EP 5: South Texas Tales
*SPOILER ALERT: The following article contains spoilers for Episode 5. Before reading, listen to South Texas Tales here. Afterward, feel free to check out this "Behind-the-Episode" blog for additional info and photos! And visit our Patreon page for more extras!
The Boy In My Room
Sunset in Pawnee, Texas
As some of you already know, I actually grew up in South Texas. In fact, I grew up in the exact town where "The Boy In My Room" took place. To go even further, Clint and his family are my relatives! Clint, Andrew, and their youngest brother Joseph are my first cousins. Their parents, Rachel and James are my aunt and uncle. And Desmond, who's also featured in this segment is my cousin as well. I'm the oldest of the bunch, but growing up without siblings myself, Andrew and I were very close. He was like a brother to me.
Me & Andrew just chillin' by my TMNT toy box in Pawnee, TX
Growing up in Pawnee, there really wasn't much to do. The town is microscopic and desolate. Back in the early 90's there was literally nothing in the town - no gas station, no place to eat, nothing. Time there was spent running in coastal fields, walking to Grandma's house, and getting into trouble. Andrew and I were good at that.
Andrew was 3 years younger than me, and then Clint came along and he was 3 years younger than Andrew. There was a decent age gap between us for a while, but once Clint caught up in age, he fit right in and we saw each other almost every day.
Andrew holding his little bro, Clint
That said, we never really talked about ghosts or hauntings, ever. I honestly was the only one in our family that was interested in the paranormal, and it started at a really young age. I can remember writing a horror short story at around age 6 or 7. I somehow got my Dad to write out what I was saying aloud and then he helped illustrate it. He definitely had no interest in the stuff either but never stopped me from it.
When we were older and Clint opened up one day what he'd experienced in his room, I was a bit shocked. He wasn't the type to readily talk about stuff like this. I can recall how the family was all a bit unsure about the whole thing. But slowly, over time, more experiences came out. Andrew opened up again about the hand he saw cross his CD player. Desmond, our cousin who was around Clint's age, opened up about actually seeing the boy in Clint's room as well. Then, Rachel and James opened up about hearing noises.
It was all very fascinating to me how all this was unfolding within my own family. What made it more interesting to me was how they all didn't really believe in this stuff. I was in college when all this came out so I wasn't around as much, but wish I'd been able to investigate the place. However, I didn't get involved in actual paranormal investigations until my last semester of college. By this point, Clint and the family had sold the place and were living in their new place.
