This is a story I wrote for The Daily Texan in like 2003. I still try to swing by the ’Bone a couple of times a year.
If you happen to run your finger over a bullet hole in the wall of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern, don’t worry—it’s just a remnant of rowdier days.
Most of the old-timers who shot up the walls and ceiling of the small rock structure are dead and gone, and the ones still around say they are now too old to bother. Instead, they sit back and drink their Milwaukee’s Best Light, the cheapest beer in the house, and tell stories that mingle legend with history.
For instance, the place is haunted. Always has been.
“Oh, there are ghosts, I guaran-goddamn-tee you,” said Robert Kelly, a regular who said he sometimes sees shadowy figures on a steep nearby ridge called the Devil’s Backbone, for which the tavern is named.
Brushes with the paranormal are to be expected in a place like this, where the face of the Devil himself is manifest in a rock mortared into the stonework above the fireplace at the back wall.
In fact, many claim the Backbone—the ridge and the tavern—is the most-haunted spot in the state.Amanda Joan Couve, a bartender who studies sociology at Southwest Texas State University, has had her share of run-ins with the ghost. He tends to stick to the south end of the place, rearranging furniture, turning off lights and causing all-around mayhem, said Couve. On summer nights when the air is still as death, the door that leads to the adjoining dance hall inexplicably slams to and fro. Other nights, before they went ahead and tied it to the wall, the box fan fell to the floor whenever Couve walked nearby.
“It was weird,” she said. “It was like the ghost was mad at me or something.”
Couve thinks the tavern is haunted by a man shot dead as he walked into the bar years ago, when the place was rowdier. But the older folk, who remember those lawless days, tend to agree it’s a Native American killed in some ancient and forgotten Indian battle. Still others say their spooked friends are full of it.
“My daddy, my grandpa and my great-grandpa lived around here, and we never saw anything,” said Floyd Fischer, who spends most afternoons at the table by the window, swapping stories and sipping on a cold beer.
At 62, he’s frequented the tavern for decades, as his father did before him. He grew up along the Backbone, trapping ringtails that fetched $50 at a time when a full day’s labor could bring in as little as a dollar a day.
Today, he lives in a little ranching community on the other side of the ridge named for his ancestors, the Fischers, German immigrants who settled the area in the 1850s. He maintains a spread of land passed down through the generations, and his cousins still populate the area. In short, Fischer is one of the old-timers.
Fischer distinguishes between several different types of folks at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern. You’ve got your old-timers, the people who grew up around the ridge; college kids driving in from San Marcos; bikers; and the newcomers.
First, there are the guys with the Harleys, who in recent years have begun frequenting the place on nights and weekends: “We’re overrun by bikers, but they’re all good people now,” he said. “When I grew up in this country, they rode the old Indian bikes. Now those were bad people.”
Back in those days, if you saw a bike parked in front of the tavern, you didn’t stop. But now the bikers are mostly doctors and lawyers, a fine sort, he said.
Then there are the newcomers.
They’re the folks who made their money at big-city jobs and then retired to places like Wimberley – where you don’t ask people where they’re from, but what part of Houston they’re from – or they live out on Canyon Lake and commute to Austin and San Antonio.
Pretty much anybody who has moved into the area within the past two or three decades is considered a newcomer, it seems. The winding road to the tavern from Wimberley is dotted by billboards advertising Hill Country land for sale, and people continue to take up the offers in droves.
Development is driving up the cost of land in the area, and Fischer said ignorance on the part of the newcomers has transformed the landscape of the region and has even led to an invasion of coyotes.
“In the old days, my daddy and relatives wiped the coyotes out of this country, or you couldn’t raise sheep and goats and make a living,” he said. “They were gone the whole time I grew up in this country, until I retired. Things got populated, and nobody would cut the cedar or do anything, so, hell, they had all the cover they needed.”
While the coyotes move in, the old-timers’ children continue to move off. Fischer said most have to leave to find a living wage.
“There’s no jobs around here unless you work in the bar or at a convenience store,” he said. “I don’t know what else there is to do but drive a school bus or something.”
Fischer’s only daughter, now 38, found work in Austin and later in San Antonio.
“It was the same way when I grew up,” he said. “When I got out of the military, I said, ‘What am I gonna do? Go back to cutting cedar or shearing sheep and goats?’ No. I went to state work and retired from there, so I can get a pension and all that.”
He worked for the state in San Antonio for 30 years, coming back on the weekends to help the family. When he retired, he moved back for good.
Now he shares his table at the Devil’s Backbone Tavern with all classes of people, rubbing elbows with developers and retirees. They claim to be a little more laid back than the people who haunted the tavern in its early years.
The tavern sits near the tail of the Devil’s Backbone, a narrow, winding ridge in northeastern Comal County that tears through two river basins, the Blanco and the Guadalupe. The ridge, wide enough for a two-lane ranch road and a little shoulder, for years was the vein of commerce between San Marcos and the town of Blanco.
Built in 1932 on the site of an old blacksmith’s shop, the tavern had originally been a stop at the base of a treacherous stagecoach trail.
People from Hays County, which was dry, began flooding the tavern on the edge of Comal County—the only place for miles where a person could get a beer. Johnny Jenkins, 59, remembers growing up in nearby Wimberley. He and his friends would hang out in the parking lot trying to convince patrons to buy them a few beers, and they succeeded more often than not, he said.
These days, Jenkins is welcome inside the establishment. He meets up with his friend from San Marcos, Rusty O’Bryant, the retired owner of a plumbing supply store who donated the trough in the men’s restroom.
They usually play shuffleboard, another holdover from the rough-and-tumble early days, but lately their opponents have stopped coming by. So instead, Jenkins and O’Bryant sit at a back table drinking Milwaukee’s Best.
“I’m retired, and it gets boring at home,” Jenkins said.
Currently, Jenkins and O’Bryant are mad at one of the bartenders, so they time their visits to coincide with Couve’s work schedule.
But even in the midst of their bartender boycott, they know things will not escalate to the point where pistols are drawn.
“Once in a while we get pissed off at one another and raise hell, but that doesn’t last more than a day or two,” O’Bryant said. “We’re too old to fight.”
This story was originally published Aug. 12, 2003, in The Daily Texan, the student newspaper at The University of Texas at Austin. The featured image is courtesy of Flickr user yep.photo.
7,783 responses to “Legend of the Devil’s Backbone Tavern”
Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I’ll bookmark your blog and take the feeds also?I’m happy to find numerous useful information here in the post, we need develop more techniques in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
This is really interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I have joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your excellent post. Also, I’ve shared your web site in my social networks!
Wow, wonderful blog structure! How long have you been running a blog for? you make blogging look easy. The total glance of your web site is great, as smartly as the content material!
This really answered my drawback, thanks!
Nothing on this site alters the terms or circumstances of any of
our insurance policies.
Self-insurance is normally used to pay for high-frequency, low-severity losses.
I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here. The sketch is attractive, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an nervousness over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again since exactly the same nearly very often inside case you shield this increase.
One thing is the fact that one of the most frequent incentives for utilizing your cards is a cash-back and also rebate supply. Generally, you’ll receive 1-5 back with various purchases. Depending on the credit cards, you may get 1 again on most purchases, and 5 back on buying made on convenience stores, filling stations, grocery stores in addition to ‘member merchants’.
Excellent post. I was checking constantly this blog and I’m impressed! Extremely helpful information specifically the last part 🙂 I care for such info a lot. I was looking for this particular information for a long time. Thank you and good luck.
I don?t even understand how I finished up right here, however I thought this post used to be good. I do not recognise who you’re but certainly you’re going to a well-known blogger for those who are not already 😉 Cheers!
I have been surfing on-line greater than 3 hours lately, but I never discovered any attention-grabbing article like yours. It is beautiful value enough for me. In my opinion, if all webmasters and bloggers made just right content as you probably did, the net shall be much more useful than ever before.
I couldn’t resist commenting. Exceptionally well written.
Thank you for your articles. I find them very helpful. Could you help me with something?
I want to thank you for your assistance and this post. It’s been great.
Your articles are very helpful to me. May I request more information?
Hello there! This post couldn’t be written any better! Reading through this article reminds me of my previous roommate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this post to him. Fairly certain he’ll have a very good read. Thank you for sharing!
Wow, amazing blog layout! How long have you been blogging for? you made blogging look easy. The overall look of your website is wonderful, let alone the content!
You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be actually something that I think I would never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
An interesting discussion is worth comment. I think that you should publish more on this topic, it may not be a taboo matter but typically people do not talk about such issues. To the next! Cheers.
Thanks a lot for sharing this with all of us you actually realize what you are speaking about! Bookmarked. Kindly also talk over with my web site =). We may have a link exchange arrangement between us!
Thanks for your submission. I also think that laptop computers are becoming more and more popular nowadays, and now will often be the only type of computer found in a household. This is due to the fact that at the same time that they’re becoming more and more economical, their working power keeps growing to the point where these are as robust as desktop computers through just a few years back.
That is a really good tip particularly to those new to the blogosphere. Brief but very accurate info… Thank you for sharing this one. A must read article!
Great beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your web site, how could i subscribe for a blog site? The account helped me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear concept
Normally I don’t read post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to take a look at and do so! Your writing taste has been amazed me. Thank you, very nice post.
Hello there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and found that it is really informative. I am gonna watch out for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future. A lot of people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your site in internet explorer, would check this? IE still is the market leader and a big portion of people will miss your wonderful writing due to this problem.
Aw, this was a really nice post. In thought I want to put in writing like this additionally ? taking time and precise effort to make an excellent article? but what can I say? I procrastinate alot and in no way appear to get one thing done.
Thanks for the suggestions about credit repair on this excellent site. The thing I would advice people will be to give up the particular mentality that they can buy currently and pay later. Being a society we all tend to try this for many things. This includes trips, furniture, and also items we wish. However, you have to separate one’s wants from all the needs. When you are working to improve your credit rating score you really have to make some sacrifices. For example you are able to shop online to economize or you can look at second hand outlets instead of expensive department stores to get clothing.
I’ve learned a number of important things by means of your post. I’d personally also like to state that there can be situation where you will apply for a loan and don’t need a cosigner such as a U.S. Student Aid Loan. But if you are getting financing through a standard financial institution then you need to be made ready to have a cosigner ready to assist you to. The lenders will probably base their decision using a few factors but the largest will be your credit standing. There are some loan providers that will furthermore look at your job history and choose based on that but in many cases it will hinge on your report.
Great paintings! That is the kind of information that are meant to be shared around the net. Shame on the search engines for no longer positioning this post higher! Come on over and discuss with my site . Thank you =)
whoah this weblog is magnificent i really like reading your articles. Keep up the good work! You realize, a lot of people are hunting around for this information, you can help them greatly.
Just desire to say your article is as amazing. The clarity in your post is simply great and i could assume you are an expert on this subject. Well with your permission let me to grab your RSS feed to keep up to date with forthcoming post. Thanks a million and please continue the rewarding work.
I used to be very pleased to find this web-site.I needed to thanks in your time for this excellent read!! I definitely enjoying each little little bit of it and I’ve you bookmarked to check out new stuff you weblog post.
Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate link to your host? I wish my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol
A further issue is that video games are typically serious as the name indicated with the major focus on studying rather than leisure. Although, we have an entertainment part to keep children engaged, each and every game is normally designed to develop a specific expertise or program, such as math concepts or scientific disciplines. Thanks for your post.
Hi my friend! I wish to say that this post is amazing, nice written and include approximately all vital infos. I?d like to see more posts like this.
I was very pleased to discover this web site. I wanted to thank you for your time due to this wonderful read!! I definitely appreciated every little bit of it and i also have you saved as a favorite to look at new stuff in your blog.
It is the best time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I’ve learn this publish and if I may I wish to recommend you some interesting issues or tips. Maybe you can write subsequent articles regarding this article. I want to learn even more things approximately it!
I don?t even know the way I stopped up right here, however I thought this submit was great. I do not realize who you’re but definitely you’re going to a well-known blogger if you happen to aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
Thanks for your posting. Another point is that to be a photographer includes not only issues in recording award-winning photographs but hardships in getting the best digicam suited to your requirements and most especially struggles in maintaining the caliber of your camera. This is certainly very true and clear for those professional photographers that are into capturing the nature’s captivating scenes – the mountains, the actual forests, the particular wild or seas. Going to these amazing places undoubtedly requires a photographic camera that can meet the wild’s hard conditions.
Thanks for the suggestions you are revealing on this blog site. Another thing I’d like to say is that often getting hold of duplicates of your credit profile in order to check out accuracy of the detail will be the first motion you have to carry out in repairing credit. You are looking to clear your credit history from detrimental details problems that spoil your credit score.
I’ve learned several important things via your post. I might also like to say that there may be a situation where you will have a loan and do not need a co-signer such as a National Student Aid Loan. However, if you are getting a loan through a standard financier then you need to be prepared to have a cosigner ready to make it easier for you. The lenders are going to base any decision on a few variables but the biggest will be your credit standing. There are some lenders that will additionally look at your job history and determine based on that but in many cases it will hinge on your credit score.
excellent points altogether, you just gained a new reader. What would you recommend in regards to your post that you made some days ago? Any positive?
Thanks for these guidelines. One thing I additionally believe is that often credit cards giving a 0 monthly interest often appeal to consumers along with zero rate, instant authorization and easy on-line balance transfers, nevertheless beware of the most recognized factor that will void your current 0 easy neighborhood annual percentage rate plus throw anybody out into the very poor house rapidly.
I enjoyed reading your piece and it provided me with a lot of value.
Good site you’ve got here.. It’s difficult to find good quality writing like yours these days. I honestly appreciate individuals like you! Take care!!
Thanks for these tips. One thing I should also believe is that credit cards presenting a 0 monthly interest often bait consumers in with zero interest, instant authorization and easy over-the-internet balance transfers, however beware of the most recognized factor that will certainly void that 0 easy streets annual percentage rate and to throw you out into the very poor house rapid.
Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the good info you’ve here on this post. I will probably be coming back to your weblog for more soon.
Wonderful beat ! I would like to apprentice while you amend your site, how can i subscribe for a blog web site? The account aided me a acceptable deal. I had been a little bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided bright clear idea
Valuable info. Lucky me I found your web site by accident, and I’m shocked why this accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.