There are enough spooky pop-up bars in San Antonio to compete with Spirit Halloween, but we like our thrills grounded in history. From a Southtown lounge with a pesky poltergeist to a River Walk mainstay with a broody basement, these five Alamo City bars give us goosebumps. Whether that’s from a bracingly cold cocktail or a ghostly chill is for you to decide.
The Esquire Tavern
The oldest bar on the River Walk will naturally have a few ghost stories, but are all the Edison bulbs just playing tricks on the eye? Staff members have shared that they've experienced the most spectral activity in the downstairs basement, where chomping piranhas and a snarling javelina add to the gothic glam. Some guests say a mysterious presence likes to whisper names from the great beyond. Maybe it's just a bartender asking if you’d like another Jack Rose.
Southtown House of Spirits
As far as we know, there haven’t been reports of wraiths wandering this Southtown haunt. But that doesn’t mean we want to break out a Ouija board. The 19th-century building is filled with chunky carved settees, paper-thin doilies, and worn rugs — a set piece for The Others without Nicole Kidman skulking about. Still, the bar is more playful than paranormal. Drinks like the berry-hued Sisters Grimm arrive with a wink, and the ghosts on the bathroom wallpaper are all grinning.
A watchful moose oversees the shenanigans at Menger Bar.Menger Hotel/ Facebook
Menger Bar
Teddy Roosevelt died far away from San Antonio in Oyster Bay, New York. The chances of the 26th president sidling up for an afterlife julep are vanishingly slim. But according to lore, Roosevelt and a Rough Rider recruit got into a sharpshooting contest at the bar after the rowdy locals doubted the bespectacled Easterner knew how to handle a gun. Purportedly, the bullet holes are still present to this day. That’s probably none too amusing for Sallie White, a resident spirit who got shot by her jealous husband.
Oro Bar at the Emily Morgan
This historic hotel has so many spooky stories that guests practically need every ounce of vodka in the Yellow Rose of Texas martini before venturing up the elevator. While the actual bar area is contemporary, outlined in cushy booths, the rest of the property is another story. A ghost bride roams on the seventh floor, and gurneys squeak on the 12th, a former surgical ward. Downstairs in the basement? Well, that used to be a morgue.
Amor Eterno
While the name conjures tragic romances going back to the Aztec princess Iztaccíhuatl’s peccadillo with Popocatépetl, this Southtown lounge’s spirit seems to need a little more love. It is prone to flinging objects from counters and shelves, though it’s difficult to interpret what it is trying to say. One day, it’s a beer; another, it’s a bible. Please, someone, quit buying it green tea shots.
