To get the latest in ghostly information, be sure to visit with long-time employee Ernesto Malacara, the Menger's Director of Public Relations. Malacara can give a string of ghost stories that would curl your hair. The hotel, built in 1859, is San Antonio's vault for vanquished spirits, with at least 32 different apparitions competing for sightings.

So who are these souls traipsing the halls at the oldest continually operating hotel west of the Mississippi? Aside from a multitude of bumps in the night, kitchen utensils that transport themselves, and the presence of people (with no bodies to accompany them), they're the following stories:

Maid, Sallie White, murdered by her husband and buried at hotel expense by the Menger, has been seen walking in the hotel corridors, especially at night for many years. She is clad in an old, long gray skirt with a bandana around her forehead and is generally carrying towels, which she never delivers.

Captain Richard King, founder of the King Ranch, appears now and then entering his room, the King Suite. He has been seen by many guests and employees of the hotel. The unusual thing is that he does not use the suite door, but goes directly through the wall. There was a door in the location where Captain King entered his suite many years ago.

A guest steps out of his shower and walks into the bedroom of the hotel. Standing by the bed is the figure of a man clad in a buckskin jacket and gray trousers. To further cloud the issue, this apparition is speaking to someone or something else in the room that cannot be seen. Buckskin asks the question "Are you gonna stay or are you gonna go?" three times.

A lady sits knitting in the original lobby of the Menger Hotel. She wears a dated blue dress and a beret with a tassel. Her glasses are small and metal framed. An employee asks "Are you comfortable...may I get you something?" The lady replies "no" in an unfriendly tone and disappears.

Why the Menger for these supernatural escapades? Built just steps from the battle of the Alamo and only 23 years after its bloody conclusion, the land lends itself to folklore. But like all tourists resting their heads in the hotel, these souls are harmless.