Presidio La Bahía

Visitors and staff at Presidio La Bahía speak of a small priest in the chapel yard, a cold, misty corner, sighs and moans, and a woman praying in the chapel. Other accounts describe the ghost of Colonel James Fannin seated in a chair in the courtyard in front of the chapel, cannon fire and weeping in the officers' quarters, Spanish commands and the smell of blood in the courtyard, and a headless horseman said to ride the compound when fog rolls in. The Spanish fort, founded in 1749 at Goliad, is a National Historic Landmark and the site of one of the most painful events of the Texas Revolution: on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, more than 340 Texian prisoners of war under Colonel Fannin were executed on the order of Santa Anna. It remains a place of remembrance, and the men's memorial is nearby.