Three family members have been hospitalized after they were struck by a vehicle during a vigil for a loved one at San Antonio’s notorious “ghost tracks.”
The family had gathered on the corner of Shane Road and Villamain Road just after midnight on Sunday to pay tribute to a relative killed in an accident at the spot when a suspected drunk driver rammed into the group, injuring a woman and two children, aged 9 and 11.
The crash site is already famous thanks to an urban legend that the ghosts of children killed in a 20th-century school bus crash linger there, earning the scene the name the San Antonio Ghost Tracks.
San Antonio Police said that Sunday’s accident unfolded when Jessica Rose Llanas, 34, was driving along Villamain Road and missed her intended turn off onto Shane Road.
Police said the vehicle ran over the two children’s feet before striking the adult woman.
The woman was left with head injuries, though none of the victims’ injuries were life threatening, reported News4SanAntonio.
Llanas stayed at the scene and cooperated with investigators, police said.
She was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated.
According to urban folklore, in the early 20th century, a school bus got stuck on the railroad tracks and was hit by a train. All 23 children on board and the bus driver died, FoxSanAntonio reported.
The history has since been debunked with an archivist revealing in the early 2000s that the crash actually took place in Salt Lake City – not San Antonio.
But the legend still lives on, and locals and tourists still visit the tracks to this day.
Visitors are also known to sprinkle baby powder on their cars in the hopes that the ghost children leave behind little handprints.
As the legend goes, the ghostly children will also move cars close to the tracks to safety.
While the urban myth may have been debunked, the site is something of an accident hotspot.
The Independent contacted San Antonio Police for further information.
