HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
+ 2 further entries on record
An 1867 Victorian house on the 1842 Battle of Salado Creek site, featured on Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures and consistently named one of Texas's most haunted places.
1006 Holbrook Rd, San Antonio, TX 78218
Research updated October 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Ghost-tour tickets and paranormal investigation packages vary; weddings and events priced separately.
Access
Limited Access
Historic Victorian house and 35-acre grounds with stairs, uneven walkways, gravel drives, and outbuildings.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1867 · Built 1867 on the site of the 1842 Battle of Salado Creek · Mahler family homestead; later associated with Woods, Holbrook, and Street families · Featured on Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures (2013) and Sightings (1996) · 35-acre event and paranormal-tourism property under family ownership
The main house at 1006 Holbrook Road was built in 1867 by the Mahler family in a transitional Greek Revival / Victorian style on a 35-acre wooded tract along Salado Creek in what is now northeast San Antonio. The land had previously been part of the 1842 Battle of Salado Creek, in which Texas militia under Colonel Mathew Caldwell and Captain John Coffee Hays repulsed a Mexican Army incursion under General Adrián Woll. The estate passed through several families in the 19th and 20th centuries — including the Woods, Holbrook, and Street families — and was named 'Victoria's Black Swan Inn' by later owners.
The inn is currently owned and operated by Jo Ann Rivera and her family, who use the main house, garden, gazebo, and dairy barn as venues for weddings, corporate events, artisan markets, and ghost-tour and paranormal-investigation packages.
The property's documented history is intertwined with the 1842 battle, the Mahler family's mid-19th-century homesteading, and successive 20th-century renovations. Local tradition and ghost-tour operators also claim a pre-colonial indigenous use of the site, though primary archaeological documentation of an on-site burial ground is limited.
The inn has been featured on multiple national paranormal-television productions, most notably an episode of Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures (2013), and has been a fixture of San Antonio ghost tourism for more than two decades.
Sources
According to the inn's own historical materials, Ghost City Tours, and the Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures episode, the property's paranormal lore is one of the most populated in Texas. The most-cited spirits are: Joline Woods Street, a 'Lady in White' seen near the gazebo and in the main house; Hall Park Street, an angry male presence locally described as the inn's most unnerving entity; Heinrich 'Henry' Mahler, said to appear in the woods and the main house; Gustav Rippstein, associated with the dairy barn; and an unnamed child spirit attached to the Mahler family era.
In 2013, Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures team investigated the property; current owner Jo Ann Rivera has stated publicly that during the filming she was 'able to speak with her mother' through investigation equipment.
Visitors to paranormal-investigation packages routinely report physical sensations including bruises, scratches, and sudden temperature drops, alongside object movement, disembodied voices, and shadow figures in the upstairs bedrooms. The grounds also generate reports of Confederate-era soldier sightings near the gazebo and indigenous-figure apparitions near the creek; per the sensitivity flag for indigenous content, these accounts are presented as visitor reports rather than ethnographic claims and are not coupled with archaeological evidence of an on-site burial ground.
The Black Swan Inn has been featured on Sightings (1996), Ghost Adventures (2013), and a long list of regional paranormal documentaries and podcasts.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Overnight or evening paranormal-investigation packages on the 35-acre grounds and inside the 1867 main house, including the dairy barn and gazebo.
Guided evening walking tour of the main house and grounds with the inn's lore and Battle of Salado Creek history.
Some links on this page may earn HauntBound a small commission when you book, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial picks are independent. Full disclosure
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Free Guide
10 verified stops, rated for families, mapped in order. Free.
One email to confirm, then the guide link. Unsubscribe anytime.
Charles City, VA
Benjamin Harrison IV built the current mansion at Berkeley Plantation in 1726, making it one of the oldest three-story brick houses in Virginia. The plantation became the birthplace of President William Henry Harrison in 1773 and the ancestral seat of a family that produced a signer of the Declaration of Independence and two U.S. Presidents. During the Civil War, General McClellan used the mansion as his headquarters and the cellar held Confederate prisoners.
Rockford, IL
The Tinker Swiss Cottage is a 27-room Swiss-style chalet built by Robert Hall Tinker in Rockford, Illinois, between 1865 and 1870 on a limestone bluff. Tinker, inspired by an 1862 European tour, married Mary Dorr Manny in 1870. The Rockford Park District opened the property as a museum in 1943, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Deadwood, SD
The Historic Adams House is a Queen Anne-style mansion built in 1892 for Harris and Anna Franklin in Deadwood, South Dakota. William E. Adams — Deadwood mayor and Black Hills merchant — purchased the home in 1920 after the deaths of his first wife and his only surviving daughter. The house museum is operated by Deadwood History, Inc., and has been listed on the National Register since 1974.