GHOSTS IN THE HOUSE! GHOSTS IN THE HOUSE!

By Juan Montoya

Right near the top of today's Cameron County Commissioners Court agenda is an item following the recognition of Nat Lopez for his work on the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce that should make the hairs on the back of your neck rise every time you visit the Dancy Building on Madison Street.
It is a presentation by the RGV Paranormal Investigations on the possibility of ghostly activity in the 99-year-old building. Built in 1912, the historic Dancy Building on East Monroe Street is one of the buildings that has its share of unexplainable occurrences.
Stories have floated with the coffee shop crowd that the late County Judge Oscar C. Dancy himself wanders the three-story building. Dancy served as county judge for nearly 50 years.
The investigators recently did a walk-through to gather photo and video evidence and monitor the area using its electronic voice phenomena, or EVP, equipment.
The group will share its findings with the county commissioners today at thei 2 p.m meeting.
"I took part in some of the investigation and we did get some EVPs," said Cris Valadez, Cameron County Judge Carlos Cascos' administrative assistant."
One of the city’s first cemeteries was unearthed in a parking lot across the street from the historic structure. The grave site on East Monroe Street dates back to 1848 and perhaps even furtherback when the land was part of the Matamoros common property. Historical records indicate the graves were moved to the city’s new cemetery at the intersection of Fifth and Madison streets in 1850.
But a crew digging around the area in September 2004 to build a parking lot there dug up the remains of some 700 bodies that had not been moved. At the time Cascos told the Brownsville Herald that he had even heard things in his office when no one was around.
“The toilet in the bathroom that is adjacent to my office every once in a while will flush by itself,” Cascos said. “I’ve heard similar stories that bathrooms will flush.
“I think (what the investigation reveals) would be interesting so people would know if there is paranormal stuff like that going on,” Cascos said. “If anything, it will make for good conversation.”
Regardless of whether the ghosts of the past are still pining away flushing toilets in Cascos' office or not, recent event indictae the existence of some ghostly activity there. For example:
*Which mischevious apparition took the civil examination for Pct. 2 commissioner Ernie Hernandez's brother-in-law Roberto Cadriel and passed it after he failed twice?
*Who scared Robert Lopez, Human Resources interim director to resign the same day that Cadriel (a convicted felon) quit his job at Los Tomates Bridge when the gig was discovered?
*Who scared away the county's income streams and drove the commissioners (except for Pct. 1's Sofia Benavides) to pass a property tax rate increase?
*Why do the bailiffs in the county's judicial wing walk on their tiptoes after scary Sheriff Omar Lucio haunts over their place of employment and threatens to carry them away with him to his lair in Olmito?
*Why are the county's bail bond board employees looking over their shoulders toward the county judge's office? Can they feel the ax swinging toward them?
*Why did commissioner Dan Sanchez stop parking in the parking space reserved for the constables after a gremlin le puso el dedo?
*And is Cameron County District Clerk Aurora de la Garza going to the local curanderos to get barridas so as not to get swept up in the Rosenthal-Limas corruption investigation?
Scary stuff indeed!