If you haven’t learned this from our peddling of delicious foodstuffs, our indulgences in coffee at all hours of the day, or our generally being out and about among the well-lit goings on around our city, we here at MyHoustonLife are pansies. Seriously, when one of the most burning questions we ask ourselves involves two overpriced hot dogs, we can’t help but be placed in a first-world-problems kind of demographic.
I say this so that you can be very aware of exactly how far we had to go in order to present you with these, the creepiest places we could find in our fair city. And while the voices that have followed me home haven’t exactly disappeared just yet, I feel happy in knowing that I’ve introduced you (or warned against) some of of the very places that have taken away my dreams.
#5: The Spaghetti Warehouse
You’ve probably heard this one before.
The internet sure has.
If you haven’t, consider yourself one lucky Houstonian. Up until this exact very moment, at least, when you’ve read about the dark side of this downtown Houston establishment.
Legend goes that the restaurant is haunted because of all the antiques used to decorate the place and give it the olde-timey look. A more popular and much more credible(?) idea holds that the building used to be a produce warehouse, wherein many of the workers died in the back elevator shaft. Other sources say it was actually one guy who worked in the warehouse as a pharmacist, and one day plummeted to his death in the back elevator shaft. Elevator shafts are bad news, is what we’re saying. Yet a fourth haunting theory holds that the place is haunted not by the dead pharmacist, but the dead pharmacist’s widow, who died exactly one year later from a broken heart. Essentially, all of these can be twisted and combined into one Hell of a recipe for frightenings.
Pictured: Terror
So okay then. Making a restaurant out of a former murderous warehouse maybe isn’t the greatest idea. But it’s not like anyone would be crazy enough to take it a step further and, say, live in a former hospital on top of an old cemetery, right?
#4: Elder Street Artists Lofts (formerly Jefferson Davis Hospital, formerly Houston City Cemetery)
Well shit.
Somewhere, a future Scooby Doo villain has wet himself with excitement.
This building now houses the Elder Street Artists Lofts, a gathering place for the city’s bravest aspiring painters, photographers, and Ghostbusters. This is made possible by renovating what used to be Jefferson Davis Hospital, which used to house the sick and dying people. In a move that makes no sense outside of Hollywood, someone took a look at an old, abandoned, decrepit building filled with the sense of dread and said “I will make this my home, and paint my future masterpiece here.”
"After dinner at The Spaghetti Warehouse, of course."
Still, that guy can’t possibly muster the same amount of crazy as the guy before him who stood on top of a straight-up cemetery and said “Here. It is HERE where I will bring and heal the sick and wounded.” That would be the guy who long ago decided to just up and ignore the fact that the dead were buried here and decided to build Jefferson Davis Hospital. One could suppose that he figured the best way to fight off the undead rising from their grave would be the ghosts haunting the building on top of them, but that just seems like a case of no matter who wins, we lose.
To be fair, we'd be too out of shape to even make it up the stairs into the hospital lofts.
#3: The Julia Ideson Building of The Houston Public Library
Long before humanity had their iPads and their Googles, knowledge came in a different form. There were no instant searches or Yelp!, no Wikipedia to mistrust, family and friends had to be called over a phone because there was no Facebook, porn came in the form of still images that hid under your mattress, and all the information and references you could get came in something with no battery or screen or keyboard; we called them “books”, and you could find lots and lots of them in a “library”.
Truly, these were the darkest of times.
As terrifying as being without your 4G network may sound, at least most of these modern libraries have one thing going for them; they do not, for the most part, house the spirits of a former library caretaker and his dog.
That’s not the case with the Houston Public Library’s Julia Ideson Building in downtown Houston.
Closed to keep you out and the ghosts in.
The story goes that one Julius Frank Cramer and his dog lived and worked for the library up until his death. In life, he loved and cared so much for library that his spirit couldn’t move on after he died, so it remains there to this day. He also dabbled in music, and rumor has it that aside from the sounds of a man (and his dog, don’t forget his freaking ghost dog) walking around while you’re doing your napping, er, “studying”, you can be serenaded by the sounds of phantom violins. Which would make a great high school band name for your haunted high school, such as…
#2 Episcopal High School
Courtesy of Google Maps. Because I am NOT about to become The Creepy Guy Taking Pictures Outside a High School.
As if the fear of cliques, bullies, pimples, and hiding boners behind binders weren’t terrifying enough, Episcopal High School in Bellaire holds a more spectral, Oujia-board-worthy haunt. Yes, the much lauded and super praised high school holds a deep, dark secret in its long history. If we’ve learned anything today, it’s that history is outright lousy with ghosts to haunt us with.
As if high schoolers themselves aren't scary enough.
Episcopal High School is said to be haunted by the ghost of a nun. Before the high school was a high school, the building served as a convent, as in the place where nuns are expected to be. The story here is that a nun actually committed suicide by hanging herself on the fourth floor of the building, presumably because she knew that the future of the building held a bunch of crazy hormones and she already couldn’t take it anymore. After the incident, the convent, which was used to educate in all things Catholic, stopped having any classes on the fourth floor because of all the death. Following religion rules, the nun was denied a funeral, thus giving the now-pissed-off spirit plenty of reason to continue roaming the halls of the high school.
And catch kids smoking in the restroom, probably.
#1: This House
YO, EFF THIS PLACE.
I wish I could have taken a better picture, but that would have required me coming here (which I won’t). And I wish I could be more specific about location (but I can’t).
You can chalk the first sentence up to good ol’ fashioned I-don’t-want-to-get-shot rules. It’s not my house, not my property, I can’t really just go around taking pictures of wherever. The reason I can’t be more specific about area, such as address?
Because, according to most avenues you could try to use (like Google Maps, or address books, or public property records, etc.) this house doesn’t exist. That’s right. Go ahead and type in the info you see up there, and try to find a solid address for this place. You can’t. Hell, the Houston Public Works building is right across the street, and they have no records to this place.
So how do I know about this Houston haunt? I lived there.
For a grand total of three days, two nights.
Even Kardashian marriages have lasted longer than that.
In that time, my family and I got a ghostly buffet of haunting happenings, from steps on the staircase to knocks on the walls to inanimate objects moving around to sheets getting pulled off of the bed while you slept to radios that only ever got stations that featured religious sermons. This house had it all. And on that last day, when everyone was saying “Yo, we OUT” and my grandma was sticking to her guns and demanding we all stay, what finally tipped us out the house?
The door that was directly behind my grandma while she was protesting our moving out suddenly swings open, hitting her in the back.
There was nobody behind the door.
…
Suddenly, The Spaghetti Warehouse seems like a nice night out.
The cholesterol will kill you before the ghosts do.
There’s an abandoned insane asylum in downtown Houston. I dont know if its haunted but its shut down and kinda demolished in some rooms
omg where adress?
The address for “#1: This House” is, 8206 Park Terrace, Houston, TX.
The answer to number one is 8212 as that is what it says on the mail box
I made research on the episcopal high school..
Um i found nothing on it ?
Ans that picture that on this website with the kids dancing all weird , nah i dont think thats even a real picture.
Its a private school ,i know that for a fact , and they wear blue and white , dress pants aswell.
I dont think a christian private school would even allow them to dress all black and look creepy ass hell.
I conduct haunted tours in downtown Houston. Here is my website: http://cvarela25.wix.com/haunted.
Ok after doing extensive research on the house I found out it’s owned by an Onesimo J Trevino. I looked him up on a site and it says that he possibly might have criminal records. Of course thats confidential and I couldn’t look at the records without paying.
I looked him up in news sites and such but nothing.
I think it’s major like a DUI or maybe a ticket.
Yeah but the house is definetly registered and its not that old. Maybe half a century.
Sorry I meant, nothing major
There is an abandoned restaurant at 45 and Woodridge. It used to be a Bennigan’s. I worked there through college. That place was haunted! You would hear someone in the bathroom stall next to you..toilet paper moving, door rustling everything. You would come out, thinking they were still in the stall. There was no one there. A coworker and I watched a locked door open by it’s self. It used to put other peoples CD’s (never mine) on the ground after closing. I never saw them move. I would put them where it wasn’t physically possible to get on the floor on their own. I would wash a bar glass, turn around and they they were, on the ground. I never believed until I worked there. I feel you.
Do you remember the name of the restaurant?
It’s abandoned so it doesn’t have a name, it’s been ripped out, but you can still see the Bennigan’s layout outside. You can spot it off the freeway (I-45) looks really rubbed-down. It surely does look haunted from the outside! I always wondered why it closed down.
What article? I would like to read about your adventure to to the house on Park Terrance.
My coworker and I made the trip to Pasadena from Katy (west houston) and went to the house on Park Terrace. We were reading through the comments and saw people say they were going to go to the house but saw no updates. SO, here is our update and our little visit!!
We drove about an hour with a few people, got lost, and finally found the house. It wasn’t too terribly hard to find, and we found it easily using GPS (just located the cross streets on the map). When we got there, there was a newer car in the fenced off drive way (from the side alley). There are no trespassing signs EVERYWHERE. So instead of jumping the fence, we talked with a neighbor outside. He said that the house wasn’t occupied in the last 5 years or so, and if it was, it wasn’t for long. He said he’s heard about it being haunted but never went in. Around the back, there was a house on either side of the “drive way”. 1 home, the lady was not at home, but apparently knows the owner. The other home to the left of the driveway said that the owner’s name is George and is only there to clean up. The house did NOT look occupied, but that new car kind of spooked us. So we did not end up going in. We left our number in the mail box of the woman who is rumored to know the home owner to see if we can possibly get a tour (acting like we want to rent the home), but are waiting on a call if we ever get one.
I will say this. This area is a bit creepy. There are a lot of abandoned/condemned houses near this home, but none like the one described. I really wish we could have gone in it, but I did not want to chance a homeowner being there and liable to be shot. We were also told that previously he has rented out the top floor and the bottom floor as separate apartments.
IF anyone has other information, please email me!! xjorexcallistax@yahoo.com
The house has an interesting history, too. According to Harris County records, starting in the 1980s and into the early 1990s, the house was owned by a Rios de Vida (Rivers of Life) Church.
Can I just go, jump the fence and take pics if the house!!!
This house looks really creepy!!
I had been to Huntsville which is real scary the most late u go the better
All I gotta say Jefferson hospital is creepy but fenced.
Now the Patterson road u gotta walk on the wood abut
We all know it’s not safe late night all I gotta say
Is if anyone around houston know places for real
Let me know I’m going to visit this house than I might
Go back to Huntsville and record everything this time
8212 Park Terrace. I found it with no problem on google. I admit, pretty creepy place, but just because it’s creepy as fuck, doesn’t mean the City of Houston won’t have records of it.
I typed it into Google and an image of the house came up but when I looked at the address it was the one for the house next to it. As far as Google maps goes it looks like it doesn’t exist but I could still find stuff on the internet about it though it isn’t very conclusive and I cannot tell if it is up to date.
I was researching the one about the house in Houston well first my question is when did you live in that house what year??? Second, your right when you google it, it has like a house that was built a good while ago and I am in the process of researching how and when that house was built….I like good scary haunting stories that are TRUE …..but to me that could be any house believe me I have had my share of scares in my own situations so I do believe there are ghost and hauntings but me I would put all the info so everyone could check it out for themselves there are a lot of skeptic people and I am one of them! I go research everything and I think its unfair for people to lie to get noticed…….
If you look on google or type in 8212 park terrace it’ll pull up the house next to it and you can see the front of the house in the background. Also if you go around the street that the house next to it is on the corner of you can see the side of it if you’re careful not to pass it up.
I work with a man who accompanied a friend of his who was part of the renovation of Jeff Davis Hospital. The renovations were not very far along at the time, and the building still had a lot of junk and papers from its hospital days. The men went to the rooftop for the view. There were swings and other playground stuff for kids up there on the roof which I thought was strange, but my co-worker, who is a history buff, said that child patients who were recovering were allowed to play on the rooftop. While up there, my co-worker got spooked because ONE of the swings began to move back and forth as if someone was swinging in it. The other swings were not moving, and there was no breeze.
He says the building is indeed haunted.
i heard that the central campus science building at UH is freaking super haunted i work as security guard there and they lock that building up before dark and unlock it in the morning no one goes there and i have seen shit there that would raise the hair on any ones neck
Really, Red Rider? Like what??? I’m all ears.
Thats not true that building got shut down so now its all boarded up but we got in for some reason theres a black door leading into the underground basement, we were in there all night exploring the creepy science areas but there was absolutely no activity what so ever haha
the mailbox on the fence does show 8212
Actually it’s 8206, found that out through google maps. Wasn’t that hard.
If you search through HCAD the address is 8212.
Haha u make this funny I wouldn’t even stay there though the first creepy thing I be like bye bye bye biotch
I out
I once made friends with the former headmaster at Episcopal. He had seen the ghost of the Nun many times. The head maintenance man had seen her too. He stepped off the elevator one night and she was waiting for him. He ran like hell. The headmaster allowed my Ghost Hunting group to hunt at the school several times. After 3 tries we finally came up with a couple of photos of her. It’s not like seeing a person. She was flowing like a flag in the wind. I may still have the photos somewhere. I’ll never forget the experience.
I never, ever, ever want to see those photos. But it’s awesome to be validated!
Hey im very interested in looking at the pictures you took.
If you still have them and can find them can i see them 🙂
Well did you know that the Kindred Hospital by little york.
Is haunted on the 3 floor.
I didn’t even realize that Houston would be such a creepy place to live. I don’t understand though if you lived there how would there be no address or anything popping up online?
Please write back I’m very interested. Thank you!
I didn’t even realize that Houston would be such a creepy place to live. I don’t understand though if you lived there how would there be no address or anything popping up online?
Please write back I’m very interested. I have worked with Ghost Hunters before. I would think they would live to visit this place as we find more detail. Thank you!
That’s the crazy thing, I could never come up with any good records of it. I mean, it’s there, you can drive right by it, but there’s nothing indicating that it ever had anyone living in it.
Jose
When did you live there because I’ve lived next door to this house for 10 years? I haven’t heard anyone that rented this house mention any hauntings.
The address for that house is 8206 Park Terrace. My friends and I are visiting this weekend!
Christina,
Let me know what you and your friends find out about the haunted house.
So How Was The House After All.?
So January when you visited the house did anything happen?
I guess she never survived the experience to tell us about it…
LMAO!
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=PARK+TERRACE+77017&ie=UTF-8&ei=sJIwUoGxNeO52QX1zoDYAg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAg
Here it is?
did you ever go?
Jose,
How can I send you a personal message to discuss this article with you in more detail?
Very witty and entertaining article, with a splash of “spooky” for good measure!!!!
This is good stuff. Very interesting and funny at the same time. Wonderful!
Living in that house is crazy. I wouldn’t of lasted one day.
I wouldn’t have made it past the creeking stairs! I’m good! lol
Amazing article! Very interesting and creepy!
Great post- and really funny! I’ve always wanted to know some interesting history like this, and I definitely knew about Spaghetti Warehouse.
As far as living in that house- how creepy! I can imagine why you would never want to go back.
How did you find all your research about these places? (Excluding the last one of course.)
-Lauren
Actually, the first two (Spaghetti Warehouse and Jefferson Davis Hospital) are pretty popular urban legends around here, so it was really easy to gather information about those two online…or even from a Spaghetti Warehouse employee!
The library and Episcopal High School kept showing up on those Google searches for Spaghetti Warehouse and Jefferson Davis Hospital (which are now lofts. LOFTS. People LIVE there), so I decided to dig a little deeper into those, with newspaper articles or supernatural websites and the like. When the same stories kept corroborating from different sources, I knew I was on to something.
Thank you for reading!