Mineral Wells, Texas is home to a believed magical health secret – mineral-rich water aka Crazy Water. In the 1880s, people would travel from all over for one of Mineral Wells healing water. People once believed this water would cure anything from dementia to physical ailments. People still drink it to this day!
Brief History of The Baker Hotel
In 1929, the Baker Hotel opened its doors in Mineral Wells. It was a beautiful 14 floor hotel, with 450 rooms. Baker Hotel used the mineral water to attract its many, famous tenants. Some of these celebrities included: Bonnie and Clyde, the Three Stooges and Judy Garland.
This 1.2-million-dollar hotel was open for a short amount of time due to the effects of the Great Depression and WWII. With so many people checking in and out it makes sense that some of its guests seem to have never left.
The old, abandoned hotel is still very much alive today. If you ever find yourself in the Fort Worth area, travel 51 miles west to Mineral Wells and visit the Haunted Baker Hotel.
TD Baker built the Baker Hotel in 1929 and opened its doors two weeks after the construction completed. The Baker Hotel had a lavish pool and spa filled with the mineral-rich water. This drew all the famous and sick people to its doors.
The hotel went bankrupt in 1932 due to the stock market crash but was bought by new owners that kept it alive for a few more years. It then changed hands again during WWII and became a military dependents quarter from 1941 till 1944. The doors reopened as a hotel from 1963 till 1972 but has been closed since.
The hotel is occupied by spirits of those who were sick and came to the hotel to bask in the curing mineral water pools but ended up passing away. The most famous ghost story is the haunting of TD Baker himself and his mistress.
TD Baker and his Lover
TD Baker is believed to haunt the Baker Suite on floor 11. Baker is said to have died in his suite, leaving him to walk the halls of his masterpiece endlessly. Tour guides always knock on doors of the Baker suite in order to not anger TD by them entering.
Witnesses have claimed the entire 11th-floor smells of cigar smoke, matching the habit of the late TD Baker. Whenever a tour enters his suite, small items often disappear from the guests’ handbags or pockets. The tour guides will find them laying on the floor of Baker’s room hours later when it is time to close up for the night.
Baker seems to be having some fun in the afterlife. Many tourists say they come hoping for an encounter with the man himself.
Baker was believed to have a mistress whom he kept on the 7th floor. It is said that she jumped from the window of the 7th floor to her death. The reason for her suicide is unknown, but her fate as a permanent guest of the Baker is sealed.
Some say the affair became too much for her, so she decided to take her own life. She has been spotted by countless patrons and her lavender perfume is difficult to miss.
Many visitors have spotted the spirit of the mistress. Her red hair, piercing green eyes, and lavender perfume is unmistakable. She was first seen in the 1950s by a hotel worker.
More recently, a maid of the hotel found broken glass scattered all over a room on the 7th floor, stained with the same red lipstick her ghost has been seen wearing.
The mistress will roam to different floors if she gets restless. Tour guides will hear the sounds of her high heels walking all around the first floor.
She is a flirtatious ghost who will touch and poke male tourists that she fancies. Mistress Baker is by far one of the most active spirits in the hotel, next to Baker himself.
The Bellhop and the Little Boy
The most gruesome spirit of the Baker is a bellhop. This poor young worker was in an elevator accident in the 1950s where he was chopped in half. His apparition is only the top half of his body.
Historical records have confirmed the death of the young elevator boy, matching the description of the ghost seen haunting the hotel. There is another young boy who walks the halls.
He passed around 1933 from leukemia while seeking treatment from the mineral springs. He is often accompanied by a shaggy dog.
He is one of the few spirits who has made the effort to communicate with local mediums asking for help. Most of the spirits who haunt the Baker hotel do not want to be helped.
One medium claimed that the Baker may seem like a hotel full of tortured souls but is the exact opposite. Many of these spirits came back or stay because of the great peace and relaxation they found while staying at the Baker Hotel.
The Haunted Windows
In the 1990s, a local woman working at a drive-through bank noticed that windows on multiple floors of the Baker would be opened and then later in the day those same windows would be closed.
The bank teller said she would always notice the open windows during slow times. She and a few of her co-workers started to monitor the windows, which ones opened and closed and on what days and times.
After a while, the patterns started to change. There was no rhyme or reason to the windows. No one has occupied the hotel since 1970.
The tour guides come and go during the course of the day, but they never stay past dark. No one would have been there to close the windows at the time the bank employees witnessed.
There is no doubt that the Baker Hotel is a very haunted location. It attracts many people yearly to its doors. It seems to be a place where the ghost coexists with the natural world.
It is not a place that should be feared, but rather a place of great beauty. It was one home to luxurious spas and housed many celebrities.
The sick came here to relax and heal, some had their final breaths in the halls of the Baker Hotel – others still live on to tell its rich and wonderful history.
Baker Hotel Restoration
Plans for restoration are already underway in the hope of restoring the Baker Hotel to resemble its former glory – are you going to be one of the first people to visit?
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