Camp Mystic may soon be for sale in bankruptcy years after flooding killed 25 campers
Por Graig Graziosi — – World RSS Feed
Camp Mystic may soon be for sale in bankruptcy years after flooding killed 25 campers
If the plan is approved, wrongful death lawsuits against the camp and its owners may proceed
Graig Graziosi in Washington, D.C. Wednesday 30 September 2026 21:48 BST
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Camp Mystic, the girls’ summer camp in Texas where 27 campers and counselors died after the Guadalupe River flooded in 2025, could soon be listed for auction after its owner filed for bankruptcy.
On Friday, a bankruptcy plan was filed that will make Camp Mystic available in a court-supervised auction.
The Eastland family are the longtime owners of the property, though it is unclear if they will attempt to regain ownership of the camp in the auction. Any auction would have to be approved by the court before proceeding.
A buyer backed by the Camp Mystic families and alumnae is expected to be the first bidder on the property, according to the Kerr County Lead. The bankruptcy filing does not include information regarding the buyer’s identity or the amount of the potential bid.
If the auction plan is approved, the proposal would result in wrongful-death claims stemming from the July 2025 flood incident heading back to trial after they were put on hold pending the bankruptcy. The proposed plan would not protect members of the Eastland family from being targeted by those lawsuits.
open image in galleryOne of the potential buyers is a nonprofit called Firefly Fields Foundation, which reportedly hopes to open a new Christian camp for girls at what is currently called Camp Mystic Cypress Lake, which sits on higher ground than the portion of the property that flooded in 2025, according to the San Antonio Express-News, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The source told the paper that the Eastland family is not involved with the nonprofit.
“Firefly Fields Foundation is an independent nonprofit formed by people with deep, multigenerational ties to this land who hope to begin a new and distinct chapter of a historic Christian girls’ camp with new ownership, governance and leadership,” Jim Wilkinson, a spokesman for the organization, said in a statement Tuesday.
Camp Mystic includes approximately 725 acres near Hunt, Texas. The filing will allow for new buyers to continue operating the site as a camp, though any new owner would have to obtain a youth camp license and pass a pre-licensing inspection by the Texas Department of State Health Services, according to Texas Public Radio.
open image in galleryThe camp is being investigated by the Texas Rangers. A search warrant affidavit found there was probable cause to believe that the camp’s leaders committed offenses that include manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, injury to a child, abandoning or endangering a child and deadly conduct related to the flood.
No criminal charges have yet been filed in that case.
On July 4, 2025, the National Weather Service issued an early-morning flash flood warning following heavy rain in Kerr County, Texas.
Despite the warning, camp leaders allegedly delayed evacuations of the camp for 90 minutes, instead instructing campers to shelter in place. Around 4 a.m., about three hours after the alert was issued, the Guadalupe River flooded, surging more than 20 feet in less than two hours.
Water rushed through the camp as counselors and camp leaders attempted to rescue the campers from the flood. A helicopter and boat rescue was organized to save those at the camp, but 27 people ultimately died during the disaster.
A state investigation determined in 2026 that the deaths were preventable and were caused by institutional failures at the camp.
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