Friday, December 28, 2007

'She shot the wrong person'

You've gotta love Texans. I had a trio from Houston who wanted a ride from their hotel out to the Hotel del Coronado on the island. En route one of them asked if I knew anything about The Del being haunted. I've heard something about it, but didn't know the details. One of the ladies in the back, who I marked as a Texan by her accent, said she read on the web that a young woman checked in under a false name in the 1890s. She had recently found out her husband was cheating on her, and in her room at The Del, shot herself with a Deringer. Apparently her ghost haunts that room and the corridor leading up to it.

Me: Interesting tale. I don't know if I believe in ghosts.

Her: Me neither. And what is really sad is, she shot the wrong person. She should have shot the cheating husband.

I laughed.

Her: We're from Texas. That's how it would be done there.

She was probably 50 years old, and she said all of it deadpan. She wasn't looking for a laugh.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your passenger was right. Plus, had the woman shot her cheating husband in Texas no jury of Texans would have convicted her.

Congratulated, maybe, but not convicted.

Even the dentist couple case (where the wife ran over the cheating husband) a couple of years back was only controversial because the wife had her stepdaughter in the car while killing the dad. I swear, if she'd left the kid home she'd have served a couple of years tops and that only because it was premeditated.