Maybe the spookiest things about “Murder, Mayhem and Misadventure,” the spectral tour of historic Oakwood Cemetery every Halloween season, is how the characters terminate their hauntings with the line: ‘Thank you for visiting me.'”

For some 15 years, Save Austin’s Cemeteries, a nonprofit group that advocates for Austin graveyards, has staged tours of Oakwood, the city’s oldest cemetery, in costume. Saturday, the ghouls will return in force with tales from the city’s past.

This year, for instance, you’ll hear about a descendant of the Caswell family who drowned at sea while on her honeymoon; about the terror that descended on 1880s Austin during the reign of the Midnight Assassin, as told by victim Susan Hancock; as well as a gunfight in a old timey saloon that involved the infamous Ben Thompson.

Susan Hancock revives memories of a serial killer

Susan Hancock: I know who he is — the Servant Girl Annihilator I saw his face clearly right before he brought that axe down on my head.

He was just one of the 17,000 people living in Austin in 1885. He terrorized Austin for nearly a year — killing eight people and brutally injuring eight others. And then, after he killed me and Eula Phillips on Christmas Eve, he disappeared. Unfortunately, I lingered from my injuries for three painful days before dying.

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Two dead white ladies killed in one night — that got the attention of the white citizens of Austin.

The Statesman’s headline on Christmas Day read: “Blood! Blood! Blood! The Demons have transferred their thirst for blood to White People!”

There was a mass meeting on Christmas Day, Five hundred of Austin’s leading citizens gathered to come up with a plan to stop the killings. There was a suggestion that the entire town should be lit up with giant lamps. The mayor suggested that, when an attack occurred, the fire alarm bells should be rung so that all the citizens could pour out of their houses armed and ready to hunt down the killer.

Rewards were offered. As it turns out, I was the last victim to die.

Although I can’t give you the name of the murderer, I can tell you that the police pursued the wrong man. They arrested my husband, Moses, and charged him with the murder. The police were completely incompetent.

But in those days, policing mostly involved rounding up unfortunate people and beating them until they confessed. When that didn’t work, they looked at the relatives, and when they looked at Moses, they found a motive.

Moses was a heavy drinker. Although he had never struck me or the girls, I (was) terrified of him when he was drinking. At one point, I conceived a plan to leave him because of it, and to go live with my sister in Waco. I had even written him a letter. I think I have it here in my pocket. Yes, here it is. I wrote:

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The police found that letter hidden in my belongings and spotted a motive, that I was going to leave Moses and take the girls. Moses didn’t help himself with his erratic behavior. In the days following my murder, he drank heavily, threatened and was abusive to my sister and brother, concocted strange stories and threatened to leave the country. In other words, he acted like he was guilty!

Moses was tried, but was acquitted after our eldest daughter, Lena, testified that I had never shown the letter to Moses and had never threatened to leave him. My secret plan had remained a secret.

I am glad to say that Moses did reform somewhat after the trial. He and Lena remained close and she provided a home for him with her in the years before he died. My younger daughter, Ida, being still a child when I died, was raised by my sister in Waco.