Paranormal Fest Returns for 2021
September 15, 2021 - San Antonio
A Historic and a Haunted Past. Paranormal Fest, will be held at one of San Antonio’s key pieces of haunted and historical lore, the Victoria’s Black Swan Inn from Friday Sept. 17 until Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. All Photos: Courtesy Images.
By Gaige Davila, Staff Writer | San Antonio Sentinel
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
- The history of Victoria's Black Swan Inn is part of the Paranormal Fest experience, dating back to the first festival in 2017.
- The historical site isn’t an inn at all, but a manor built upon a battleground. Specifically, the home lies on and or around the Battle of Salado Creek site, where Mexico last attempted to invade Texas in 1842.
Paranormal Fest returns to San Antonio this year, hoping to continue its legacy of celebrating all things ghostly.
This year’s festival is on the east side of the city, at Victoria’s Black Swan Inn, the name an ode to both Queen Victoria and William Shakespeare.
The Victoria’s Black Swan Inn isn’t an inn at all, but a manor built upon a battleground. Specifically, the home lies on and or around the Battle of Salado Creek site, where Mexico last attempted to invade Texas in 1842.
The site’s history is part of the Paranormal Fest experience, dating back to the first festival in 2017, according to Fred Garza, one half of Curious Twins Paranormal & Ghost Tours, the ghost touring company hosting the festival.
“We knew that there was a lot of people who were curious, looking to kind of learn a little bit more, and we thought it would be a good idea to be able to share that and to bring out investigators from the area, let people meet those kinds of people and make the paranormal a bit more norm,” Garza said.
Speakers from across the paranormal world, from demonologists, to all-female paranormal teams are some of the featured guests. A property tour of the Inn, a Greek Revival-style plantation home built in 1867 in the middle of Fort Sam Houston and the Salado Valley neighborhood, is included. Masks are encouraged for guests, and only a limited number of VIP and general admission tickets were sold, in an effort to control how many people would attend out of COVID-19 safety concerns. Guests are free to explore the property, including inside, so long as they maintain distance from others.
VIP ticket holders will be at Victoria’s Black Swan Inn on the anniversary of the Battle of Salado Creek, September 17. They will get a tour of the battlefields and the Battle of Salado Creek Memorial, providing historical information useful for a later open investigation on the property. Curious Twins will provide EVP (electronic voice phenomenon) recorders and other paranormal investigating tools if needed. VIP’s can explore the property until midnight. VIPs who opt for a camping spot can explore all night.
Everyone attending can enjoy food trucks, vendors, lectures, medium and palm readings and learn of San Antonio’s creepy and ghostly lore.
Even the speakers selected this year come from regional areas of San Antonio, with Curious Twins trying to lessen the distance people come from for this event.
Speaking on how the Paranormal Fest and Curious Twins started, Garza said he considers himself as a psychic medium: he’s had paranormal experiences and says he’s a spiritually connected person, ever since he was a kid. That connection turned into a business venture, alongside his husband and other half of Curious Twins, Stephen, after the two would attend ghost tours to learn histories that were not looked at.
Garza said most ghost stories, specifically within central Texas, focus on European settlers into the state, which was then Mexico. Curious Twins, through their tours and the Paranormal Fest, focus on Native American history within ghost tours.
“We try to go that extra mile, where it’s not just the stories of proud Texans, but really is a little of a darker and truthful history of who we are and what we are as Texans,” Garza said. “We want to tell a true story, we’re not trying to be anti anything. We just want to give a voice that isn’t being offered.”
Paranormal Fest, runs from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Sept. 18. VIPs can attend from 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 17. Purchase tickets here, or call or text (210) 802-9187, for $45 each. Ticket holders can check in at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 18. VIP tickets have sold out.
Gaige Davila is the editor of the Port Isabel-South Padre Press and South Padre Parade magazine based in Port Isabel, Texas. He is a freelance writer for the San Antonio Heron and the San Antonio Sentinel.