into a ghost possum.

The stories in this collection involve a "Goat Man", a lady who could transform into an owl and a "Donkey Lady".

Around here of course, our buddy the Chupacabra seems to keep all the ghostly animals in check.