13 GHOSTS of Denton

By Doc Treat of Denton Haunts Ghost Tour Denton has its fair share of things that go bump in the night. Established in the early 1800's, Denton has had plenty of time for its old buildings to attract spectral residents. This article delves into just a few of our most notorious ghostly citizens.

1. Capt. John B. Denton  An original 1836 settler to North Texas, John B. Denton was a circuit-riding Methodist minister then lawyer and volunteer ‘Texas Ranger’ militia Captain. Both the county and city were named for him after Capt. Denton died in a battle with Native American tribes in 1841. His final resting place is on the lawn of the downtown Denton Courthouse Square, Captain Denton’s third grave. Legends claim that Denton’s ghoul is cursed to roam between his three graves and oversee the restless undead spirits lurking within the 1896 Denton Courthouse Museum. 

2. Texas Robinhood Outlaw Sam Bass  Arriving in Denton as a 19-year-old orphan, young Sam Bass was a beloved lad who worked as a stablehand at the Lacy House Hotel and occasional cowboy with a love for fast horses. As his fleet-footed Denton Mare became a winner on gambling tracks around North Texas, Mrs. Lacy gave him a somber ultimatum: either work an honest living with her family or risk a life of ruin betting away his fortunes. Sam fell in with an unsavory crowd and robbed a Union Pacific train of $60,000 in 1877. Mysteriously, his Sam Bass Gang returned to robbing Stagecoaches and trains in North Texas before he was finally killed in 1878 by Texas Rangers on his 27th birthday. 

   Legends say ole Sam hid his stolen gold coins somewhere around Denton, but his ghost warns away treasure-seekers from the cursed loot that had triggered his persecution, betrayal, and early demise as an outlaw.  
   

   <PHOTO: ‘Judas Jim’ Murphy (l), Sam (seated), and Sebe Barns (r)> 

3.  The Lacy House Hotel Hostess   C.C. Lacy and his wife Sarah operated one of the first boarding houses in Denton, the Lacy House Hotel, which also included a livery stable and feed yard on the acreage behind it for Chisholm Trail cowboys. Mr. Lacy was a civil engineer who surveyed the early Denton streets to give them their tree names, but Sarah was the innkeeper and infamous chef for their hotel & livery operations even after Mr. Lacy passed in 1870. Mrs. Lacy hired and mentored the young orphan Sam Bass when he first ambled into town. A congenial hostess greatly admired for her hospitality and home-cooked meals, Mrs. Lacy is sometimes still spotted flitting about the Texas Building in her eternal quest of caretaking guests. 

4. Miss Angeline’s Saloonkeeper  The cocktail house and parlor that today bears her name pays tribute to another Denton damsel of distinction. Miss Angeline Smith was a Civil War widow who inherited her late husband’s saloon, so the story goes, and was grouchy about having to contend with the fluctuating Wet vs Dry legislation over the county sale of liquor. During a brief teetotaler win at the voting booth that turned Denton ‘dry,’ Miss Angeline innovated a crafty solution. Prohibited from selling alcohol, she instead sold her saloon customers a bowl of peanuts for 25 cents… served with a complimentary shot of whiskey! Her saloon apparently sold a ton of peanuts during that year of hooch-embargoed business before another vote again resumed liquor sales. The salty entrepreneur Miss Angeline still keeps a close eye on operations in her establishment, but is said to be especially grouchy with “impertinent unruly” menfolk, so behave. 

5. The Lingering Librarian Emily Fowler  Denton has numerous ghostly guardians, but a haunted public library is something rare. The ghost of Emily Fowler – Denton’s lingering librarian – has been spotted after her death in 1971 by numerous employees and patrons who knew her, not to mention the numerous paranormal investigations that have documented strange goings-on between the bookshelves.  The library was named after the reading and literacy crusader for her impactful career between 1949 and 1969, but her dedication still continues! The North Texas Ghostbusters often co-host events around Halloween for enthusiasts seeking a close encounter. 

6. The Gruesome Goatman’s Bridge  One of Denton’s oldest hauntings is the 1884 Old Alton Bridge, which generations have been told is the notorious Goatman’s Bridge. Some details differ between tellings and eras, but the origin story is rooted in a dark and violent chapter of local history. The Goat Man is the vengeful monster rumored to roam the wooded wetlands around the site of that tragedy. A hulking goat-horned creature is said to terrorize trespassers at night who summon an encounter by knocking three times on the Bridge’s iron trestles. Decades of mysterious deaths and vanishings in the vicinity have only strengthened the legend over time, which also attracts strangely deranged fandoms in the dark of night. 
   

7. The Cowboy Clairvoyant Old Man Dunn  Not a lot is known about Old John Dunn “The Cowboy Seer,” sometimes called Chief John in the newspapers because of purported Black Seminole heritage, except that he was an eccentric local laborer rumored to forecast the future or ‘conjure’ spells for clients with a graveyard rabbit’s foot. He was said to have “a peculiar manner of dress,” collecting odd trinkets and talismans from cemeteries. Living in a lantern-lit shanty on East McKinney Street, Old Man Dunn perished when his makeshift cabin mysteriously burned down on a bitterly cold night in January of 1918. Some insist that they still catch glimpses of Old Man Dunn wandering the streets of Denton at night, collecting items for his conjurings.

8. Nurse Betty of Homer Flow Hospital  Many local Dentonites claim bonafides having been born in the long-gone Homer Flow Hospital, inhabited by a guardian ghost. The tale of Nurse Betty involved a tragic death under scandalous circumstances, but persistent reports for regular sightings of a nurse dressed in a vintage costume assisting newborns and mothers in that hospital floor. Even after the hospital was demolished, victims of car accidents and attempted assault in the vicinity of Scripture & Fry Streets insist upon a rescuer dressed in an old-timey nurse costume giving aid and comfort. Nurse Betty reminds us that some gentle spirits are helpers in both this life and the next.  

9. The Phantom Farmer of the Bayless-Selby House Museum

    The scandalous murder of farmer Sam Bayless in 1919 by one of his hired laborers sent shockwaves through Denton. Even after the murder trial ended in acquittal and the house was sold by his wife Mary then later converted into a museum, the ghost of Mr. Bayless seems to restlessly linger around the property. The Bayless-Selby House Museum also contains donated items for interpretation which some speculate are also haunted! You’ll have to take a museum tour and hear its history to experience this hidden past for yourself.   
   

10. The Mischievous Manager of Campus Theater  Mr. J.P. Harrison was the business manager for the Campus Theater when it opened in 1949, a beloved figure who created elaborate lobby displays and cinematic premieres with the help of local drama club students. After his death in 1974 and the building’s demolition was averted by historic preservationists in the 1990s, Mr. Harrison’s eerie presence has continued around the theater. In fact, since theater folk are a superstitious bunch, it is considered bad luck for a production if it does not have some ghostly sign of approval from Mr. Harrison before the opening night debut. 

    The Denton Community Theater embraces their mischievous manager. 
    

11. Hollywood ‘Oomph Gal’ Ann Sheridan  Denton’s biggest dame of fame, however, was arguably actress and singer Ann Sheridan. Born in Denton Texas as Clara Lou Sheridan in February 1915, the tomboy youngest of five was raised on a ranch able to bulldog a steer, ride a horse, and shoot guns well enough to make boyfriends nervous. After a Dallas contest got her talents noticed by Hollywood, Ann starred in numerous films of the 40s & 50s and was dubbed Hollywood’s “The Oomph Girl” (a moniker she hated). 

    
    

    The first inductee for Denton’s Arts Walk of Fame, you can also visit her shrine at Dan’s Silverleaf, where her legend is kept alive. 

12. Quakertown Schoolmarm Willamena Freeman  When Denton’s Black district Quakertown was established in 1875, the segregated community’s central institutions were its churches and the Frederick Douglass Free Colored School #17. Under superintendent Prof. H.C. Bell, Miss W.M. Freeman was one of the lead teachers who cultivated Black excellence within students and was active in the GUOOF Household of Ruth Lodge as well as the St. James AME church. The YA book “White Lilacs” about Denton’s Black Quakertown history helps document a fictionalized account of the haunted history of this township-within-a-town. Today, Quakertown Park is a favorite community hub for local entertainment events, public activities and music.

13. Mama Tia Marguerita the Tamale Queen  Not all sheroes wear capes, and some triumphs are quietly ahead of their time. Marguerita Avila Villaneuva was a young widow when she emigrated from Mexico to Denton in the early 1920s, where she fell in love and soon married widowed restaurateur Antonio “Tony” Villaneuva. Their family co-owned the first Mexican cafe just off the Denton Square, and Tia Marguerita was quite the entrepreneur herself by serving customers at the railyard nearby with a taco & tamale cart  – Denton’s first food truck!  
    

    The ghost of Tia Marguerita is more often smelled rather than seen in Denton, as wanderers on backstreets are sometimes caught off-guard by the sudden savory scents of Mexican barbacoa, tacos, or chili wafting through the nighttime air.