Woodruff Fontaine House

Woodruff Fontaine House

This old mansion is a museum that offers tours today. It was originally built in 1870.

Amos Woodruff came to Memphis, Tennessee in 1845. He was a carriage maker that made his fortune fast. He then delved into a variety of other enterprises.

All were successful. He ran two banks, a railroad, and a hotel. He had a hand in construction and the lumber and cotton industries.

A leading member of Memphis society he ran for mayor twice. He had a fancy mansion built for his family in 1870. It was in the French Victorian style with Mansard roofs, arched windows and stately columns on the porch.

A carriage house, courtyard fountain, elaborate gardens and a sweeping front lawn surrounded his new mansion.

In 1871, his daughter Mollie married in the home. She became Mollie Fontaine Henning and inherited the property when her father died. None of her children lived to adulthood. She lived in the mansion until she died.

Her ghost is one of three that haunt the home to this day.

Another successful family by the name of Fontaine moved into the mansion. Noland Fontaine was a cotton baron.

In 1929 the mansion became an antique shop and then in 1959 an art school moved in. By 1961, the once grand mansion was in desperate need of repairs.

A local Memphis preservation society (APTA) came to the rescue. They restored the mansion and opened the Woodruff Fontaine Museum in 1964.

Mollie Woodruff Henning

Rose Room named after patterned
wallpaper in room.

It was around this time that Mollie Woodruff Henning’s ghost became more active. She often hangs out in her old bedroom, known as the Rose Room, on the 2^nd floor.

She is known to sit on the bed leaving dents so people know she was there. Since the Rose Room is roped off to tours no one is allowed close to this bed.

Visitors have seen the rocking chair move in this room and the bed covers rustle. It is here where people note drastic changes in the temperature.

Indent in bed in Rose Room.

Lights go on and off in this room as well as the rest of the mansion without explanation.

Mollie’s ghost startled a museum docent one day when she appeared in the Rose Room. She informed this lady that she preferred the furniture in the room be placed back in its original arrangement.

Her ghost wanders throughout the mansion. She likes to follow people that are doing something different or interesting. One paranormal team investigating the mansion went down into the basement.

Evidently Mollie followed them for they captured her voice on one recorder. She told them that she rarely went into the basement.

Unlike Mollie, who is a friendly ghost, another entity in the mansion is an angry male. He ripped off the necklace from a staff member one day and his negative spirit is sensed on both the 1^st and 3^rd floors.

A paranormal team caught his gruff voice during one EVP session. He answered “no” to their questions. His ghost has not been connected to anyone who once lived in the home.

Yet another male ghost in the home is believed to be the Fontaine’s son. Another docent who works for the preservation society saw his ghost one Sunday afternoon when she was the only one in the mansion.

Elliot Fontaine

As she made her way up to the 3^rd floor she spotted a man sitting at the foot of the stairs that lead to the 4^th floor tower room. He was so lifelike she at first thought he must be a man that found himself locked in the mansion after a tour.

But when she looked closer she realized he looked just like a photograph she had seen of the Fontaine son, Elliot. Frightened she backed down the stairs and closed her eyes. When she looked once more he was gone.

The Orpheum Theatre’s Mary

This theatre was once the Grand Opera House in downtown Memphis, Tennessee. It was built in 1890.

Since the late 1970s, it has hosted Broadway productions and acts. In 1982, it underwent significant renovations.

The Orpheum has been haunted for over 90 years. Its resident ghost is a 12-year old girl named Mary.

Mary’s presence disturbed --one New York touring company's performance of Fiddler on the Roof in 1977--to the point where they requested a séance.

People rarely agree on why Mary haunts this theatre. One legend states she died in a fire in 1921. Others argue she was injured in 1923 when a streetcar hit her on Beale Street outside the Orpheum.

She was then brought into the theatre, where she died.

Her ghost is known to be playful. She is heard playing the Orpheum’s organ or singing. She has been seen running up and down the aisles in the theatre.

On several occasions she has been spotted sitting in seat C-5 on the Mezzanine level.

Witnesses’ state she has braided brown hair, wears an old-fashioned white dress and black stockings. Several reports state she has no shoes.

It is reported Mary can be helpful. When the theatre’s organ broke down, Harlan Judkins was called in to fix it. He took a coffee break only to find the organ was working correctly when he returned.

Many feel this was Mary’s handiwork.

One young performer that was on stage, playing the lead, in a production of Annie, stated one night as she was carried off stage in the big basket in which her character escapes the orphanage, she heard another little girl's voice talking to her within the basket.

It is believed this was Mary.

In Michael Norman and Beth Scott’s book, Haunted America, they share a witness account given by Teresa Spoone.

Spoone and two friends were visiting the Orpheum to hear an organ concert. As the song “Never, Never Land.” was played from the musical Peter Pan, they felt the theatre become cold instantly.

The women saw a light dart into the theatre from the lobby. They watched as this light disappeared behind a row of seats. These three then saw a little girl with brownish hair dancing in an aisle.

Spoone reported she got a cold chill as this little girl stopped, looked in her direction and called out her name.