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Think daylight saving time was created to help farmers? Think again! Discover how World War I, energy conservation, and a surprising battle over changing the clocks led to a tradition we still follow today. And why were farmers actually against it? Join Texas History for Kids as we uncover the truth behind the time change!

Sources:

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Before Texans called it Bigfoot, it was known as Old Mossyback, the Hairy Man, and the Wild Man of the Big Thicket. Follow the footprints, eerie recordings, and eyewitness reports hidden in the East Texas woods—and decide whether they reveal an undiscovered creature or a Texas-sized legend.

Halloween Trivia Game Cards

Haunted Texas History Bundle

Would You Rather - Halloween Digital Slideshow

#TexasHistoryforKids, #Halloween, #BigFoot, #TexasLegends

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Step inside some of Texas’s creepiest museums and collections to meet Emma, Little Ricky, a pair of inseparable Raggedy dolls, and other toys surrounded by ghostly legends. From Laredo to San Antonio, Old Town Spring, and Yorktown Memorial Hospital, discover the strange stories behind these supposedly haunted dolls—and decide whether the real mystery is the dolls or the stories we tell about them.

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Haunted Texas History Bundle

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A wedding dress blamed for generations of heartbreak. A horned lizard said to have survived thirty-one years sealed inside a courthouse cornerstone. And a shrunken head stolen from a Texas museum—only to reappear seven weeks later in a plastic bag beside a road.

In this Halloween episode of Texas History for Kids, I'll visit three of the strangest objects preserved in Texas museums.

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Haunted Texas History Bundle

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A teenage girl in Georgia created a white silk flag with a single blue star and sent it hundreds of miles away to the Texas Revolution. Follow the remarkable journey of Joanna Troutman’s lost Lone Star flag from Georgia to Velasco and Goliad, where it became connected to James Fannin, the Georgia Battalion, and one of the most tragic chapters of the Texas Revolution.

Sources Used

Texas State Historical Association

Joanna Troutman — Handbook of Texas

Flags of t...

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When Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart over Texas in 2003, thousands of pieces scattered across the eastern part of the state. Follow the clues investigators used to uncover what went wrong—and discover how Texans helped solve one of NASA’s most difficult mysteries.

Sources Used

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Remembering the Columbia STS-107 Mission. https://www.nasa.gov/remembering-columbia-sts-107/

Columbia Accident Investigation Board. Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report, Volume 1. August 2003. https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/caib/news/report/volu...

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 A faded quarantine card warned families to stay inside—but the danger was invisible. Discover how smallpox, cholera, yellow fever, an influenza reshaped Texas communities, from Spanish missions to early vaccination programs and the 1899 Laredo Smallpox Riot. 

Sources Used

National Park Service. “San Antonio Missions Spanish Influence in Texas.” Teaching with Historic Places. https://www.nps.gov/articles/san-antonio-missions-spanish-influence-in-texas-teaching-with-historic-places.htm

National Park Service. “Mission San Juan.” San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. https://www.nps.gov/saan/planyourvisi...

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People really did mail children—and one Texan helped put a stop to it. In this episode, we uncover why families used Parcel Post as transportation, how rural mail routes changed everyday life, and what this bizarre story teaches us about transportation, communication, and innovation. 

Sources Used

Smithsonian National Postal Museum. “Very Special Deliveries.” Documents known cases of children traveling through Parcel Post, including May Pierstorff and the early Ohio and Pennsylvania cases. https://postalmuseum.si.edu/very-special-deliveries

Smithsonian Nationa...

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Travel back millions of years to prehistoric Texas and meet the enormous Alamosaurus of Big Bend National Park. Discover how fossils from this giant sauropod were uncovered, why its name has nothing to do with the Alamo, and how Sul Ross geology students helped continue a dinosaur mystery decades later. 

Sources Used: 

Sul Ross State University. “Sul Ross Geology Students Collect Vertebra from Alamosaurus in BBNP.” April 8, 2025. https://www.sulross.edu/sul-ross-geology-students-collect-vertebra-from-alamosaurus-in-bbnp/

National Park Service, Big Bend National Park. “Alamosau...

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Charles Goodnight lived a life that sounds almost too wild to be true. Born just days after Texas declared independence, he had only about six months of formal schooling, but grew up to become one of the most influential cattlemen in Texas history.

In this episode of Texas History for Kids, I'll uncover 15 surprising stories from Goodnight’s life, including his frontier scouting days, his connection to the Cynthia Ann Parker story, his encounters with the Comanchero trade, the creation of th...

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What was found beneath Waco, Texas at Waco Mammoth National Monument?

In this episode of Texas History for Kids, we explore the discovery of the Waco mammoths, learn how these giant animals lived, and uncover the mystery surrounding their deaths.

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 Snag your Texas Flag Reading Packet—perfect for grades 4–7!
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Ever wondered what secrets are hiding at the bottom of a massive desert lake? In this episode, we dive deep beneath the surface of the Amistad National Recreation Area. 

Long before it became a popular spot for boating and fishing, Amistad was full of bone-dry, rugged canyons home to ancient humans, frontier legends, and wild engineering marvels. 

Join us as we count down 15 mind-blowing facts about this sunken kingdom. 

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Today, we are traveling to the rugged peaks of far West Texas to explore a place where giant predators once roamed, ancient people left hidden messages, and the mountains themselves are made of dead animals.

We are talking about Guadalupe Mountains National Park. It’s home to Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in the entire state of Texas.

Sources Used: 

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Big Bend National Park may look like a quiet desert, but its mountains, river, trails, and ruins hold thousands of years of history. 

In this episode, we uncover the stories of Indigenous peoples, Mexican settlers, ranchers, miners, soldiers, and Civilian Conservation Corps workers who shaped the land long before it became a national park. Follow the mystery of a rusted pickaxe and discover how Big Bend became one of Texas’s most remarkable protected places. 

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 Who was Juan Seguín, and why was a Texas town named in his honor? 

Today we follow this Tejano leader from the streets of San Antonio to the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto as we uncover his important—and complicated—role in the Texas Revolution. 

Sources

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When you think of treasure in the Old Western times of Texas, you might think of oil, cattle, land. But for a few crucial years in the early 1880s, the most valuable thing lying around the Texas plains was the skeleton of a dead buffalo.

In this episode we discover what happened to the remains of millions of buffalo  that were brought to the bring of extinction. 

Source:

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/bone-business

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 In this episode we  uncover the little-known story of the Cart War in Texas. During the 1850s, Mexican and Tejano carreteros hauled goods by ox cart from Gulf Coast ports to towns like San Antonio. But their success made them targets. Learn how transportation, business rivalry, and questions of belonging turned a dusty Texas road into a dangerous chapter of history. 

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In this episode of Texas History for Kids, we'll discuss the story of Mirabeau B. Lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas. Known as the “Father of Texas Education,” Lamar helped set aside public land for schools and universities, supported moving the capital to Austin, and dreamed of a powerful independent Texas, but his legacy also includes debt, conflict, and the failed Santa Fe Expedition. 

Sources: 

Texas State Library and Archives Commission

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In this episode we uncover the strange but true story of the U.S. Camel Corps, when camels were brought to Texas to help soldiers travel across hot, dry frontier land. From Camp Verde to the Civil War. Discover why camels seemed like the perfect solution, and why this bold experiment eventually faded into history. 

Sources

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/camels?

https://www.army.mil/article/166054/the_history_of_the_army_camel_corps?

https://www.n...

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In this episode, we explore the mysterious story of Olive Oatman—a young girl who survived a tragic attack, lived for years with the Mojave people, and later settled in Sherman, Texas.

Was she truly rescued… or taken from a life she had come to know?

Join us as we uncover a story of survival, identity, and the complicated truths behind westward expansion.

Sources

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/fairchild-olive-ann-oatman

https://npg.si.e...

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This story takes us to the year 1861. Texas had been a state in the USA for just 16 years. Life was growing. Farms, towns, railroads.

But something was wrong across the United States.

The country was splitting apart and Texas had to make a decision. 

Sources

National Archives (Civil War overview) 

 Texas State Historical Association 

 Library of Congress (Civil War resources)

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In our previous episodes we’ve discussed the most famous tribes in Texas such as the Caddo, Jumano and Comanche. 

But today we're diving into the story of the Kickapoo people, a nation that has survived centuries of pressure, crossed international borders, and still maintains one of the most remarkable living cultures in North America. And a big part of that story runs right through Texas.

Today we answer the question: How did the Kickapoo end up in...

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 Long before recycling bins existed, ancient Texans were already solving a big problem. In this episode, uncover how skilled flint-knappers turned broken tools into something new—and why their clever ideas still matter today. 

Sources

Texas Beyond History — University of Texas at Austin, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (texasbeyondhistory.net)

Bullock Texas State History Museum, Austin, TX (thestoryoftexas.com)

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It started as a mission. It turned into a mistake.

In 1842, a group of Texan soldiers crossed into Mexico after being ordered to turn back. What they thought would be a quick success became a story of endurance, survival, and difficult choices.

Sources

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