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Glowing Tombstone in Springtown, Texas

The following is an adapted excerpt from Paranormal Texas, my best-selling travel guide to haunted places and paranormal hot spots near Dallas and Fort Worth. Check it out if you enjoy learning historic haunted lore, or are looking for unusual road trip ideas in north Texas.

Veal Station Cemetery’s Glowing Tombstone

When I first moved to north Texas in the fall of 2009, I kept hearing about a glowing tombstone over in Springtown; it even made the local news!

Intrigued, I ran the story by my uber-skeptical, science teacher husband, Larry, who had a few theories. Some stones can be slightly radioactive, he told me, and that could cause a glow. Another idea was that a protective coating was painted on the stone, one that would be clear during the day, but would glow at night.

Historic Veal Station Cemetery in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)
Historic Veal Station Cemetery in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)

Finding the Right Stone

When the time came to research haunted places for Paranormal Texas, I convinced Larry to visit Veal Station Cemetery and see this glowing stone in person. According to several books I’ve read, including Ghosts in the Graveyard by Olyve Hallmark Abbott, and Ghosts of Fort Worth by Brian Righi, the glowing headstone belongs to William E. Wright. It’s tucked in the southwest corner of the graveyard, and is the one to keep an eye on after dark.

Historic Veal Station Cemetery in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)
Historic Veal Station Cemetery in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)

Closed After Sunset

Larry and I made it to the graveyard in the late afternoon and quickly found the right, or in this case, Wright tombstone. Veal Station Cemetery is closed after sunset, but Wright’s grave is visible from outside the gates. This meant we could park our car and view it after dark without breaking any rules. (Keep this in mind should you ever decide to see Springtown’s glowing tombstone for yourself!) In the meantime, I took a bunch of photos and scoped out where we should look upon our return.

This headstone allegedly glows in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)
This headstone allegedly glows in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)

A couple false alarms

After dining in nearby Springtown, we drove back to Veal Station Cemetery. The first thing I noticed was that the graveyard was dotted with colored lights. We quickly realized these were solar-powered lights people had left at various graves.

My next false alarm came upon spotting a dozen or so twinkling yellow lights along the eastern edge of the graveyard. Even after figuring out that they were fireflies, it was still a thrill. (I love fireflies!)

This headstone allegedly glows in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)
This headstone allegedly glows in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)

Nearly gave up

Although my husband and I knew exactly where the Wright headstone was, we did not see anything glowing, not even the tiniest of flickers. It took some cajoling, but I convinced Larry to stay for at least 30 more minutes. Luckily, there was an interesting show on the radio to keep us entertained as we sat in the car.

By 9:30 it was truly dark, so we got out to investigate. And by “investigate” I simply mean that we leaned against the hood of our car and gazed over the peaceful expanse while enjoying the cicadas buzz and the fireflies flicker.

Faked out by solar lights in Veal Station Cemetery (photo by Tui Snider)
Faked out by solar lights in Veal Station Cemetery (photo by Tui Snider)

Finally – a glimmer

Alas, the Wright stone refused to light up for us, even then. I was so disappointed! Just as we were about to pack it in, however, I noticed a teeny little glimmer. As I stood and watched, the light grew brighter and brighter.

At last, a glowing headstone!

Much to my surprise, the light was not coming from the Wright monument. It was also, unfortunately, quite easy to debunk.

Finally! A glowing tombstone in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)
Finally! A glowing tombstone in Springtown, Texas (photo by Tui Snider)

Mystery solved?

You see, Veal Station Cemetery is on a hill. As the moon rose, it caused a bright glow to emanate from a slanted headstone on the incline. In other words, the only glowing tombstone we saw that night was created by the moon’s reflection on a tilted stone.

Eerie, yes. Paranormal, no.

Even so, I would definitely like to return to Veal Station Cemetery on a moonless night and give it one more chance! Now, if I can only convince Larry that it’s worth another try…

Plan your trip to Veal Station Cemetery
Address:
Veal Station Cemetery
2900 Veal Station Rd
Springtown, TX 76085

 

Want to read more like this?


To read about more weird, offbeat, and overlooked places, check out my best-selling travel guide:
UNEXPECTED TEXAS: Your Guide to Offbeat & Overlooked History, Day Trips & Fun Things to do near Dallas & Fort Worth
.

For ghost hunting hot spots, check out my best-selling travel guide to haunted places:
PARANORMAL TEXAS: Your Travel Guide to Haunted Places near Dallas & Fort Worth
.

For a strange-but-true tale of Texas history, check out this bizarre piece of West Texas history:
The Lynching of the Santa Claus Bank Robber

 


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Published inCemeteries & Symbolism

7 Comments

  1. Lisa M Martin Lisa M Martin

    I’ve been here. It does glow I saw it! Walked up to it. Unexplainable. No paint coating on it , it may be the stone used to create this.

    • Hi Lisa! Really? Exactly *which* headstone was glowing? What color did it glow? I would love to go back and see this for myself. Thanks for stopping by! :)

  2. Liam Liam

    The glowing tombstone of the Veal Station Cemetery in Springtown Texas.
    Google it, there are stories, videos, scary tales and pictures.
    I’ve been there hundreds of times. Enough to know that back before the tall chain link fence was erected to keep people from damaging the graves looking for “ghosts” after watching local TV news stories close to Halloween or reading stories on “Ghost Hunter” type web sites, I knew the simple truth.
    The glow was visible only if you stood at a particular spot on the old fenceline. That spot was no more than 3-5 feet wide. You would not see the glow at any other point. This is an obvious clue.
    The glow, which emanated from a tombstone about 120 yards inside the cemetery and in front of a low, scraggly cedar tree was bright, greenish and very spooky looking.
    I would make a point to drive by the cemetery, or sit in my vehicle, typing reports in the small parking lot, when working nights to send “tourists” on their way before they began to traipse around through the headstones. They were generally from Fort Worth or occasionally Dallas, and fit into one of two groups:
    1.Several teenage or early twenties couples giggling and claiming to be “lost” on their way to visit a friend. There was almost always beer involved. I sent them on their way after informing them that their story was bullshit and obliquely informing them of the dire outcomes possible from continued stupidity and poorly executed duplicity.
    2. The cool mom. Soccer mom van, a gaggle of pre-teen kids (likely from several different households) and one embarrassed female early-thirty-something. If she didn’t insist too long in lying about why they were there, I would walk her to “the spot” and watch her gasp when she saw the glow that they had unsuccessfully been searching for, then an almost immediate look of “Am I going to die? Is this guy in league with the malevolent spirts? I just realized that it sure is dark, and we clearly are at least a hundred miles from the closest Starbucks.” over her shoulder at me, followed by either quickly herding all the kids into the family truckster and driving out of the parking lot with a slight squeal of tires… or… a sudden calming of the facial features after I gave a little “I’m not a murderer” smile, and then making sure that each of the kids individually stood where they could view the spectacle. As they did, I explained the true cause behind this spooky apparition.
    The cemetery is on a narrow two lane road at the very bottom of a valley, with the road rising away on both sides and quickly disappearing around sharp curves both ways so that it appears isolated from any sign of “civilization”. This is also accentuated by the dense woods on both sides and in back of it- you cannot see a house in any direction. It’s straight out of a “We should never have come here” horror movie.
    However, there is an older house, with barns and outbuildings, on an intersecting road, about a quarter of a mile away. There is a gap in the trees, unseen from the road, unless you walk the property looking for it due to the angle. One of the outbuildings had a mercury vapor lamp affixed to it. The light shone straight through the gap in the trees, bounced of the slightly angled, dark polished headstone ( I know but won’t pass on the family name on the stone. This will become important later), and reflected, on a narrow beam, the greenish light imparted by the stone.
    Those responsible for the private cemetery were constantly having to repair damage and collect beer cans and other trash left by those seeking a paranormal thrill. Halloween sometimes resembled a slow day at six flags, with groups freely wandering the grounds, I witnessed a group of black robed idiots having a little “séance”, or whatever such people do. Souvenirs were sometimes taken for the magical powers they surely possessed. All in a little country cemetery where loved ones had been left to have a little peace and dignity.
    Someone finally prevailed on the owner of the light to turn it off. The ghostly glow went away for ever. This led to conspiracy theories about the tombstone having been removed, either by the cemetery, or by some powerful group, to harness it’s “powers”.
    The stone still stands, I know, because I saw it…. before and after. It’s a stone with a common family name on its polished stone face, created as a symbol of love for a family member suddenly gone.

  3. Roux Roux

    I grew up in nearby Saginaw. A few of my friends and I actually became quasi obsessed with figuring out the glowing tombstone. We went as far as to shoot it with a super-8 camera and much more. Back then they didn’t have the sign about sun up to sun down. Or, if they did, we apparently didn’t pay attention to here. Here’s my notes from 1991 as I recall them.

    1) Come to think of it, we did hop over the crescent signed gate plenty of times, so maybe the sign was posted.

    2) Back then they didn’t have all the solar powered lights. Which, in my opinion is kinda freaky, but that’s just me.

    3) We realized the approximation to the moon rising too, not to mention any reflection coming from light noise in Fort Worth. So, we went out there numerous time on nights with no moon visible. It still glowed.

    4) In order to determine which headstone was glowing, one of us went out and walked around until he/she got right in front of the correct tombstone to cut of the glowing from where we stood at the gate. We conducted this test on multiple nights to make sure we had it right.

    5) It’s odd that you picked out Wright as the right tombstone, because it’s from the correct time frame. Though, the tombstone that glows is one laid over Garland Long. Through our research, we found he was decapitated by a train in the Fort Worth Stockyards in the early 20’s. We found out lots of information about him by searching through micro-fiche in the Fort Worth and Parker County public libraries. (keep in mind this was before the internet as we know it)

    6) Along with our research about Veal Station, other oddities we found were headstones that included a death date before the birth date, go figure!?

    At any rate, let Larry know it’s the real deal. I’m not one that believes in the paranormal on a regular basis, but the glowing tombstone at Veal Station tends to make me want to believe.

    Micheal

    P.S. Go out there in the daytime (when it’s legal). Go straight from the gate up that main lane, as you pass the big oak tree Garland will be on your right. No chemicals that you can see in the day (the phosphorescence would’ve worn off 20 years later) and there he rests.

  4. We went tonight 11/1/15 and in the far back Conner you could see with a flash light white cloth like things with poiting hats the story told is on Halloween night that the kkk meets up there and it’s true!!!

    • Liam Liam

      No. Maybe there’s a reason you’re telling this lie, but it is a lie.

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