Haunted Sights To See in Fort Worth, TX For Halloween!

Halloween is just around the corner, and Fort Worth is getting ready to celebrate the season with a variety of spooky festivities. One of the best ways to get into the spirit of the season is by visiting haunted sites throughout the city and taking ghost tours. These activities are great because they can be seriously scary. Instead of fictional ghouls and goblins, you’ll be able to learn about real life paranormal experiences.

At Hiley Buick GMC of Fort Worth, we’re big fans of the Halloween season, and we love exploring the eerie history of our hometown. We want to help you experience the same thrills, and we’ve put together a brief list of some of Fort Worth’s most haunted sites. We hope you’ll explore some of the spooky destinations this October to help you get into the Halloween spirit. Keep reading if you dare.

Fort Worth Zoo

Image by Wasif Malik is licensed with CC BY 2.0

You may be surprised to see a zoo at the top of a list of haunted sights, but if you’ve lived here long enough, you know that the Fort Worth Zoo isn’t your typical menagerie. For starters, it’s listed as one of the top zoos in America and is a popular destination for both locals and visitors. It also may be one of the most haunted zoos in the country, a fact that draws ghost hunters there every year.

According to local legends, there are at least two ghosts in the Fort Worth Zoo. The first is the spirit of a zookeeper, who tragically died while attempting to move a bull elephant into a new enclosure. The trainer’s name was Michael Bell and he met his untimely end in 1987, well within living memory. Ever since then, visitors have allegedly seen the shape of a man pacing near the elephant habitat.

Much less is known about the other paranormal inhabitant of the Fort Worth Zoo. According to reports, she is a woman, dressed in white, 19th century clothes. Observers also state that she carries a parasol and stalks around near the cafe at night.

Miss Molly’s Hotel

Out of all the spots on our list, Miss Molly’s Hotel probably has the longest and most storied history. The first phase of its history began in the 1910s, when Texas was still very much the “Wild West.” When it was established, the building served as a boarding house for the daughters of well-to-do Texans. Within 20 years, Prohibition had struck the United States, and the former boarding house became a speakeasy bar for those looking for some other kind of spirits outside the law.

After Prohibition ended, the establishment fell on hard times, as did many other businesses during the Depression era. This led it to become a bordello where “working girls” plied their trade. Throughout its long history, Miss Molly’s Hotel has seen thousands come and go, and many have left their mark. The building is now known as one of the most active paranormal sites in all of Texas, and apparitions are frequently reported, along with many other strange happenings.

Many of the reported spirits date from the tragic period during which the hotel served as a brothel. Visitors have reported seeing visions of the girls who used to work there, including some who were murdered. Other apparitions include a mysterious cowboy and children who died in the building when it was still a boarding house. Other eerie happenings include mysterious perfumes and unexplainable shadows, and a lot of strange audio has been captured in the building since it became known to paranormal investigators.

If you’re looking to explore haunted Fort Worth this fall, you can’t do much better than Miss Molly’s Hotel. Unlike other sites, it’s still a working business, and you can book a stay there if you want to experience its spooky happenings and get a taste of the old west.

Castle of Heron Bay

Also known as “Inverness,” this now abandoned property on Lake Worth has a long and tragic history. The story of Inverness began sometime in the 1860s, when a young man built a stone house on the site as a gift for his future bride. However, before the wedding could take place, the bride-to-be was found dead, floating in the lake. Her fiancee seemed bizarrely untroubled by the event and was engaged to the woman’s sister within a month of her death.

Ever since those times, many visitors to the area have reported seeing a woman in white running towards the edge of the lake or haunting the windows and hallways of the property. Despite all this, the property passed on to several new owners, who gave the building the appearance it has today, much like a European castle. By the 1920s, it was acquired by the Whiting family who experienced further tragedy that contributed to the castle’s legend.

It started when a sudden fire erupted in the building shortly after construction finished. Then, in 1953, one of the Whiting children ended his life in the building after being divorced from his second wife. The final tragic incident occurred in 1963, when a young woman died in mysterious circumstances while renting a room at the castle. Over the years, other legends have surrounded the building, including that of a giant monster living on an island in the lake.

As you might imagine, Inverness gained quite a negative reputation as a result of all these strange happenings and was eventually sold off and abandoned. The area is now fenced off, so it’s impossible to get too close. Despite this, you can easily make your way to Lake Worth and take a distant look at the famous house where so much went wrong.

Those are a few of the spooky spots that you can check out in Fort Worth this October. We hope that you’ll enjoy exploring the darker side of the city that you call home. Space is limited, and there are probably many other locations that we’ve forgotten. If you’re a veteran Fort Worth ghost hunter and have some favorite haunts, make sure to drop us a line and we’ll do our best to add them.

On a slightly less spooky note, remember Hiley Buick GMC of Fort Worth for all your automotive needs this fall. We can help you get ready for the colder months and keep your car in great shape. Stay scared this Halloween and we hope to see you soon.