Haunted?

Situated above Fort Worth’s Star Café in the Stockyards, visitors to Miss Molly’s Hotel (109 W Exchange Av, 817-626-1522) climb a staircase to another era with period furnishings, furniture, and many stories about unexplained happenings provided with first-hand accounts by the owner. Miss Molly’s is considered one of the most haunted properties in Fort Worth and one of the most active paranormal sites in Texas.

Established as a boarding house in 1910 and called the Palace Rooms, it went through the prohibition period, being called The Oasis and later, in the 1940s, as a bordello, when it was called the Gayatte Hotel. Miss Molly’s is the oldest bed and breakfast in Fort Worth. Just old enough to have caught glimpses of the Wild West and America’s speak-easy and bordello days, the hotel’s long history as a boarding house has included many residents. Apparently, some have decided to extend their stay into the afterlife.

The eight themed rooms in the hotel share stories of paranormal activity, with the Cattlemen’s and Cowboy rooms having some of the more famous sightings of apparitions. Most of the sightings have involved former working girls from the hotel’s days as a bordello. According to a former owner, one housekeeper quit because she kept finding coins in rooms even though there had been no guests in that room. “She had just finished cleaning, only to return and find the coins where she had just cleaned.”

In the current owner’s private rooms (numbers 8 and 9), visitations have also occurred from a young girl who is considered a former hotel tenant. The phenomena at Miss Molly’s include full-bodied apparitions, unexplained scents, items disappearing and reappearing, lights turning on and off and toilets flushing on their own, cold spots, unlocked doors refusing to open, and a variety of unidentified but entertaining sounds.

Miss Molly’s has been visited by several paranormal investigation groups and is listed with Texas Christian University’s paranormal activity class, which regularly visits to record the phenomena. Copies of unusual photos, tape recordings, investigator statements, and results are kept prominently in the common living area. To make a reservation and check it out yourself, visit MissMollysHotel.com/Our-Rooms/.

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