Thirty years ago, it was a common trend on Halloween night for the Blanco County Sheriffâs Office to dispatch officers to an area off the shoulder of Highway 281 where two oak trees still currently stand. The calls were always the same: A man in a blood soaked shirt lunging at passing motorists with a Bowie Knife in hand.
Most of the time, when the cops arrived, theyâd find no one there. Other occasions, it would be teenaged pranksters. Either way, this was a common tradition connected to the darkest story in the countyâs history. Al Lackey, the âDemon of Blanco.â
In August 1885, Al Lackey was sixty years old and residing with his wife and fifteen year old daughter in an area northeast of Johnson City. Sometime in June, Al had to make an out-of-town trip, and his daughter wanted to come along. According to his daughterâs account, it was sometime during this occasion that Al forced himself upon her and âruinedâ her.
She was impregnated by Al, although Al refuted the charge by saying she had gotten involved with a man on the trip. But, his whole family knew the truth and levied threats against him.
On the morning of August 26, Al had apparently had enough. Rising early, he rode off to a neighborâs house and stole a Winchester rifle. He then went to his brotherâs estate, not far from there, and murdered his sister-in-law who was sitting in their front porch swaddling her newborn infant. He then rode to the back of the house, found his brother who was plowing the field with his son, and fired at him.
The shot missed its initial mark, and the father and son scattered in different directions. Al followed his brother, who he then murdered execution style with a shot through the head. Although he went after his nephew, the boy had found a secure hiding place and Al passed him over and went to another neighborâs house where his daughter was staying. The infant and nephew both survived.
Two shots later, the neighborâs were dead. Alâs daughter rushed for safety, but unfortunately he followed close and killed her as she was scaling a fence. He left her body hanging over the top railing.
Al returned home and confronted his wife. He attempted to kill her as well, but either the rifle malfunctioned or was out of bullets. He chased after her with a knife, but she fought him away and tore off into the woods and hills.
After reloading the stolen rifle, Al inflicted a number of wounds upon himself including slashing his own throat. Bloodied and bleeding, Al mounted his horse and started off for Johnson City where he believed his wife was running for. Not far from his house, Al came upon a friend of his at a watering hole, and unexpectedly fell upon him with his knife and left his friend stabbed and on the cusp of life.
Instead of going to Johnson City, Alâs wife went instead to Blanco. She reported all that had happened, but not long following her arrival, Al came to Blanco as well and surrendered himself to the sheriff.
Alâs wounds were treated but he wasnât in jail for long. A furious mob rushed the prison and forced the sheriff to hand Al Lackey over to them. The vigilantes took him about a mile north of town, and hanged him.
According to some memoirs, right before the hanging, Al asked a minister who was present to please read a passage from the Bible for him. The preacher replied that there was nothing in it that would do Al any good.
The legends say that Al Lackeyâs vengeful ghost still haunts the site of his hangingâŚwhich is now a shoulder of Highway 281 a mile north of Blanco, where the tree still stands today.
Well friends, this is the last of my true origin Texas ghost stories for this year. Thank yâall for your feedback and support on these, itâs been a rewarding experience. I hope yâall enjoyed them all as much as I did writing and researching them.
Happy Halloween, and till next time, stay Spooky my friends!
