Aaron Mahnke

Some people believe that she is very real, whether ghost or beast.

Some say the sound of nearby rapids is responsible for that telltale sound of donkeys' hooves.

And some point out the similarities between her and other well-known legends.

Bloody Mary, for instance, who you can call by saying her name three times.

And La Llorona, another story of a mother losing all and turning to revenge.

Stories that all feel like they're cut from the same cloth and then dyed in a horrifying shade of red.

Not every legend that haunts Texas is supernatural.

Some come from a darker, more human place.

Such was the case with the infamous Moonlight Murders.

It was 1964, and the country was still reeling from the recent war.

And Little Texarkana, population 50,000, was in for yet another terrible shock.

On the evening of February 2nd, 25-year-old Jimmy Hollis picked up 19-year-old Mary Jean Larry, and together they went and saw The Three Strangers at the local movie house.

Following the film, the two decided to head over to Lover's Lane to continue their date.

Parked in a secluded area, the couple did not see the masked man approach the car until it was too late.

Armed with a gun, he ordered the couple out of the car, and then the attacker clubbed Jimmy in the skull so loudly that Mary Jean thought that her date had been shot.

With Jimmy knocked out, the attacker then forced her to run and chased behind her.

He caught up with her on the road where he attacked her as well, slugging her with a gun in the head and leaving her on the side of the road.

Both had serious head wounds, and Jimmy Hollis' was life-threatening, placing him briefly in a coma.

Both survived to tell the police their stories, however.

The attacker's next victims, though, wouldn't be so lucky.