GRANBURY, Texas — Granbury is filled with history, but it’s also flooded with ghosts.
“Pretty much the whole square is haunted,” said Brandy Herr, author and founder of the Granbury Ghosts and Legends Tour. “The whole darn town.”
Herr should know. She wrote the book about it titled “Haunted Granbury.”
She even leads ghost tours to places like the Gordon House at the Langdon Center.
“We’ve experienced the ghosts in here quite often and it’s a little girl mainly named Audrey,” said Herr.
Audrey was just five when she died. She lived at the Gordon House, and apparently, still does.
“I think there is a lot of energy going on in here,” said Herr.
For example, Herr and some friends were investigating at the Gordon House when their voice recorder fell off a bench without anyone nearby.
Videos like the one Herr’s team recorded won’t change a lot of minds. Nor will it make them believe in ghosts.
At one time, neither did Roxanne Laney.
“Being in Granbury changes your mind about that,” said Laney, owner of The Square Café.
Laney said there’s no question, her restaurant is haunted by a woman in a red dress.
Employees swear they’ve seen the woman in red standing on the stairs.
Gary Farina said his restaurant, Farina’s, and the rooms above it have ghosts too.
“Yeah, as long as they don’t break anything I’m OK,” said Farina.
Unfortunately, they did.
One of Farina’s employees once saw a wine glass fly off the shelf and shatter.
“Two customers that were there that witnessed it as well,” said Farina.
The one place, however, that really gets people singing is the Opera House. Allegedly, it’s haunted by John Wilkes Booth. Yeah, Abraham Lincoln’s assassin.
History says Booth was tracked down and killed on a Virginia farm, but skeptics say something else.
“He actually escaped and moved here after a while under the name of John St. Helen,” said Herr.
That’s why there’s a store downtown called St. Helen’s.
Booth, a.k.a. St. Helen, reportedly worked next door to the Opera House. At the time he killed Lincoln, he was an actor and supposedly, after he died, he returned to haunt the Opera House in Granbury.
Many other ghosts call Granbury home, and Herr said, there’s no reason to be afraid of them because most of them are like most of us.
“They’re people,” Herr said. “People want to be talked to nicely, so talk to them nicely.”
If you don’t, it might come back to haunt you.
For more information about the Granbury Ghosts and Legends tour, visit https://www.granburytours.com/.