This story is written for Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine by Stephanie Salinas it is taken from Docia Williams book Ghosts Along the Texas Coast without crediting Docia

“Dancing with a Ghost (Bailando Con Un Fantasma)”

He stopped and asked if he could assist her with anything, and she said that she wanted to go to a dance but needed a ride. Since he just happened to be on his way to a dance, he invited her to join him, and she happily accepted and climbed into his truck.

Saying her name was María, she told Manuel that she was not known in the area because she had been away for
a decade.

When they got to the dance, Manuel noticed that she did not do well with new dances like the cumbia, but she was one of the best polka dancers that onlookers had ever seen. After midnight, the musicians stopped playing and María sighed as if she wished they would never stop. When the rest of the partygoers left for home, Manuel and María walked back to his truck. The night grew cool, and he put his coat over her shoulders.

María told Manuel to drop her off at the same spot where he picked her up. But Manuel noticed that there were no lights around there and didn’t want to leave her by herself. She thanked him for taking her to the dance but insisted on being left alone. He then urged her to keep his coat and said he would pick it up in the morning.

The next day, Manuel, eager to see María, drove back to the area where he dropped her off. Spotting a little white house about a quarter-mile away, he drove down the dirt road and parked in front of the porch.

A woman opened the door, and Manuel asked if he could see María. Turning pale, the woman said, “María … María! My dear María died 10 years ago!”

“But, señorita, this is impossible!” Manuel said. “I took her to a dance last night! We had a good time. She is a great dancer. She was wearing a pink dress.”

The woman broke into tears.

“My daughter was buried in a pretty pink dress,” she said. “She was a very good dancer, especially when they played polkas and corridos, but I’m telling you, she died in an accident 10 years ago.”

Manuel insisted that María was the woman he had been dancing with the night before, and told the woman that he had loaned her his coat.

Unable to convince Manuel that María had died, the woman took him to the nearby family cemetery to show him her grave. They walked in silence to the cemetery until they reached a stone that read:

“María Lozano 1920-1940, RIP.”

Resting on the grave was Manuel’s coat.