As the seventh most populated city in the United States and the second most populated city in Texas, San Antonio boasts being one of the fastest growing cities in the United States.  San Antonio is well known to its 30 million annual tourists for the River Walk, Tower of the Americas, its Spanish colonial missions, the Alamo Bowl, Marriage Island, SeaWorld, Six Flags, the NBA Spurs, and the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.  Another less known attraction is San Antonio’s Donkey Lady.

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Donkey Lady murals in San Antonio

In the 1950s, and unfortunate Texas woman was caught in a fire.  She lost her two children in the blaze.  Rumors circulated, and the woman speculated, that her husband had caused the fire.  He was never seen again after the flames spread throughout their home.  The woman left behind was the most unfortunate of burn victims.  She was left horribly disfigured.

The woman’s injuries made her look like a donkey.  Even after she healed from the initial injuries of the burns, her skin was left dropping and baggy in appearance.  Her fingers were fused together into stumps and were very similar to hooves.  They say that as a result of the extreme betrayal and her heartbreaking loss, the woman went totally insane.

The Donkey Woman hid herself away and stayed in the rural areas of Bexar County.  She hid away from the world, unable to deal with her horrible pain and even more horrendous appearance.  While she stayed to herself in the depths of the forest, it did not stop her from attacking anyone who came too close.

Some reason that it is likely her ghost that terrorizes people now, especially on the bridge in San Antonio.  So much so that people have now renamed the bridge the “Donkey Lady Bridge.”  People tell stories about driving onto the bridge at night.  They honk their horns and call out to the woman, yelling her name.  They talk about feelings of being watched.  The even braver visitors tell stories of turning off their headlights in an effort to make her appear.

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Donkey Lady Bridge

One unfortunate group didn’t have to try so hard for the Donkey Lady to appear to them.  A father and son were camping in a secluded area in the county park.  They had just pulled up to their camp, began unloading and started to sent up their tent.  All of the sudden, the pair head rustling from the brush on the outskirts of the forest.  As they watched, the rustling became more aggressive.  Neither thought much of the incident until the snorting and snarling began.

As the noises increased, the father nervously told the son to get into their nearby pick up truck, worried a creature would soon burst from its hiding place.  The father started to slowly pick up some of their unpacked items, all the while the noises and rusting becoming closer and louder.  The father then slowly backed up until he was able to climb into his truck, never taking his eyes of the brush.

As soon as he shut the door, the creature burst out from the trees and ran in front of the truck.  Seconds later it bounded on to the hood, shrieking.  While the boy screamed in terror, the dad tried to quickly start the truck, momentarily distracted by the appearance of the creature.  It was a donkey human that pulled its deformed hands up to punch at the windshield.  The man could only describe it later as a wild animal, filled with rage and hatred.  When they finally escaped and safely reached town, the man took inventory of his truck.  The windshield was nearly busted out, dents covered the entire body of the truck, scuffs and scrapes littered the fenders, and blood covered the front hood.