Our steely nerved and intrepid Zoo colleagues are continuing their search for the restless spirit of the Zoo’s first head zookeeper Hans Nagel. While there are Zoo employees who have reported odd occurrences in the Zoo’s Denton A. Cooley Animal Hospital, more frequent reports come from the Zoo commissary.

So, how does a ghost choose a place to haunt, if indeed choice even enters into it?

There may be a hint of an answer in the location of the incident that led to Hans’ untimely demise.  Stick with us here.  This may take a moment to set up.

The official inquest into the death of Hans Nagel identified the location of the shooting incident as “about 300 feet from the Outer Belt Road & on a gravel road leading from the west to the east.”

A 1920s era map of Hermann Park identifies the ‘park roads’ that formed the perimeter around the Houston Zoo at the time.  Thanks to Rick Dewees at the Houston Parks and Recreation Department for sharing the vintage map below which shows Outer Belt in orange meeting Zoo Circle Drive in green.

Now, let’s look at the Zoo from the air in 1944.

The inquest description of the location of Hans’ demise is open to interpretation.  After all, ”three hundred feet from Outer Belt Road” is not particularly specific. And while the inquest documents map Hans’ wounds, the papers do not map the specific location.

Some Zoo employees who have delved into the story of Hans’ life and death believe the likely location is closer to Zoo Circle Drive. The road and property west of it was “annexed” into Zoo grounds in the 1980s and Zoo Circle Drive became an off-exhibit Zoo service road. The 5 acres west of Zoo Circle Drive are now occupied by a number of Zoo buildings, including the Zoo Commissary.

Now, look at the 1944 aerial photo. Where Outer Belt turns into Zoo Circle Drive just beyond the elongated and wooded triangle. To the left of the road, obscured by a grove of trees can be seen a faint white line.  A gravel road, perhaps?  That location today is in the general area of the Zoo Commissary.

OK.  It’s pure speculation, I admit.    After all, we’re talking about ethereal, amorphous, phantom apparitions – and all theories and ideas are welcome.

 Read the first post in the Hans series here

More Posts Like This!

• Who is this ghost? As the Houston Zoo’s amateur ghost hunters continue their search for Hans Nagel’s ghost, let’s take a moment to look...
• It wasn’t always a Rice owl As we’ve noted in previous posts and mentioned in last year’s special historical issue of the Houston Zoo’s member magazine Wildlife,...
• Is It Really Hans? As you may have read over the past couple weeks, we are pretty sure our Commissary building is haunted by...
• Ride ‘em Hans! The maintenance and expansion of the Houston Zoo in the early 1920s has been characterized by one former Zoo facilities...
• A ghost of a chance. Hunting the ghost of Hans Nagel. Are you ready for a ghost story? Early in 1922, after the Houston Zoo moved from City Park downtown (now Sam Houston...