The hills west of town

Texas · United States · Execution site

A road full of hills, and a tree where a woman thought to be a witch was hanged by early settlers.

On the west side of Falfurrias, Texas there is a road full of hills, and on it a tree.

The story is that a woman believed to be a witch was hanged from it by early settlers. On some nights, at a full moon, if you drive up to the tree and turn off your lights, she is there.

No record supports it, and the framing deserves a note. Texas held no witch trials. A woman killed by her neighbours in south Texas in the settlement era would more likely have been a curandera, a healer working with herbs and prayer in a tradition that is still practised across this region and that Anglo settlers frequently misread as witchcraft.

What that leaves is a lynching story with the victim's own culture written out of it.

Falfurrias is also known for something else entirely: the shrine of Don Pedrito Jaramillo, a curandero who died in 1907 and whose grave is visited by thousands.

The road is public and rural.

FAQ

Where is The hills west of town located?

The hills west of town is in Texas, United States.