Old Bexar County Jail

Now converted into the Holiday Inn Express Riverwalk, this building served as the Bexar County Jail for decades. The jail held prisoners in conditions typical of the era, and many inmates died within its walls. The conversion to a hotel did not drive away the spirits of former inmates.

The Old Bexar County Jail, built in 1879, now operates as a Holiday Inn Express—but the spirits of those who were executed within its grim walls apparently never checked out. For nearly a century, this fortress-like structure served as both jail and execution chamber, its top-floor gallows sending condemned prisoners plunging through trap doors to their deaths while curious crowds gathered below to watch bodies swing in the dreary windows.

The final public execution in 1921—that of Clemente Apolinar for the violent murder of Theodore Bernhard—drew national attention and massive crowds. After 1926, when public executions were outlawed, the hangings continued in private until the jail closed in 1962. When Baywood Hotels converted the property in 2002, the paranormal activity that had always whispered through the cells suddenly amplified.

Guests staying on the third floor are frequently awakened by the haunting strains of "Nearer My God To Thee"—the hymn that inmates once sang to comfort death row prisoners making their final walk down the hall to the gallows. The execution chamber was located near what is now Room 304, and guests in that area report the most intense activity: footsteps in empty corridors, the sensation of being watched, and apparitions of men in prison garb.

The basement, which housed solitary confinement cells, generates particular dread. Shadow figures of inmates who died in isolation move through the darkness, and sudden temperature drops of 15-20 degrees manifest without explanation even in summer. One staff member awoke with a five-fingered bruise on his arm, as if gripped by invisible hands. A family on a ghost tour was terrified to realize they had seen a silhouette of a hanging body in their room the night before. Rooms 312, 503, and 517 are recommended for guests seeking paranormal encounters.