There is a house just shy of Wichita Falls, Texas that locals know as The Witch’s Gate.
This large estate has seen plenty of tragedy in its time.
In 1975, Jim Keith was murdered inside the home by a man who wanted to steal his antique clock collection.
Photo credit: flickr/nkerns
A Wichita Falls Murder Scene
Updated 2/11/2020 – Jim’s brother Kenneth managed to escape before the murderer set fire to the house.
While the house still stands, it remains a shell of what it once was.
But who deemed the house The Witch’s Gate?
Where did such a name come from?
According to local legend, the house was once the site of ancient witchcraft.
Many believe a witch named Esme lived in the house long ago, and she would often curse anyone who crossed the gate that once surrounded the property.
Deformed in an accident as a little girl, the witch took to wearing a cloth to hide her face whenever she was around other people.
It’s believed that the only trespassers the witch ever spared were two children who once knocked upon her door, begging for some broth to fill their empty bellies.
She took them in as her own and took care of them until the end of her days.
…But she never let anyone in town forget the power and the evil she was capable of.
The House Remembers…
Photo credit: petapixel.com
You visited The Witch’s Gate recently, Vanessa?
“Yes, I was there a week ago, exploring what is left of the house.”
Please tell us about your experience there.
“Well, I have heard all of the stories, and I knew about what happened to those two brothers in the 70s, so it was definitely eerie being there by myself,” she nodded.
“I kept feeling a chill run through my body, but I told myself that I was imagining things because of what had happened there.
I remember I was standing there, looking at everything around me when I saw a shadow on the ground cross right behind me.
I caught my breath, but I was too scared to move at first,” she murmured.
“After a moment I slowly turned around and saw a bird pecking at the ground.
You can’t imagine my relief—it was just a bird swooping down—and I felt at ease again…but I was wrong,” she added, growing pale.
“With every passing moment that I was there, I couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t alone.
There was this…presence…all around, that is so hard to describe to someone if you haven’t experienced it yourself.
I started to think that the house itself retained some of the negative emotions of what had happened there to the Kenneth brothers.”
You mean like Stone Tape Theory?
“Yes, like the house absorbed what happened to Jim Kenneth and retained all of the negative energy inside of its walls.
It wasn’t pleasant…but it was better to think that than the idea of seeing Jim’s ghost flying around the place,” she said with a faint smile.
But that’s when I saw the witch…
“I turned around to look back at the bird, and there was a woman standing there with a thick cloth draped over her face.
’Get…. Out…,’ the witch whispered to me, and I didn’t need telling twice.
I ran for it, practically having a panic attack all the way back to Wichita Falls.”
Address
Off 287
East of Wichita Falls, TX