It’s October, and spooky season is upon us! What better way to spend the month than by visiting these places in Houston that are purported to have some spirits hanging around? Here are five places in the Houston area that people believe are haunted and why. Bonus, all of them are open and currently operating so you can go visit them yourself!
La Carafe
One of, if not the oldest, buildings in Houston houses La Carafe, a wine bar in downtown Houston. Constructed in 1837, it is in the National Registry of Historic Places and is widely believed by local residents to be haunted. The stories include the usual fare of what you might expect from a haunted bar, with bottles flying off shelves and the sounds of children running upstairs. Carolyn Wenglar, the owner, told ABC 13 in 2019 a story about a man who went to the men’s room and felt a tap on the shoulder. When he turned around, no one was there. Ted Brown, a bartender at La Carafe, in the same interview said he had a patron approach him and asked “what did the lady die of?” When Brown asked who the patron was talking about, the patron said that a woman kept coming down the stairs and looking at the crowd. Other reports have stated this woman does this, disappears, and then repeats the process.
The theories about who the ghosts are range from Carl, a former bartender, but otherwise are unidentified spirits.
The Rice
The Rice was originally constructed as a hotel in 1913 simply known as Rice Hotel. It operated that way until 1977, and after the hotel closed it remained that way until 1998 when it opened as apartments known as Post Rice Lofts. It was sold in 2014 and renamed The Rice, which it is known as today.
The ghosts believed to haunt the building are of a woman who died in room 904 and supposedly still haunts the halls at night, crying. Former presidents John F. Kennedy and George H.W. Bush are believed to haunt the hotel as well. JFK because it was the last hotel he stayed at before that fateful day in Dallas, and H.W. because it was a favored hotel of his that he stayed at many times, and some tenants have reported strange noises coming from his former suite.
Julia Ideson Building
Houston Public Library’s Julia Ideson building is said to be haunted by the former caretaker, Jacob Cramer. The building opened in 1926, and Cramer lived in the basement apartment while he served as the library’s gardener, security guard, and handyman. In the evenings, he enjoyed going to the third floor to play his violin. He was found dead in his basement apartment in 1936, and now some belief his spirit lingers on.
The legend is that if you stay in the building well into the night, you might hear the phantom sounds of a violin and the clicking of Cramer’s dog, Petey’s, nails on the ground as he follows behind Cramer.
The Alley Theatre
Theatres are always said to be haunted, usually because all the drama lends itself quite well to stories that create ghosts. In this case, the theatre director was murdered in her office in 1982. Iris Siff started with the Alley as an actress in 1948 and became the managing director of the theatre in 1968. She was found dead in her office on the morning of January 13th, and the police eventually concluded that she had been robbed and strangled with her phone cord by a former security guard. Since then, reports of feeling followed, equipment malfunctioning, and other such phenomena have been reported happening in the building. Mrs. Siff’s spirit might still linger on in a place she devoted so much time to.
Brewery Tap
This one might be cheating because this bar is now closed (though the website it still up and running), but it was located in the old The Houston Ice & Brewing Company building. It was erected in 1892 and has an eerie history itself. The building is on Franklin Street and the Franklin Street bridge was erected over a 165-year-old crypt. Yikes! The Brewery Tap opened in 1987 and the website for the bar itself says that it is haunted by a ghost named William. The story goes that a bartender who started working there when the bar opened claimed to be sensitive to the paranormal. She identified the spirit as William, a former bartender from the buildings time as Houston Ice & Brewing Company. He died when a stack of beer barrels fell on top of him.
There is even a photo believed to William’s spirit on the website.
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