Ghosts and Goblins at the Woodruff-Fontaine House

The Woodruff-Fontaine House is a beautifully restored Victorian mansion built in the 1870's along what used to be known as "Millionaire's Row" in downtown Memphis. Its name was derived from the two prominent families that used to own and live in the house...the Woodruffs and the Fontaines.

The home is open for historical tours and, throughout the year, it is decorated for various themes such as "Timeless Romance" in the Spring and "Mourning Memphis" in the Fall. The home has beautiful architecture and furnishings and has an extensive collection of Victorian clothing with over 4,000 pieces. Some of these pieces are displayed throughout the year to correspond with the different themes.

On this particular night, Eric and I went on a ghost tour of the house hosted by Historical Haunts. What better way to celebrate Halloween than by going to an actual haunted house? It was even featured on SyFy channel's "Ghost Hunters" several years back.

We arrived to a dimly lit home decorated for mourning with cloth-covered mirrors and black sashes over portraits of the deceased.

Always the jokester, Eric makes friends with a ghost.

Our host was a seasoned paranormal investigator who recounted the various stories as we moved through the rooms. There are incidents of women's perfume or cigar smoke that regularly wafts through the house. Disembodied voices carry on conversations in empty rooms and call out employee names when no one else but that person is around. There have even been sightings of a ghost cat.

The mannequins throughout the house donning mourning attire only added to the creep factor.

The spirit of Mollie Woodruff is often seen on the second floor sitting on the bed in her room, The Rose Room. When she vanishes, there are impressions left on the bedspread where she was sitting. She did not die in the house but she's believed to be here because this is where she was said to have been the happiest in her life.

Since there is usually a lot of activity in the room, our guide set up an EVP unit and proceeded to ask questions of the spirits which answered back with a word or two here and there. Several different voices came through with various male and female names. Our guide asked how many spirits were present and the answer "seven" came through.

Next to The Rose Room was a little room filled with old dolls...more creepiness!

Mrs. Virginia Fontaine lived and died in the house and her spirit is also seen on the second floor. She has made it known that she does not like strange people in her bedroom so, out of respect for her, it is roped off.

Lastly, Mrs. Fontaine's son, Elliot, is regularly seen on the third floor. He died at the age of 34 during the influenza outbreak of 1918. Our guide did a little investigating in his room but nothing really came through.

Elliot loved to read and also kept diaries. Some of these have been graciously donated to the house by his descendants. They give interesting insight into the daily lives of the Fontaine family.

After the tour concluded, we were allowed to wander around the house a little more on our own. I took pictures in various rooms just in case an orb or something else showed up but we did not have any earth shattering paranormal experiences.

Overall, we thought it was a fun night.