So. My macabre story this go is not quite a cryptid, not quite a haunting, and definitely a local legend. This is about the bridge on the end of West Jett Rd. before it reaches Applewhite Rd. and thats just south of San Antonio. You can look it up on Google Maps as the Donkey Lady Bridge and it’ll show up for ya.
via Texas Cryptid Hunter
There’s a pretty big span of time when folks think the story originated, some sources say it started in the 1950s and others say as far back as the 1800s.And there are a could of different variations of the origin of the Donkey Lady so I think I’ll just start with a description of what she looks like and then get into the different origin stories, and then the run-ins that people in the area have had with her.
In one account, she is said to have drooped baggy skin that looks to have been from severe burns, making her entire face elongated, hence her name. Her fingers are fused together because of fire as well, giving them the appearance of hooves. In fact, her entire body is said to be blackened and burnt. She’s also usually seen crying as well.
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So the story goes that this woman lived with her husband and two children by this creek, and they earned a living through farming, which was at times just the slightest bit way from the family to be starving. They were really just SURVIVING through the farm.
One day this man rode through, and he was from this rich landowner family not to far off, and for a bit of fun he decided to start beating the family’s mule. So the poor thing starts making lot of noise and the couple goes to investigate and when they see this man beating their animal they start throwing rocks at him to shoo him off. He gets hit a few times and before running of he curses the two, sayin that one day he’ll get even.
One slight variation to this part is that the strange man is the son of a wealthy San Antonio merchant, and that he was teasing the mule with a stick before it got pissed and bit him. So he got pissed and started just smackin it harder.
So later that night, the man returned with a small group of people and they silently snuck up to the house and set it on fire. This group, in some stories, was heavily armed and agreed to not let anyone out of the house. Within moments the entire house was alight and the husband ran out trying to distract the group of people outside so his family could escape, but it was no use. He was shot. The children are said to have died and that their and the wife’s screams could be heard from a mile away. But the wife however, is said to have survived. She ran out of the house, horribly burned, and threw herself into the nearby creek. Some stories say that the mob followed her to the creek, but once she jumped in, nobody saw her emerge from the water and never found her body.
The best way to summon the Donkey Lady is to honk your car horn on the bridge, but sometimes you don’t even need to do that.
Theres this one story of a kid who had gone out camping with his dad and brother for the weekend by this unofficial county park. As they’re unloading the truck the boys hear this movement in the weeds up by the front of the truck, so they call their dad and then they all see these tall weeds move and begin hearing this snorting/snarling sound. The dad had no fuckin clue what it was so they packed up REAL quick and as they were the thing in the weeds was moving to the road. So they all hop in and the dad guns it, and as soon as the tires hit the road this THING darts out in front of the truck and in an instant this thing is up on the hood screaming at them through the windshield. The truck is still going and it starts to just smash the windshield in places. So the dad pulls the classic movie-move and slams on the breaks, she flies off and they are able to haul ass out of there.
Another story is that these friends were all hangin out and some of em got bored. So when somebody suggested they all go check out the Donkey Lady bridge. So of-fucking-course three of em said yes. It was dark out, but the house was not too far of a drive from the bridge. Cut to SIX HOURS LATER. The car is pulling back into the driveway, its windshield is totally busted, the hood is dented and covered in what looks to be blood. And get this, theres only one person in the car, not three.
They finally get their friend to tell em all what happened and this is what he said.
They had tried to do the whole honking thing but after about 15 minutes of waiting and nothing happening, they decides to go and look for the Donkey Lady themselves. As the three of them are looking out in the woods, car-wreck-dude-man feels like somethings watching them so he tells the others to be quiet and as they’re looking around, off in the distance, they see these two eyes staring at them. Upon seeing this the two girls freak the fuck out and run back to the car, and as soon as dude man turns his back to follow theres just this god awful scream coming from the direction of the eyes behind him.
He’s fumbling for the keys inside and they hear this HORSE running at them, the gar starts, and he floors it and slams into the thing and it just rolls across the top of the car and they drive away. Friends investigated the next morning and found blood on the road and hoofprints a ways off.
Sadly this bridge is now gated off, so probably no podcast recording on this one, but I still got my hopes up for the Goatman Bridge.
Sources: Texas Hill Country, Weird US, True Horror Stories of Texas, Texas Cryptid Hunter, Mysterious Universe