Haunted in San Antonio (Dallas, Alice: mattresses, university, casino)

[wCat]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

Is this the place, with the red roof? It doesn't have the gated wall as described, or the '9'-shaped driveway nor the pool that were also mentioned. All I see is a satellite dish in the back yard. The close-up shots don't look that ominous either...

Looking north
Looking east
Looking south
Looking west

Do I have the wrong place?

Cheers! M2

Wrong place.....read my directions again. The house in question is south of Trainer Hale Rd. It's the first residence on the EAST of 1518 as you travel North from I-10.

[majormadmax]

Oh, this place...

Looking north
Looking east
Looking south
Looking west

Yeah, that looks like a cult house! But at least it's got a pool!

Cheers! M2

[wCat]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

Oh, this place...

Looking north
Looking east
Looking south
Looking west

Yeah, that looks like a cult house! But at least it's got a pool!

Cheers! M2

That's it!

[iowagirl1977]

Originally Posted by majormadmax

Oh, this place...

Looking north
Looking east
Looking south
Looking west

Yeah, that looks like a cult house! But at least it's got a pool!

Cheers! M2

the only thing i like better about the google view is that you can see it straight on instead of aerial or birds eye. it looks even weirder when you look at it that way. you can't tell what the roofing looks like which is very unique. and the upstairs is just creepy looking.

[rd6157]

If this is the house, it was formerly owned by Clifford and Pamela Johnson....ie "CJ". They bought the property in 1978. They owned about 57 acres that went right up to the old gas station/truck stop at the corner of 1518 and I-10.

The owers before them were Albert and Lucille Wiederstein who purchased 237 acres of this land in 1920. If that name sounds familiar, it's the same family that "Wiederstein Rd" is named for....off I -35 North of Garden Ridge.

Iowagirl.....not sure that helped for an interesting story....but the "design" of the house is certainly unconventional....sort of a Las Vegas desert bordello look? If they built it in the 70's that was the age of the advent of hot tub parties in remote areas etc....the mind can get creative![/quote]

Clifford Johnson was a Wheatley HS graduate who played MLB with the Houston Astros, NY Yankees, & Cleveland. He is now retired & recently inducted into San Antonio Hall of Fame. (info in SA Express-News sports)
He married Pamela in 1976 & they bought that house. I'm not sure if they divorced or she died, but he is now married to an active duty Nurse Practitioner & has been living in Korea. Not sure why house is in such disrepair. Hope this helps

[iowagirl1977]

Clifford Johnson was a Wheatley HS graduate who played MLB with the Houston Astros, NY Yankees, & Cleveland. He is now retired & recently inducted into San Antonio Hall of Fame. (info in SA Express-News sports)
He married Pamela in 1976 & they bought that house. I'm not sure if they divorced or she died, but he is now married to an active duty Nurse Practitioner & has been living in Korea. Not sure why house is in such disrepair. Hope this helps[/quote]

hey thanks for the info! i still want to know how you guys look up all this info. i really want to check out my house. anybody have some recommended websites??

[wCat]

Originally Posted by iowagirl1977

Clifford Johnson was a Wheatley HS graduate who played MLB with the Houston Astros, NY Yankees, & Cleveland. He is now retired & recently inducted into San Antonio Hall of Fame. (info in SA Express-News sports)
He married Pamela in 1976 & they bought that house. I'm not sure if they divorced or she died, but he is now married to an active duty Nurse Practitioner & has been living in Korea. Not sure why house is in such disrepair. Hope this helps

hey thanks for the info! i still want to know how you guys look up all this info. i really want to check out my house. anybody have some recommended websites??[/quote]

IG.....as far as the info I find, it's not all located online. I have tons of books and maps that I've accumulated over time. As far as current owner, you can go to BCAD.org and do a property search. Sometimes if you're lucky you can find info on the property details that tell the last couple of owners if the property changed hands in the last 10 years. But BCAD is not really consistant with deed record reference. You can also access the Bexar County Clerks office for deed records and other info. You have to register, but it's free.

RD will have to address his info. Other than personal knowledge, or newspaper archives, that information is harder to obtain.

If you get started and need some help, send me a message.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by mexicajun

The Midget Mansion was on Donore Pl. and Tupelo Ln. off Fredericksburg Rd. The first time I heard about this place was around 1985-86 when one of the local TV stations did a story about the rise in ‘teen-satanism’ where they showed footage of the decrepit house and the graffitied swimming pool. In the early 90’s a friend and I went to go see if the mansion was still there only to find it had been torn down. The property was fenced off but there was a big hole made in the fence right where the driveway started. I recall the pebble driveway curved up the hill and went around what would’ve been the main house, but at that time was just a slab foundation, and then curved back onto itself. In the back part of the property was the foundation slab of what I assumed to be the servants’ quarters or guesthouse. The swimming pool had long since been filled in and there were still some good-sized oak trees and a small crumbling fountain. In what was once the front part of the house was the main double stairway that was built into the hillside and curved down with a fountain and niches built into it. From where the house was at you would’ve had an awesome view of downtown San Antonio. It didn’t take much to convince me that whoever owned the property had to be really wealthy. Friends of mine told me they went there back when the house was still up and they said it was the perfect place to get stoned and sacrifice a cat to Ozzy. The property was indeed sold some years ago and now these big 3-story white apartments take up the hillside. You can still see part of the original driveway entrance on Donore Pl. Whether or not the place was ever owned by midgets and a murder occurring there is a question that has yet to be answered. I’m just as curious as anyone else.

As for the house that was on Callaghan + IH10 where the Lowes is now at, that was not the Midget Mansion like some folks think........

I found some maps of that community from 1918. Donore Place (Rd) used to be named "Woolley Rd" (probably named after an area land owner). EDIT: Woolley originally dead-ended where it now turns into Tupelo just as Donore Place does now. That is apparently where the entrance to the "Midget Mansion" was. Here a little interesting part...the area from Fred Rd. to Medical (not there at the time) between Donore (aka Woolley Rd) was known as "Abatross Heights". Miget Mansion was in this subdivision....which was basically undeveloped up up on a hill. The land that Promontory Point is on was scooped out and renamed "SpyGlass Hill Subdivision". Across, Donore Place where all the BIG OLD stone estates are, was called Broadview Heights also divided out of Albatross Heights. It was once a very exclusive and very old area.....developed in the 20's but outside of the SA incorporated area.

There was also an Albatross ROAD that ran perpendicular to Woolley Road. Not sure if any of that remains. I think part of it is behind the Car Wash on Fred Rd across from Louis Pasteur Ct.

Info just for fun.

[gy2020]

Cat: Back in 1965 San Antonio had about 2 inches of snow and I went around taking pictures. One of the pics I took was on Donore Rd and was looking at Midget Mansion.
I was in Real Estate back in the 70's and used to drive around that area a lot. I had an office near the Greens Apts. and that wasn't too far. I also lived in the Greens at one time and I had a client that made an offer on that apt back about the same time.

Remember the old country club over there. The Greens was on the fairway to the country club and I attended an Apartment Association Convention in the clubhouse. it was over on Datapoint. I've forgotten the name of the club, unless it was DataPoint.

Do you remember the computer giant in San Antonio named Data Point. It was big, until one of the sharks bought and sold it off.

When that old country club was closed, I had a security job there and that place was real spooky at night. Derelicts were using part of it at night and we had to go in and chase them off.

[wCat]

Originally Posted by gy2020

Cat: Back in 1965 San Antonio had about 2 inches of snow and I went around taking pictures. One of the pics I took was on Donore Rd and was looking at Midget Mansion.
I was in Real Estate back in the 70's and used to drive around that area a lot. I had an office near the Greens Apts. and that wasn't too far. I also lived in the Greens at one time and I had a client that made an offer on that apt back about the same time.

Remember the old country club over there. The Greens was on the fairway to the country club and I attended an Apartment Association Convention in the clubhouse. it was over on Datapoint. I've forgotten the name of the club, unless it was DataPoint.

Do you remember the computer giant in San Antonio named Data Point. It was big, until one of the sharks bought and sold it off.

When that old country club was closed, I had a security job there and that place was real spooky at night. Derelicts were using part of it at night and we had to go in and chase them off.

GY...can you be more specific about the street address? I know where Datapoint is....but I don't know of any other country club other than Oak Hills CC on Fred Rd and I know you're not talking about that.

Too bad you don't have pic of that Mansion!