Once Upon a Time in Texas

Did you know the first Thanksgiving in North America was actually held in Texas? But wait, there were actually TWO Thanksgivings held in Texas before the one we all know and love!

Did you know there was a woman hanged in Texas, only one? What about twin sisters and the Texas Holy Grail?

Did you know there was a city in Texas that was the second largest city in the state but only for one day. Also, ever heard of the Battle of Stone Houses? Today you will!

Did you know that Texas had a Forest Service? Did you know they had lookout towers and some are still standing? What about a Rancher that got swindled and logged 30,000 miles on a great adventure to catch the guys that did it, even though he had no law enforcement experience?

This week is Halloween so why not check out a few creepy Texas stories.

Many folks hear of historical people in their area but never really dive into their history and their relationship to their area. I found a few folks that are important to Texas AND my neck of the woods here in Northwest Texas. Lets deep dive into four of these guys and see what we can find.

Have you ever heard about a certain town names and wondered if there was an actual location or oddity that gave that town the name? Or, have you heard a town name and thought “how on Earth did they come up with that”? Well, here are a few for you right here in the Great State of Texas

Have you ever heard about a certain geographic region like the Pacific Northwest, The Great Plains, The Delta or The Valley and wondered what’s it’s meaning was or how it got named? Some are pretty easy to decipher like Pacific Northwest is obviously a location, the delta is obviously a geographic feature. BUT, what about the Llano Estacado? Ever heard of that? Come with me to hear about this little place in Texas.

Have you ever felt a little off or creeped out by a place? Turns out there are a few places in Texas that give that feeling to lots of people. You are not alone. Lets take a look at a few of those places now.

Have you ever read a book or novel and thought about where the author was raised? It makes you wonder if their books were based on their childhood or just their imagination. In this weeks episode, we are going to look at a few authors from Texas.

Have you heard of the Karankawa Tribe. Did you know there is a group in Texas that’s trying to rebuild the tribe recover its language and its native lands?

Have you seen the youtube videos of spelunkers exploring caves and some of the super tight spaces they get through. Lets explore some of the public caves in Texas.

Have you ever wondered about animals that used to roam Texas. Some died out or migrated away. Lets look at a few of these animals.

There are state “animals” for every state in the union and I got to wondering about which animals represented Texas. We have some interesting ones to say the least and of course, we have to hit on a few famous animals from Texas too. Oh, and I threw in a story about a Devil Duck too for good measure.

So I often wonder about the largest ranches in Texas and of course, places like the 6666 Ranch, Waggoner Ranch and King Ranch are all tops. But, what is the largest ranch in the world and what does the XIT Ranch have to do with the Texas State Capitol?

So I often wonder about place names and where they come from and recently Dallas/Fort Worth popped up. Most people shorten the whole area to DFW or the Metroplex but what is some of these two towns history and how did the get their names?

Have you thought about the largest Ranch’s in Texas or maybe even some of the town or place names? How about the song “Ding Dong Daddy from Dumas” or the town on Ding Dong, TX? Lets take a look at a few of these places.

This is a special live episode that I did while on vacation. We stopped in Channing Texas on our way out to New Mexico and I learned a lot of history just by walking around this little town. Come with me and learn about the XT ranch and also about a giant snake in Wichita County Texas.

Have you ever romanticized about being a cowboy on the open range on a long cattle drive? Did you know that period of time that is so often memorialized in the great westerns happened in a 25-30 year time frame from roughly 1865 to 1890? Lets take a look at some of the great cattle drive trails.