FORT WORTH, Texas — Fair warning: Anyone who checks out the Fort Worth Stockyards may want to think twice before checking in at Miss Molly’s Hotel.
Located on the second floor above the Star Café, Miss Molly’s is reportedly haunted.
“Some guests came and didn’t leave,” said general manager Paula Gowins. “They stayed.”
Gowins didn’t know that when she started working at Miss Molly’s 15 years ago.
“Things started happening and I was like, ‘Ok, I didn’t do that,’” she said.
She saw lights flicker, things disappear and doors lock. At first, she brushed it off, until, one night, she thought she was at the hotel alone.
“I saw a man,” Gowins said, pointing to one of the hotel’s eight rooms. “He was headed toward that room, so I followed him. I opened it up and nobody was in there. That’s when I called for help.”
She reached out to psychics, preachers, and anyone who could figure out what she saw.
Their conclusion?
It was a cowboy named Jake.
“This was his room and he died in here,” Gowins said, indicating he passed away in a corner room of the hotel.
A group of women staying at Miss Molly’s caught Jake on camera. They took a picture while gathered in one of the rooms and when they later looked at the picture, they saw the silhouette of a cowboy standing with them.
Gowins says cowboys like Jake loved to come to Miss Molly’s because a century ago it was a bordello.
The woman in charge of the "working girls" was named Miss Josie. Several guests have reported seeing her in the room that she once occupied.
“They said they’ve seen her standing here watching them sleep,” Gowins said.
Before its days as a bordello, Miss Molly’s was a boarding house for children. Gowins says that’s why many guests have experienced the presence of children, most notably in the bathroom.
Gowins said she was once looking in the bathroom mirror when someone laughed, even though no one else was in the hotel at the time.
A paranormal photographer doing his own investigation once took a picture of the bathroom window from outside the building. In the corner of his picture, there appears to be a little boy looking out the window.
It’s not uncommon for guests who have reservations to have reservations, but Gowins says there’s no need to worry.
“They’re more scared of us than we are of them, believe it or not,” Gowins said.
She says the ghosts at Miss Molly’s are mostly just pranksters. They’re sometimes funny and often friendly.
She says if you don’t believe her, you should come check it out yourself.
For more information on Miss Molly’s or to make a reservation, visit their website.