The Hanging Tree

Well, as the legend goes. There was a large mesquite tree just outside of the Mission San Jose in San Antonio. The tree had been there for more than a hundred years. Children would play on it and the townspeople would use it’s fruit to season their meat before and during cooking. Back in the early days of San Antonio, the city was fairly quiet, it wasn’t until the Barlow brothers moved to San Antonio that crime became somewhat common place.

The brothers, Bart and Natt Barlow had both moved to San Antonio from Tombstone, where they learned the ways of the street. Neither had worked an honest day in their lives and it showed by the price on their heads from the city of Tombstone. Horse Rustling, Murder, Assault, Bank Robery, the list went on, rumor has it that Bart , the eldest brother, had shot several US Marshalls while fleeing the city. They were the very definition of outlaws.

After several months of the same activity, the people of San Antonio formed a lynch mob and hunted the brothers down and hung them from the mesquite tree outside of Mission San Jose. Legend has it that Bart cursed the townspeople and the mission while on the gallows. Natt even went as far as to tell those that were playing the part of Judge, Juror and Executioner that they would return.

This brings us to our mysterious glowing Mesquite Tree. See, it doesn’t glow every night, just on the 17th of each month. See, Bart and Natt were hung -June 17th, 1875.

So, if you are in San Antonio, Texas on the 17th of any month, make your way over to the Mission San Jose, just outside of San Antonio proper. Make sure to go at night, the tree doesn’t glow during the day.

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Tags:

fiction, ghost, ghoststory and supernatural