A TikTok account that purports to chronicle haunted locations across the country claims in a now-viral video that the building housing downtown San Antonio’s Rainforest Cafe once served as a crematorium.
The video posted by @unrefined_paranormal has garnered nearly 130,000 likes. In many of the clip’s 1,000 comments, posters say they’ve never heard the story and won’t visit the River Walk restaurant and tourist attraction again.
However, there’s good reason why so many people haven’t heard about the building’s grisly past.
That’s because, according to Bexar County records, the claim is utter horse shit.
During the 15-second-long TikTok, @refined_paranormal — an account that also produces a podcast about paranormal happenings name — claims that the building located at 207 Losoya Street once was used to cremate dead bodies.
“When remains went unclaimed, they were dumped in the river,” the video said, panning out to imagery of the River Walk.
It’s unclear when that allegedly happened, but the building that currently houses the Rainforest Cafe was built in 1965 and was previously owned by Roxana Gage Catto, according to Bexar County Appraisal District records.
Catto was an heiress of the A. S. Gage Ranch, a 400,000-acre property that spans Brewster and Presidio counties and is among the Lone Star State’s largest ranches, according to Texas Monthly. Upon her death, Catto’s daughters, Roxana Catto Hayne and Joan Negley Kelleher — the wife of Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher — split the downtown property.
The River Walk land was eventually sold to RJR Riverside Properties LTD. Landry’s — the company that owns and operates the Rainforest Cafe — was given a contract to renovate the property in 2004, according to the San Antonio Business Journal.
At no time was 207 Losoya Street ever zoned to be a crematorium, records show. Instead, before it became the Rainforest Cafe, it was zoned for offices.
The account @unrefined_paranormal didn’t respond to requests for comment. It’s unclear where the owner of the account heard the rumor about Rainforest Cafe’s allegedly spooky past.
While many TikTok commenters bought into the claim, others were skeptical.
“That’s not something mentioned on the boat tours,” TikTok user @djsnatural wrote.
“I’ve lived in San Antonio all my life and have never heard this story… and our downtown does have lots of haunted stories,” @sweetpeamom83 chimed in.
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This article appears in May 31 – Jun 13, 2023.