600 South Eighth Avenue
Fort Worth, Texas
Today it serves as a law office, but the house was built in 1907 and is officially known as the Mitchell-Schoonover House. It was built by a jeweler named James E. Mitchell on the southwest corner of South Eighth Avenue and Pennsylvania. This Victorian-style house looks very inviting, aside from several reported deaths that occurred here, as journalist Mary Rogers reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in 1993.
The house stands near downtown and is one of those old historic mansions that have a story of their own, as well as designation as a registered landmark by the Tarrant County Historical Society. It was designed by Sanguinet & Staats (a firm that designed many other homes in the area at the time) and remains one of the most beautiful houses on the street, despite the many other homes in this neighborhood, where broad streets are lined with oak trees. In 1920, the house was sold to Dr. Charles Simmons. Then, in 1945, he gave it to his daughter and her husband, Dr. Frank Schoonover. They lived there for nearly thirty-five years before selling it. After the sale, it was converted into a branch of a savings and loan association, then into offices for a cosmetologist and a plastic surgeon, and finally into the premises of a marketing relations firm. In 1995, it became the law office of attorney Art Brender. Another renovation took place at that time, including work on the interior, making it an ideal place to practice law and conduct day-to-day business. The house has been listed as a Texas historic landmark since 1979.
But that is only part of the story; its haunted history adds an intriguing dimension. Accounts of the deaths were provided by one of the Schoonover family members who was alive at the time. One was the natural death of their grandmother, Velma Simmons. The other involved her father's secretary, who lived in the house and had no family in Fort Worth. She died of Hodgkin's disease, and according to legend, the ghost first appeared in the house after her death.
In 1979, when the family decided to sell the house and move out, Mrs. Schoonover packed some belongings in the basement, left, and upon returning discovered that they had been moved; no one admitted to doing it.
In 1981, during renovations by the new owners, strange events occurred, including unusual odors in the basement. Once, when one of the new owners was searching in the darkness for the basement light switch, he felt ghostly fingers from another world touch him on the shoulder. When he turned on the light a moment later, no one was behind him. According to reports, architect Fred Cauble had even more experiences: the door to a room he was remodeling opened by itself, and objects regularly disappeared and then reappeared. Noises and flickering lights also frightened some people. A cosmetologist who briefly worked in the office left because things kept falling off the shelves.
It was also reported that outside observers saw a ghostly presence in the house. It looked like a man in a dark suit. None of this was ever confirmed, but the stories continue to circulate.
The people at the law office have no unusual stories of ghostly encounters, so perhaps the spirits have left, or are simply waiting for the right person to pay them a visit.
