If you’ve never seen a full moon rise over the twin mesas called Santa Anna Mountains, felt that stillness and a deep sense of wonder when the mountain glows silver in the surrounding darkness, if you’ve never heard the sound of the north wind tearing through the gap between the hills, shuddering and wailing like a bereaved woman, you might not believe the Santa Anna Mountains are haunted. But many people who live there believe it–in fact some locals will tell you stories of strange sounds and lights coming from the hills at night. I’m not sure anyone can say for sure the mountains are haunted, but I have a theory for you.

The Santa Anna Mountains, located about 20 miles west of Brownwood, are the most striking landmark for probably 100 miles in any direction. They stand on a relatively flat plain, an outpost for the lost, a place to meet, a lookout point from which you can see at least 50 miles out, probably more, on a clear day. There is no doubt that ancient peoples took advantage of the mountain for those reasons and possibly more. Who is to say how many people groups have been attracted to the place and for how many thousands of years? We do know that a Penateka Comanche band lived here on a somewhat permanent basis, headed by Chief Santa Anna (aka Santana) at least until sometime in the 1840s, probably a bit longer.

Early eyewitnesses of a Comanche settlement at Santa Anna describe the village as being directly south of the mountains. Chief Santa Anna himself was a well known figure in Texas frontier lore, described as “a large, fine-looking man with an affable and lively countenance,” Santa Anna is rumored to have taken part in the disastrous Council House Fight, a debacle in which peace talks between the Texans and a delegation of Comanche chiefs descended into a bloody battle in San Antonio. Not enough evidence exists to trace Santa Anna’s actions there, but it is known that for several years after that incident, Santa Anna became a deadly enemy to the settlers of Texas, and participated in several terrifying raids carried out in retaliation for the betrayal of the Comanche chiefs at San Antonio.

Nevertheless, Santa Anna was known to have agreed to, and kept, a peace treaty with the German settlers of Fredericksburg, and his attendance and participation in the meetings and signing of the treaty is well documented. Santa Anna is reported to have died during a cholera epidemic in 1849, some say near Brownsville where he was involved in raids into Mexico. The story is that his body was returned to the area and buried near Fort Chadbourne in Coke County. F. M. Cross, in his book Early Days In Central Texas claims to have identified the grave of Santa Anna when he was a cowboy working in the area. Cross reports that the decorations on the grave were removed by soldiers from the fort, to the great grief and anger of Santa Anna’s wife, who reportedly visited the grave frequently to wail and mourn over her lost husband.

W.B. Parker’s book Expedition Through Unexplored Texas in 1854, contains a description of this remarkable woman, whose name unfortunately appears to be lost to history. Parker wrote, “A very interesting woman accompanied this party (party of Senaco Comanche chief who came to Major Neighbors at his camp on the Clear Fork of the Brazos). She was the widow of Santa Anna, a celebrated chief who died about three years since, and still mourned her loss, going out every evening in the neighborhood of the camp to howl and cry and cut herself with knives, according to the custom among them of persons in affliction. She had separated herself in a measure from the tribe, and formed a band of women, seven in number like herself widows. She owned a large herd of mules and horses, and was a most successful hunter, having alone shot with her rifle fifteen deer in a morning’s hunt. She was a fine looking woman, an Amazon in size and haughty in bearing, rode astride, and dressed in deep black.”

Part of Santa Anna Mountain is rumored to have been a holy site among the Comanche, and must have been very familiar to Santa Anna’s widow, as the immediate area was likely her home for many years. Could she have brought the body of her husband back home, after discovering his grave had been desecrated? Could she perhaps have performed rituals here, in grief and rage over her loss? If she did, she probably would not have been the first to do so. Comanche were known to worship and bury their dead at places where there were landmark-like hills, which they considered holy, and certainly The Santa Anna Mountains, being themselves a storied meeting place for the tribe, would have qualified.

We will never know, but on a clear night, when that full moon comes glowing over this tumbled pile of rocks, it is not hard to believe, not hard to imagine a tall woman, dressed in black, standing on the lookout rock, wailing to the sky, cursing anyone who would dare in the future to disturb the resting places of her ancestors. Could a happening like this be the origin of the rumors of ghosts at the Santa Anna Mountains?

Maybe so and maybe not, but when you hear that wind moaning through the breaks in the hills, when you sit and watch the rocks glow in the sunset, spot a golden eagle swirling high above the whole scene, it is not hard to imagine something like that took place here, and that there is still a remnant of such words and feelings, an admonition of sorts. Leave the hill alone, it would say. Locals seem to do just that. If you believe in grave guardians, you’d be hard put to find any better than the many rattlesnakes of Santa Anna Mountain. Ancient curses aside, these numerous and prolific hosts ensure that whatever secrets the mountain has will, more than likely be something the mountains are going to keep.

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Diane Adams is a local journalist whose columns and articles appear periodically on BrownwoodNews.com