Ghosts of St. Austin, Texas, describe many ghost sightings at the Driskill Hotel, which is said to be the most haunted building in the Texas capital. But Texas is also home to another grand, what some would say, old hotel with an atmosphere of the past.
History of the Baker Hotel
The Baker Hotel seems to have been cursed from the beginning. The business opened just two weeks after the 1929 stock market crash known as Black Monday that started the Great Depression. Hotel magnate T.B. Baker built the Hotel Baker in Meineral Wells, a town about 80 miles west of Dallas, known for its mineral water springs.
Wells was already a popular retreat for those looking for rest and the supposed healing effects of the water, it is called “Water of Glory” because it made a healthy woman crazy Actually already in a luxury hotel in mineral wells called Crazy Water Hotel. It was rebuilt after a fire in 1925, but to only seven stories high, it paled in comparison to the Baker with its 14 stories and 460 rooms.
It was a Baker Hotel and still looks impressive. It stands out on the horizon above the town of 15,000 people which today is the Mineral Well. When you visit the Mineral Well, you immediately notice the Baker, which has been closed for more than 30 years. It seems very mysterious and very out of place in this sleepy Texas town.
Now deserted and in a worsening state of decay, the once beautiful hotel was a new playground for the rich and famous. Stars including Martin Dietrich, Will Rogers and Jean Harlow were guests at the Baker Hotel. Judy Garland and Lawrence Welk were hosted there in the flower hotel, which did not last long.
After opening in 1929, the hotel hosted guests for only a few years until it was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1932. A few years in the 1940s, he served in building a military house II. The hotel opened in 1965, but closed for good just seven years later. Yes, the Baker Hotel is definitely cursed. But is it safe?
Saint Baker Hotel
Some say yes. The most famous, and some say flirtatious, spirit that is said to roam the halls of the baker alone is that of a woman who has become aware of death. Some report that she is the lady manager of the hotel; others say she was the baker’s lady. They say that a woman dropped to her death from the top of the hotel.
One of the maids reported finding red lipstick marks on them in the apartment on the seventh floor where the woman once stayed. Surely no one else had been in those rooms. There were also several reports of men on the seventh floor smelling lavender of a woman.
Another ghost who appears at the base of the hotel bakery is the young Douglas Moore. One story is told that in 1948 the Baker Hotel began working as an elevator operator and became involved in a lucrative prostitution ring at the hotel. Sometime later, his mother convinced him to quit his job and report the illegal activities taking place at the Baker Hotel. The story says that he did, but was invited to come back to work a few weeks later.
Soon after, he mysteriously died in an elevator “accident” in which his body was cut in half. This tragic story ends with the blame for his death falling on two co-workers who were paid by Moore Moore.
However, according to “The Saints of the Baker Hotel” by Bob Hopkins, the true story of Douglas Moore is not quite as interesting. Hopkins learned from a close relative of Moore that the young man’s death was truly accidental.
Moore’s family says there was nothing illegal involved in the hotel. He simply liked to play around with the elevator and jump as it moved. One fateful day, though, not so much as to enter. When one of his friends saw that he was not going to make it, he pulled Moore to his feet to get him out. Unfortunately, he could only get half way out, and the elevator door crushed Moore in his waist.
His death may not have been a murder, but Moore’s ghost is said to have shown up at the base at the Baker Hotel several times. Well, part of it, anyway. Only the head of the mask and the upper body were seen.
These are just two of the many ghosts said to inhabit the Baker Hotel. There are many stories. The hotel is now closed to the public, so that you can’t get inside because of the spirits. But you can read one visitor’s account of an overnight stay at the Baker Hotel at www.castleofspirits.com/stories04/bakerhotel.html. And if you’re ever in Mineral Wells, be sure to walk around to see the “Grand Old Lady” if you can catch a glimpse of one of the resident guests.
For more information on the Baker Hotel, visit www.spiritofthebaker.com, the website of a non-profit organization dedicated to restoring the Baker Hotel.
