The Truth Behind the Witch’s Castle Found in Central Texas

As I've stated time and time again, I don't believe in stuff like this. However, it's kind of hard to ignore when nearly everyone I was attending high school with in the late '70s would talk about places like the Witch's Castle at Cameron Park in Waco.

Once, when we went to a speech and drama tournament in Waco, a handful of us jumped in a car and went to Greenwood Drive to find this infamous castle. We all got out of the car and started walking through the dense shrubbery to the castle, only to have the living daylights scared out of us when we heard a voice: "What are you kids doing here?"

Get our free mobile app

All we ever saw were some collapsed stone walls in a densely overgrown park in the early evening hours one particular fall of the late '70s. It seems that the mystery of the Witch's Castle was far more frightening than seeing the crumbling walls of a once prestigious home on the highest point in Waco.

As the story goes, the castle is a mystery that has loomed over Waco for more than 60 years. The home was located on three acres at 3613 Greenwood Drive in the Cameron Park area near Waco. There are those who claim that it is a haunted place, but there is no real, concrete evidence to support any of this.

According to Waco land surveyor John Kamenec, who set out to find the truth about the structure, the structure was built in the early 1900s by a man named Levi Coombes, a professional stonemason who built the castle-like house as his family's private home. What made it look creepy was the castle-like stone gate entrance.

The castle had been abandoned for many years when it burned down in 1961 and now sits in ruins. The stories about the son of the owner dying in World War I were not true.  Today it has become a popular spot for hikers and cyclists.

Nonetheless, some still say the place and area that was once known as "Eagle Rock", is haunted. You be the judge. If you're looking for a great biking or hiking trail, the old Witch's Castle seems like a great place to go...during the day.