By Shawna Mount
Built in the 1940s, Terror Mansion, located at 414 W Laurel, has very little documented history though it has several bits of evidence that there is paranormal activity.
A Mesquite photographer and reporter arranged for a private tour of Terror Mansion to meet one-on-one with owner Nancy Alanis and provide an inside look at one of San Antonio’s highly visited paranormal sites. A complete tour of the haunted house was denied, but permission was granted to view documented footage of paranormal activity as well as experience a short paranormal investigation.
However, capturing footage within the house was prohibited and only allowed by Alanis.
“I want these spirits to be treated respectably,” Alanis said. “These spirits could be someone’s family member.”
According to legend, these hauntings stem from a nearby shooting that happened Sept. 10, 1927. Detective Sam Street was shot once in the face and once in the thigh upon approach of known robber, Pete McKenzie.
Terror Mansion’s haunted house opens for business at the end of September and continues on through to the end of October.
Alanis offers the Afterlife Ghost Tour March through August for groups of at least 10 people. The tour is $50 per person and Alanis said she reserves the right to deny service and take anyone out of the tour at any time.
“It is very peaceful here and I don’t want anyone coming here and disrespecting these spirits,” Alanis said. “I also do not allow seances, ouija boards or any other unnatural form of contact.”
Such objects, she explained, will invite dark entities that she refuses entrance.
Previously used as an apartment complex, Alanis renovated the building and leased the downstairs for use as a haunted house. The person she leased it to ran out of funds and left the equipment, such as figures, sets and decorations along with finished renovations of the haunted house layout, for her use.
“He told me that he would leave all the materials for me to use if I wouldn’t sue him,” Alanis said. “I never saw myself running a haunted house.”
Once Terror Mansion was up and running, haunted house actors came and went from the building.
“They told me they’d heard things and seen things that weren’t normal,” Alanis said. “I never believed in ghosts.”
It wasn’t until she began experiencing the activity herself that she accepted the hauntings as fact.
Alanis caught the face of a friend’s deceased father and also the face of Alanis’ deceased sister.
“I remember Jenny barking and jumping up at his hand like he had treats to give her,” Alanis said of her dog. “I started taking photos and his father’s face showed up very prominent; we knew right then that it was him.”
She has also encountered the ghost of her dog, Jenny, almost immediately after the dog’s death and still encounters her now and again.
“I came here after she died, just bawling and bawling and asked God if he would show me that she was alright,” Alanis said. “I started taking photos and immediately saw a diving orb; Jenny answering all my questions with that one gesture.”
She said she has heard a chain sliding across the floor that sounds exactly like Jenny’s leash and experienced a strong smell of the dog’s specific scent.
“We have such a strong spiritual activity here,” Alanis said. “It is truly amazing.”
She said she has captured the image of thousands of orbs, in and outside Terror Mansion.
“One photo I captured was absolutely amazing,” Alanis said. “I caught two very prominent orbs; each orb held the exact same face: twins.”
“All I do is talk to God and my family,” Alanis said. “If the spirits wish to show themselves, then I thank them for giving me such a gifted experience.”
A Mesquite reporter and photographer sat with Alanis in the dark for over an hour as she took several photos in an attempt to capture the paranormal activity.
Alanis caught several orbs during that time frame. Some orbs appeared similar to previously captured orbs and the last two orbs captured before the end of the tour resembled a young boy and a young girl.
She said that it is almost guaranteed that visitors will experience some kind of paranormal activity on a visit whether it’s during the haunted house or on one of her ghost tours.
“My lawyer keeps warning me not to put guaranteed in the Afterlife Ghost Tour information, but I told him that I have not had a tour where we have come up empty-handed.”
