This bed and breakfast comes with a host of ghost stories; you can even read about them directly on the B&B's website. The owners know how to make the most of them, but after asking a local ghost hunter a few questions, it seems there really is something to those stories.
Miss Molly's is located on West Exchange Avenue near North Main Street, just about one block west of the old Fort Worth Stockyards. It was built in 1910 and originally operated as the Palace Rooms hotel for cowboys and merchants, who rented rooms by the day, week, or month as needed. It was originally owned by a woman named Amelia Emier. It was later purchased by a woman named Miss Josie King, who not only renamed it the Gayette Hotel but also ran it as a brothel and allowed guests to play high-stakes poker.
Miss Molly's is the oldest bed and breakfast in Fort Worth. It survived the Prohibition era, when it was known as the Oasis. It stood vacant for a while and served as an art gallery until it was purchased by Mark and Susan Hancock, who completely renovated it and restored it to its former glory—if that is what you want to call it. The name Miss Molly's comes from the cowboy era, when the lead cow in a cattle herd was called Molly.
One night, we took a ghost tour with a local Fort Worth ghost hunter, and although we did not capture any orbs or ghostly images, the stories were still interesting. There has always been a café called the Star Café at street level, but as ghost hunter Paula Schermerhorn of www.fortworthghosts.com said, a small entrance called Miss Molly's is especially significant on this block. “This place was always a brothel under various names, but in modern history it is known as Miss Molly's,” she explained.
It was a popular place where cowboys went after delivering their herds. When it operated as a brothel, it had nine rooms and eight working girls, while Miss Josie had her own room because she was the madam. Miss Josie had a large room with a private bathroom, and it was widely known that the place was decidedly luxurious.
“There is something interesting about Miss Josie's room at Miss Molly's,” Schermerhorn said, “and I learned this from the first innkeeper I worked with, whose name was Debbie. She would clean the room and then return to check it before the guests arrived, and suddenly she would find a penny on the dresser. That would have been a pretty decent tip in 1920, so that is one of the things they find here.”
Miss Amelia appears to have been the most popular daytime worker, and her room was directly above Miss Josie's room. Today, each room has its own theme, including the Railroad Room, Cowboy Room, Miss Josie's Room (the madam from the 1940s), Miss Amelia's Room (the stern owner from the 1920s–30s), Cattlemen's Room, Rodeo Room, and even the Gunslinger Room, each furnished with vintage touches from the past. There are still nine rooms in total, eight of them for guests, and the place contains practically everything from the past, just as it once did.
“It is not as luxurious as the Stockyards Hotel,” Schermerhorn said, “but it is still an interesting place. A lot of things have happened here. One reporter spent the night here, and when he woke up, he saw an apparition of someone dressed in 1920s clothing at the foot of the bed.”
Schermerhorn said she has conducted many investigations at Miss Molly's. She once taught ghost-hunting classes and had one man and two women in the Railroad Room. One of the things that happens in that room is that the door gets stuck. It is not locked; you simply cannot open it. The women's team became trapped in Room 9 and could not open the door, but after working at it long enough, they finally managed to get it open.
“When they returned and listened to the EVP [electronic voice phenomena] recordings, they heard a male voice say, ‘Ah ha ha, I've got you,’ and that frightened them,” Schermerhorn said. “So there is definitely activity here.”
“Debbie, the innkeeper I originally started working with, kept all the doors closed because they all open into the parlor and the activity bothered her. Paula, the new innkeeper, is the opposite—she opens all the doors and welcomes the spirits,” Schermerhorn said.
Another thing both innkeepers reported is that when they leave their quarters (which is common because they share a bathroom with the other guests), they return to find the radio or television tuned to a religious station. There are also reports of the ghost of a three-year-old girl who was the daughter of one of the working girls. She lived here and died of smallpox, and she is believed to haunt the place. Innkeeper Paula also told Schermerhorn about a ghost she named Jake, who walks from Cattlemen's to Miss Molly's every night.
During one investigation, a full-bodied apparition was reported in Miss Amelia's Room, and the parlor area also seems to have some interesting activity. “I get a really strange anomaly here in the upper part of the room, so there is a lot of activity here, but it was a popular place with cowboys,” Schermerhorn said.
The previous owner was walking down the stairs, suffered a heart attack, and died on the staircase, but that appears to be the only known death at Miss Molly's Bed and Breakfast.
Other ghost stories that have been told for years include one about a visitor who reportedly woke up and saw a woman in old-fashioned clothing standing at the foot of the bed, but she slowly disappeared. Another visitor said there was a beautiful woman beside the bed, but he was so frightened that he closed his eyes, and when he opened them, nothing was there. In the Cattlemen's Room, an old woman sometimes appears beside the carved queen-size oak bed, dressed in turn-of-the-century clothing, including a sunbonnet from that era.
Another question, of course, is who haunts Miss Molly's, but that is really a matter of speculation. Some say it may be a man who was shot in the back while taking a bath, or it could be Miss Josie, who does not want to leave.
What is certain is that many ghost hunters have recorded high levels of spiritual activity here on their electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors and have photographed floating orbs. All the rooms are also known to have paranormal activity, so no matter which one you visit, you may encounter something strange, such as a full-bodied apparition, unusual odors, disappearing objects that suddenly reappear, flushing toilets, lights switching on and off, cold spots, unlocked doors that cannot be opened, and strange sounds such as ghostly footsteps.
Both owners and guests have had the privilege of experiencing ghostly events at this establishment, so if you are determined to experience one for yourself, this may be the best place to visit at any time of day or night; the spirits apparently have no preference for a full moon or changing seasons.
