Sarah's Dream or The Ghost of Hornsby Bend LbNA #68132
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Add Location| Owner: | Ghost of IRA Boxer  |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | Feb 16, 2015 |
| Location: | McKinney Falls State Park |
| City: | Austin |
| County: | Travis |
| State: | Texas |
| Boxes: | 1 |
| Found by: | Origami Hen |
|---|---|
| Last found: | Mar 3, 2024 |
| Status: | FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF |
| Last edited: | Sep 26, 2015 |
Do you believe in Ghosts? The story you are about to read is true. It is not for the faint of heart or children.
On a hot August day in 1833, not for from where you stand, Texas settler Josiah Pugh Wilbarger and four other men were scouting this area when they spotted a lone Comanche and gave chase. The brave escaped the party, and Wilbarger and the others turned back toward neighbor Rueben Hornsby’s cabin six miles away in the settlement called Hornsby’s Bend. At mid day, they decided to stop for lunch beside a small stream and give their horses a rest. Wilbarger, Tom Christian and Mr. Strother unsaddled and hobbled their horses. Haynie and Standifer, wary of the Indian they had seen, decided to leave their mounts saddled and tied them loosely to a nearby tree. The men started a fire to cook beef, and passed around cold corn pone. They were relaxing by the water when war whoops and rifle fire accompanied by flying arrows shattered their peace. The five men jumped behind trees and began firing, but the spindly scrub oaks offered little protection. Christian was hit and fell, mortally wounded, and Strother fell too. Haynie and Standifer ran to their saddled horses. Wilbarger called out to them and they turned to see Wilbarger with arrows in both legs. He took a bullet to the back of the neck which exited through the front of his throat, spurting blood, as a Comanche, known to them as Chief Oso Bebe, approached him from behind, grabbed him by the hair, and began to scalp him. Certain their friend was beyond help, Haynie and Standifer rode hard for Hornsby’s cabin. At Hornsby’s, they sent a rider on to Wilbarger’s home some miles away to relay the sad news to Josiah Wilbarger’s wife, Margaret, and to rouse other neighbors. By the time men arrived from the surrounding area, it was too dark to retrieve the remains of their friends for burial. As everyone slept that night, Sarah Hornsby, the wife of Reuben (whose great grandson was to be the great baseball player Rogers Hornsby), suddenly awakened from a dream that left her trembling. She woke her husband and told him of the vision. A woman she did not know appeared to her and told her of Josiah Wilbarger, naked and leaning against a tree. Her dream convinced her he was alive and waiting to be rescued. Reuben scolded his wife for waking him because he and the others had to rise early the next morning. He reminded her that Comanches never left their victims alive, cutting throats to be certain they were dead. Sarah was unconvinced, but went back to sleep. Within a short time, the dream returned exactly as before. She awakened her husband and the other men. As she served them breakfast, she told them the dream was an omen and that they would find Josiah exactly as she had envisioned. She told the men to wrap Josiah in a sheet and bring him back for her to tend his wounds. The men scoffed at her vision. Reuben knew his wife was not given to irrational thinking, so he was less skeptical than the men with whom he rode. The mother of ten, Sarah had survived the rigors of frontier life and had more than her share of experiences with Comanches, but he knew of the Chief called Oso Bebe, and was convinced that Josiah was dead. When the men arrived at the site, they immediately found the bodies of Christian and Strother. They buried the two while looking for Wilbarger As they were about to give up their search for him, a rider spied what looked like an Indian leaning against a tree, naked, and covered with red war paint. The rider called to the others then raised his rifle to shoot. The naked man stumbled toward them and said, “Don’t shoot, it’s Wilbarger.” Though scalped, wounded in several places, and near death, Wilbarger was just as Sarah Hornsby said he would be. The rescuers gently wrapped him in the sheet Sarah had provided. Reuben held Josiah as they rode slowly back to the Hornsby cabin. Confident he would be found alive, Sarah waited with hot water, bear oil, and poultices ready. She nursed him for several days until he was able to be transported home on a makeshift sled. Wilbarger described his ordeal. The bullet that passed through his neck temporarily paralyzed him, and he couldn’t resist the fiendish Oso Bebe who attacked him. Not only did his injury convince the Indian that there was no need to slit his throat, it also prevented him from feeling pain. However, he was alert as the Chief roughly stripped him and scalped him. He reported that it sounded like distant claps of thunder as they jerked the scalp from his head. He fell unconscious until late afternoon. When he awakened, the paralysis had left his body and he experienced terrible pain. He crawled the few feet to the creek and remained in the cold water until he was numb. Before he fell into what was probably a comatose state, he crawled out to a sunny spot. When he awoke, he tried to move toward Hornsby's, but managed only about six hundred yards. Believing his death was inevitable, he leaned against a tree and hoped for rescue. A vision of his sister, Margaret Collins, who lived in Missouri, appeared to him. She spoke softly, “You’re too weak to go on, brother dear. You lie here and rest and help will come to you before another day is over.” She turned and headed in the direction of the Hornsby cabin. When Sarah described the woman in her vision, Wilbarger told her that was his sister. Weeks later, Wilbarger received a letter from Missouri. His sister Margaret had died the day before the Comanche attack. He firmly believed he saw his sister’s spirit that night, and that she not only gave him courage to hold on, but also alerted others through Sarah Hornsby’s dreams. People who knew both Josiah Wilbarger and Sarah Hornsby attested to their honesty and mental soundness, and believed their stories. A monument at Fifty-first and Berkman Streets in Austin marks the estimated site of the scalping. Josiah Wilbarger and his wife have been reinterred in the state cemetery in Austin.
Now do you believe in the benevolence of ghosts and the evil of Oso Bebes?
Directions:
McKinney Falls State Park, Austin, Texas. Go to park, pay fee, get trail map. Go to camping area and find Onion Creek near the turn-in to camp sites 41-80. This is a paved trail. Park by the rest rooms and go back to the trail. Keep right at the intersection and walk until you come to a half-circle bend to the right with a huge patch of prickly pears on both sides of the trail. There are lots of prickly pears, but this is the first large area with them on both sides of the trail. This at least a 1/4 mile walk, maybe more. Look left and find a stand of several live oak trees and, behind them, a downed log pointing to a wire fence several yards away. Walk to the fence and find a sign that marks the state park boundary line. Below the sign and under a rock is what you're looking for.
On a hot August day in 1833, not for from where you stand, Texas settler Josiah Pugh Wilbarger and four other men were scouting this area when they spotted a lone Comanche and gave chase. The brave escaped the party, and Wilbarger and the others turned back toward neighbor Rueben Hornsby’s cabin six miles away in the settlement called Hornsby’s Bend. At mid day, they decided to stop for lunch beside a small stream and give their horses a rest. Wilbarger, Tom Christian and Mr. Strother unsaddled and hobbled their horses. Haynie and Standifer, wary of the Indian they had seen, decided to leave their mounts saddled and tied them loosely to a nearby tree. The men started a fire to cook beef, and passed around cold corn pone. They were relaxing by the water when war whoops and rifle fire accompanied by flying arrows shattered their peace. The five men jumped behind trees and began firing, but the spindly scrub oaks offered little protection. Christian was hit and fell, mortally wounded, and Strother fell too. Haynie and Standifer ran to their saddled horses. Wilbarger called out to them and they turned to see Wilbarger with arrows in both legs. He took a bullet to the back of the neck which exited through the front of his throat, spurting blood, as a Comanche, known to them as Chief Oso Bebe, approached him from behind, grabbed him by the hair, and began to scalp him. Certain their friend was beyond help, Haynie and Standifer rode hard for Hornsby’s cabin. At Hornsby’s, they sent a rider on to Wilbarger’s home some miles away to relay the sad news to Josiah Wilbarger’s wife, Margaret, and to rouse other neighbors. By the time men arrived from the surrounding area, it was too dark to retrieve the remains of their friends for burial. As everyone slept that night, Sarah Hornsby, the wife of Reuben (whose great grandson was to be the great baseball player Rogers Hornsby), suddenly awakened from a dream that left her trembling. She woke her husband and told him of the vision. A woman she did not know appeared to her and told her of Josiah Wilbarger, naked and leaning against a tree. Her dream convinced her he was alive and waiting to be rescued. Reuben scolded his wife for waking him because he and the others had to rise early the next morning. He reminded her that Comanches never left their victims alive, cutting throats to be certain they were dead. Sarah was unconvinced, but went back to sleep. Within a short time, the dream returned exactly as before. She awakened her husband and the other men. As she served them breakfast, she told them the dream was an omen and that they would find Josiah exactly as she had envisioned. She told the men to wrap Josiah in a sheet and bring him back for her to tend his wounds. The men scoffed at her vision. Reuben knew his wife was not given to irrational thinking, so he was less skeptical than the men with whom he rode. The mother of ten, Sarah had survived the rigors of frontier life and had more than her share of experiences with Comanches, but he knew of the Chief called Oso Bebe, and was convinced that Josiah was dead. When the men arrived at the site, they immediately found the bodies of Christian and Strother. They buried the two while looking for Wilbarger As they were about to give up their search for him, a rider spied what looked like an Indian leaning against a tree, naked, and covered with red war paint. The rider called to the others then raised his rifle to shoot. The naked man stumbled toward them and said, “Don’t shoot, it’s Wilbarger.” Though scalped, wounded in several places, and near death, Wilbarger was just as Sarah Hornsby said he would be. The rescuers gently wrapped him in the sheet Sarah had provided. Reuben held Josiah as they rode slowly back to the Hornsby cabin. Confident he would be found alive, Sarah waited with hot water, bear oil, and poultices ready. She nursed him for several days until he was able to be transported home on a makeshift sled. Wilbarger described his ordeal. The bullet that passed through his neck temporarily paralyzed him, and he couldn’t resist the fiendish Oso Bebe who attacked him. Not only did his injury convince the Indian that there was no need to slit his throat, it also prevented him from feeling pain. However, he was alert as the Chief roughly stripped him and scalped him. He reported that it sounded like distant claps of thunder as they jerked the scalp from his head. He fell unconscious until late afternoon. When he awakened, the paralysis had left his body and he experienced terrible pain. He crawled the few feet to the creek and remained in the cold water until he was numb. Before he fell into what was probably a comatose state, he crawled out to a sunny spot. When he awoke, he tried to move toward Hornsby's, but managed only about six hundred yards. Believing his death was inevitable, he leaned against a tree and hoped for rescue. A vision of his sister, Margaret Collins, who lived in Missouri, appeared to him. She spoke softly, “You’re too weak to go on, brother dear. You lie here and rest and help will come to you before another day is over.” She turned and headed in the direction of the Hornsby cabin. When Sarah described the woman in her vision, Wilbarger told her that was his sister. Weeks later, Wilbarger received a letter from Missouri. His sister Margaret had died the day before the Comanche attack. He firmly believed he saw his sister’s spirit that night, and that she not only gave him courage to hold on, but also alerted others through Sarah Hornsby’s dreams. People who knew both Josiah Wilbarger and Sarah Hornsby attested to their honesty and mental soundness, and believed their stories. A monument at Fifty-first and Berkman Streets in Austin marks the estimated site of the scalping. Josiah Wilbarger and his wife have been reinterred in the state cemetery in Austin.
Now do you believe in the benevolence of ghosts and the evil of Oso Bebes?
Directions:
McKinney Falls State Park, Austin, Texas. Go to park, pay fee, get trail map. Go to camping area and find Onion Creek near the turn-in to camp sites 41-80. This is a paved trail. Park by the rest rooms and go back to the trail. Keep right at the intersection and walk until you come to a half-circle bend to the right with a huge patch of prickly pears on both sides of the trail. There are lots of prickly pears, but this is the first large area with them on both sides of the trail. This at least a 1/4 mile walk, maybe more. Look left and find a stand of several live oak trees and, behind them, a downed log pointing to a wire fence several yards away. Walk to the fence and find a sign that marks the state park boundary line. Below the sign and under a rock is what you're looking for.