The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - Trailer & Posters (1966)

The Wolf Girl of Devil's River, Texas (1835 - ????)

In 1835, a group of American colonists, led by Dr. Charles Beale, were camped at Lake Espontosa, a renowned haunted location near what is now Carrizo Springs in southwest Texas. Half a mile away from the Beale group, John Dent and his pregnant wife Mollie Pertul Dent, both from Georgia, had built a brush cabin. Dent had come to trap beaver in the Devil's River area, north of the present day Del-Rio, but was also on the run from the law for the murder of a fellow trapper in Georgia. The Dents were to prove fortunate in their choice of a site distant from the lake. A band of Commanches raided the main Beale camp and massacred most of the inhabitants, afterwards throwing the bodies of the victims and their carts into the lake.

A Haunted Location
Even at this time Espontosa Lake had acquired a reputation for ghostly goings-on, this incident adding to the store of ill-luck and sorrow centering on what, to this day Mexicans consider a haunted location, the name Espantosa meaning 'frightful'.
As Mollie was approaching the end of her pregnancy, the couple were reluctant to travel despite the danger of hostile Indians. One night in May 1835, there was a severe thunderstorm and Mollie went into labor. She appeared to be having problems with the birth so Dent decided to ride westwards for help.

He arrived at a Mexican goat ranch on the Pecos Canyon, and told them desperately about his wife's condition, begging for someone to ride back with him. When the Mexican heard of the camp's location near the haunted Espantosa Lake they were at first unwilling to go, especially as it would be dark when they got there. Eventually Dent managed to persuade the ranchero and his wife to accompany him. But as the Mexicans prepared their horses to leave there was a furious crash of thunder and a bolt of lightning struck Dent from his horse killing him instantly.

After a considerable delay the goat herders mounted up and followed Dent's directions. However, darkness fell before they had got over the divide to Devil's River, thus delaying the search. Finally, at sunrise the next morning they located the Dent's isolated cabin.

But what they found outside the cabin, in an open brush arbor, was Mollie Dent lying dead, alone. She had apparently died in childbirth, but there was no trace of the baby anywhere. The child was never found, but fang marks on the woman's body and numerous wolf tracks over the area made the goat herders naturally assume that the infant had either been devoured or carried off by lobo wolves.

First Sighting of the Wolf Girl
But this was just the beginning of the story. Ten years later, In 1845, a boy living at San Felipe Springs (Del-Rio) reportedly saw 'a creature, with long hair covering its features, that looked like a naked girl' attacking a herd of goats in the company of a pack of lobo wolves. The story was ridiculed by many, but still managed to spread back among the settlements. Around a year after this incident, a Mexican woman at San Felipe claimed she had seen two large wolves and an unclothed young girl devouring a freshly killed goat. She approached close to the group, she said, before they saw her and ran off.

The woman noticed that the girl ran initially on all-fours, but then rose up and ran on two feet, keeping close to the wolves. The woman was in no doubt about what she had seen, and the scattering of people in the Devil's River country began to keep a sharp watch for the girl. There were similar reports by others in the region during the following year and Apache stories told of a child's footprints, sometimes accompanied by hand prints, having been found among wolf tracks in sandy places along the river. A hunt was organised to capture the 'Lobo (or Wolf) Girl of Devil's River' as she had now become known, comprising mainly Mexican vaqueros. On the third day of the hunt the naked girl was sighted near Espantosa Lake running with a pack of wolves.

The cowboys managed to separate the girl from her wolf companions and cornered her in a canyon, where she fought like a wildcat clawing and biting frantically to keep her freedom. They finally managed to lasso her to keep her still, but while they were tying her up she began to make frightening, unearthly sounds somewhere between the scream of a woman and the howl of a wolf. As she howled, the monster he-wolf from whom she'd become separated appeared and rushed at her captors. Fortunately one of the cowboys reacted quickly and shot it dead with a pistol, at which the wolf girl fell into a faint. Securely bound, the men were now able to examine the girl and noted that despite a body covered in hair and her wild mannerisms, her appearance was human. Her hands and arms were well muscled but not out of proportion, and she lacked the ability to speak, only making deep growling noises. She moved smoothly on all fours, but was rather awkward when made to stand up straight.

The girl was put on a horse and taken to the nearest ranch, an isolated two-roomed shack amid the desert wilderness. She was put in one of the rooms and unbound, the cowboys offering her a covering for her body and food and water, but she refused, cowering in the darkest corner. They then left her alone for the night, locking the door and posting a guard outside. The only other opening in the room was a small boarded up window.

Ghostly Cries
But as night fell the cowboys heard terrifying howls coming from the wolf girl's room. The strange cries carried through the still night air, unsettling her captors and soon finding answers from among the wolf pack in the wilderness beyond the shack. Soon there were long deep howls coming from all sides as the pack drew closer to the house, and occasionally strange howling screams from the girl answering them from inside her dark room. Suddenly the large pack of wolves charged into the corrals, attacking the goats, cows and horses and bringing the cowboys outside shooting and yelling to drive them away. In all the confusion the wolf girl managed to tear the planks from the window and escape into the night. The howls soon abated and the wolves crept back into the wilderness. The next day not a trace of the girl could be found.

Though there were a few unverified reports in the following years of a young hair-covered girl being seen with a wolf pack in the area, no one ever came in close contact with her. Meanwhile gold had been discovered in California and westward travel had increased significantly. In 1852 a surveying party of frontiersmen searching for a new route to El Paso were riding down to the Rio Grande at a bend far above the mouth of Devil's River. They were almost at the water's edge when they saw at close range, sitting on a sand bar, a young woman suckling two wolf cubs. Suddenly she saw them, quickly grabbed the pups and dashed into the breaks at such a rate that it was impossible for the horsemen to follow.

The girl would have been seventeen years-old that year. After that she disappeared into the wilderness forever. It is impossible now to know what became of Mollie Dent's daughter, presuming that's who the wolf girl was. There were subsequent reports of 'human-faced' wolves in the area right up until the 1930s, and author L.D. Bertillion (see sources below), wrote in 1937, 'during the past forty years I have in the western country met more than one wolf face strongly marked with human characteristics'.

The Ghost of Devil's River
However, the Wolf Girl of Devil's River does seem to live on in subtler forms. Her 'ghost' has apparently been seen in the old San Felipe Springs area beside the banks of Devil's River. In 1974 (the same year as the Delphos wolf girl in Kansas), a hunter in this area claimed to have seen her again, in the form of a white apparition which vanished before his eyes.

Back in the autumn of1835, when John and Mollie Dent had newly arrived in Texas, Mollie wrote her mother an odd letter. It said merely -
'Dear Mother,
The Devil has a river in Texas that is all his own and it is made only for those who are grown.
Yours with love
Mollie'.

Knott's Berry Place - Tea Room Menue (1937)

Straight Arrow "Injun-Uities" Cards (National Biscuit Co. 1950)

Del Monte Can Food Round-Up (East Los Angeles Tribune Oct. 19th 1950)

Southwestern, Creole and Mexican Recipe Guides (1930-40s)

A Visit to the Mummies of Guanajuato, Mexico by Ann Ball

As she puts it, Ann Ball has a split personality. All day in her work managing a Houston security guard company she plays a perpetual game of Cops and Robbers, carries a gun, and cusses like a sailor. At night she creeps home and writes Catholic books and articles. Her specialties are the lives of the modern saints and Catholic heritage and tradition. She has had a love affair with Mexico and its people since she was young. A pure Texan, her friends tease her and call her a Mexican at heart. At home with five cats, she enjoys reading, gardening, and messing around with the herbs she grows. The following is from Ann Ball's Website:


A most unusual museum crowns the top of Trozado Hill in Guanajuato, Mexico. Its collection of objects - mummified human corpses - serves to provide funds for social assistance in the city, and as a powerful memento mori. The most famous tourist attraction of this part of the country, the museum is located above the municipal cemetery of Santa Paula. Visitors enter along a row of shops selling all types of tourist trinkets; wandering vendors smilingly offer candy mummies. Ghoulishly, children munch these sugary "recuerdos" (souvenirs) as they wait for admittance. A Halloween atmosphere with a delicious anticipation of fright prevails. Long lines of tourists queue up for the visit.

Inside, a guide begins an interesting spiel in Spanish as the group passes by the glass cases containing 118 mummies whose bodies were exhumed between the years of 1865 and 1979. "Here you see the smallest mummy in the world," the guide says, as he points to the tiniest of the museum's inhabitants. "This lady was found sitting with her newborn child; this medical doctor is the first of the mummies.

Not all the mummies have come from our cemetery; some have been brought from Celaya." As round-eyed children and anxious adults follow him, gazing face to face with these powerful reminders of life and death, the guide continues telling the traditions and legends of Guanajuato through the stories of the mummies. These frame a fantastic world in our imagination. He tells of the virtuous baker's wife found hanging. Her brutish husband, arrested and executed for the crime, protested his innocence to the end. No one knows the truth; the only marks on the body were those of the rope. The story of the unfaithful woman buried alive fascinates everyone.

The most recently discovered mummy is half mummy, half bones. The faces of some of the adult tourists begin to pale. They seem grateful to spy the free restrooms near the exit. With the exception of one who appears to be laughing, most of the mummies have their mouths open as if they were screaming. The guide carefully explains that this is caused from a natural muscle movement during the process of rigor in an unnamable body. The observers give credence to his silent words.

The mummies seem to have a black scream frozen in their mouths, telling of the obscurity of death and recording their trip among the fleshless ones. Several times, through signs and the words of the guide, visitors are reminded that the mummies are working hard for the children of Guanajuato. All the proceeds from admissions and from the sale of postcards, t-shirts, and booklets in the museum gift shop, go to the city's poor children through the medium of municipal social works. Somehow, this makes things seem better, less gruesome. After all, these mummies are just doing a job. In their glass enclosures, most of the mummies recline with a soft pillow under their heads. Some are sitting or standing, and others bear signs that speak a philosophical message. One corpse is shown in its coffin.

The thought- provoking inscription reads: "This is how you see my life; this is how I see the truth." Wall displays between the glass cases call forth contemplation and amusement. One set of photographs vividly displays "Los Angelitos" (the Little Angels.) When a young child dies in Mexico, there are certain rituals connected with his death and burial. Many people believe that the souls of these innocent little ones immediately join the angels in Heaven. The child is dressed as a little angel or saint, crowned with a crown of flowers and laid on a beautifully decorated bier.
A painting or photograph is then made which the family keeps on its home altar in remembrance of its own little "angelito." Next to this display is a case of some of the smallest of the mummies. One is dressed as Saint Martin de Porras. Another wears a well-preserved crown of flowers. Another wall causes visitors to laugh, breaking the horrible tension that has been building. The calaveras of the famous artist Guadalupe Posada evoke humor.

A second look calls forth contemplation from some observers. Posada's lithographs are now famous world-wide. His laughing, dancing skeletons are among his most famous works of art. The calaveras are engravings showing smiling skeletons wearing clothing and cavorting about in all manner of poses. Each is completed with a funny, usually sarcastic poem. Deep thoughts are often hidden in the humor of the words. During the festivities of Dia de Muertos (all soul's day), the people exchange these calaveras much as Americans exchange Valentines in February.

The municipal cemetery of Santa Paula was built in 1853 when the previous cemete ry was filled. In 1865, the new cemetery was extended. The body of Remigio Leroy, a French-born doctor, was exhumed. To the surprise of the cemetery workers, the body was found to be naturally mummified. Because of the enormous number of burials, the cemetery followed the old European custom of exhuming and cremating bodies after five years. Fees could be paid to insure that a family member stayed buried, but most people did not, or could not, afford to pay them. During subsequent exhumations, a number of mummified corpses were found, and these began to be exhibited as a tourist attraction after the year 1870.

Mummies, of course, have existed since long before the Christian era. The Egyptian mummies were carefully embalmed in order to preserve the bodies for a future life. The exact causes for natural mummification such as those of Guanajuato have never been completely explained by science. Natural mummies have been found in many parts of the world. Some mummies which were not embalmed have been found in the hot, dry desert of Egypt; the cold dry climate in other parts of the world has its share of these scientific oddities.

Excavations near Bordeaux, France turned up hideous mummies which were displayed in several places toward the end of the Middle Ages. Science has never successfully answered the question, "Why do some bodies remain incorrupt when others rapidly disintegrate in the natural process of putrefaction?"

Scientists acknowledge that most natural mummification is produced in the absence of water and in the presence of soil that is salty, or rich in nitrates and aluminum. These conditions are present in parts of the cemeteries of Celaya and Guanajuato where the majority of the museum's denizens were found. The rapid dehydration makes the bodies less susceptible to microorganisms and insect larvae. The anatomical external parts are usually preserved while the interiors often dissolve. Natural mummies are fragile and break with only the slightest pressure.

Memento mori - remember, man, that you are going to die. The medieval Christian became fascinated with the physical properties of death and forgot to contemplate the happy Christian message of the Resurrection. The medieval outlook on the vanity of earthly things exerted great influence on the world's literature and art.

The mummies of Guanajuato speak to today's Christian in a powerful voice - a compelling memento mori. They scream forth, too, a plea for our remembrance of our faithful departed.

"Remember also, O Lord, your servants who have gone before us with the sign of faith, and rest in the sleep of peace. To them, O Lord, and to all who rest in Christ, we entreat you to grant a place of comfort, of light, and peace."

Oddly, these silent orators also speak of life. Life is affirmed through death; death is not the negation of life but rather its affirmation. The mummies of Guanajuato speak to the Christian of the joyful affirmation of the very heart of our religion - life everlasting. The pain of death is combined with our joy at the hope of life everlasting. Our loved ones do not die; they live again in God. It is through the crucifixion that we see the bountiful promise of the resurrection. Because He lives, we too shall live.