It’s a cool, breezy morning and the clouds hang over the city of Galveston like a thick, dark blanket. Even now the coastline beckons. The virgin sand seems desperate for footprints and mysterious, half-buried bits of treasure call out to you. You know you should be back at the hotel because weather like this can turn at any moment and the beach is not a safe place in a storm, but the sound of the waves is irresistible and like thousands of Galveston fans before you, you know you must continue with your walk. In typical mother fashion, Nature is begging you to defy her warnings, and you do. 

You are but a few minutes from home, listening to the waves, when suddenly you realize that some of the sounds drifting your way come from a human source. You turn to find a woman and child a short distance behind you. They don’t appear to be crying, but they do appear to be following you across the sands. Uncomfortable, you turn away and walk a few feet, but the sobbing continues and when you glance back once again you see that the pair is still close behind. Then suddenly the crying stops, and so do you. Slowly, fearfully, you turn to face the pair on the beach, knowing instinctively that they will be gone. No footprints, no shapes or shadows disappearing over the nearby dunes. They have simply vanished. Oddly enough, you are not surprised. This is, after all, Galveston. But you have heard the warning and now you know you must quickly return to your hotel.

Galveston, Texas, long considered one of the most haunted cities in America, has yet another infamous claim to fame besides its ghosts. It is a storm. A storm most residents refer to as “The Storm.” Galveston was stuck by a category five hurricane in September of 1900. The citizens of Galveston were told the storm would come, but they were also reassured that the storm’s fury would be slowed considerably by low tides in the Gulf of Mexico. On the morning of September eighth, many of Galveston’s residents stood on the beaches, dancing and celebrating their luck in finding such a beautiful, safe haven from Mother Nature’s fury. A few hours later, instead of dissipating, the storm grew in strength and slammed into the island with a fifteen foot wave of icy water, shocking the entire population into a huge panic. People scrambled frantically to find shelter, but for most of the residents, this search came much too late. No one knows for certain how many people died that day. Estimates range from six to eight thousand—far surpassing the devastation wrought by Katrina. Houses collapsed and trains that were filled with people were swept into the ocean. The disaster is still considered the worst natural disaster in the history of the U.S.

Along the beach, just three miles west of Galveston, stood St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum, founded by the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity for the Incarnate Word. It was a two-story building housing ninety-three children and ten nuns. When the storm hit, the nuns decided the safest course of action would be to tie themselves to the children and sing loudly to calm the youngsters. Among the dead were ten nuns and ninety of the ninety three orphan children. They were buried where they were found. Each year, on September 8, the Sisters of Charity for the Incarnate Word stop and sing in honor of those who died in the storm. Other town inhabitants were taken to the Strand, a section of retail establishments that served as a temporary morgue. Many of these buildings were also flooded when the wave hit town and most are considered haunted, including one where a body is seen up toward the ceiling, drifting back and forth between the rafters as if riding on a wave.

It's flash flood season again in Texas. Sometimes it seems it's always flash flood season in Texas. Perhaps it’s because of its close proximity to the ocean, or maybe it’s the abundance of lakes and rivers, but Texans have learned to live with flash floods. Within two years of the 1900 Galveston flood the town had rebuilt itself and in a remarkable feat of engineering, created a 17 foot high flood wall that has repeatedly held back flood waters over the years. Within eight years, the town had succeeded in raising most of the remaining and new houses to a much higher elevation with stilts and sand. Nevertheless, the ghosts of the 1900 flood still walk the beaches of Galveston as a constant reminder of how futile it is to challenge and defy the warnings of Mother Nature, ghosts like the shadowy figure of a man running frantically in the sand. We may never know where he was going, but we do know one thing for certain…he will never reach his destination.