"There is no indication that there are in fact any bodies located at this residence or in the shed here," or anywhere on the property, said Liberty County sheriff's Captain Rex Evans, adding that there was no indication that any illegal activity had taken place on the property.

One well-placed law enforcement source called it a wild scene, complete with more than two dozen news reporters and two television helicopters circling overhead. After hours of waiting, authorities finally obtained a search warrant and descended on the home, which sits on a quarter-acre lot in an unincorporated area.

'Overwhelming' odor

"The smell of decomposition was overwhelming," the source said. "And so the rodeo began. This could very well have been a big deal. But it was ridiculous, as it turned out."

Satisfied there was nothing to the caller's tip, authorities were turning their attention to the caller, a woman who telephoned Monday night and again Tuesday. Officials have a name and a phone number, Evans said, but it was not immediately known whether either was valid. One law enforcement source said the so-called psychic lives in the Texas Panhandle and was using an Austin telephone number.

The tipster's knowledge of the premises and a precise description of the home led authorities to give her more credibility than they otherwise would have, Evans said.

She knew things about the layout of the house and the property, the contents of the house, how the walls were configured, Evans said.

She led authorities to believe she had been in the residence or knew someone who had been there, Evans said.

Evans said local authorities will consider pursuing charges against the caller, depending on the outcome of further investigations. Specifically, they will want to know whether the caller knew the family and may have had some grudge.

"There's no validity to the report,“ another law enforcement source confirmed. "There's nothing that matches what the psychic said."

Col. Steve McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, echoed that statement and said that his agency had responded because it feels obliged to help out local authorities when called upon. The DPS, Texas Rangers and other state investigators as well as officials with the Beaumont FBI office rushed to the scene to assist.

The resident of the house, Joe Bankson, was stunned when he began getting calls about a mass grave and said that he had no idea what the tipster was referring to.

"It's very serious," said Bankson, a 44-year-old long-haul trucker reached on the road in Dallas. "Finding out that the police are in my yard for dead bodies? That's kinda panicking me. I ain't killed nobody. We've had the cops out at our house, but never for nothing like that. Somebody called the police on my dogs one time."

Bankson said he and his family have lived at the house for three years. He and his wife left Sunday for a haul to Georgia.

"I haven't killed anybody," he said. "And I have a lot of friends, but I haven't helped anybody bury any bodies."

Bankson said the blood that officers noticed on the porch of his home came from his daughter's former boyfriend, whom Bankson said cut himself intentionally a couple of weeks ago.

"He got drunk and cut his wrist," Bankson told KHOU-TV. "It took me all day to clean the inside of the house. I'm not sure I got it all."

He said the boyfriend was AWOL from the Army and is now in a military psychiatric ward in Killeen, according to Bankson.

Liberty County Judge Craig McNair apologized for the fuss but said nothing could be done to stop it once word leaked of the possible crime.

"This is Liberty County," McNair said. "We are not used to these kinds of stories."

Chronicle reporters Lindsay Wise, Jim Pinkerton, Brian Rogers, Dane Schiller and Zain Shauk contributed to this story.

mike.tolson@chron.com