Although I've never heard any rumors or stories about the Molly Brown House in my hometown of Hannibal, Missouri being haunted, evidently the Molly Brown House in Denver does have its share of ghostly apparitions.

Margaret Tobin was born July 18, 1867 in Hannibal, Missouri. She became famous after the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, when she returned to look for survivors in her lifeboat.

In 1885, at the age of 18, Margaret moved to Leadville, Colorado where she met James Joseph Brown. They fell in love and married in 1886. The couple produced two children: Lawrence was born in 1887, and Catherine was born in 1889.

In 1894, the family moved to Denver, Colorado. Although James Joseph (J.J.) and Margaret (Molly) continued to care for each other the rest of their lives, they did separate in 1909.

Sadly, after J.J. died in 1922, the children and Molly fought over the estate for the next five years. She had no contact with her children again after that time.

When Molly passed away in 1932 from a brain tumor, she was living at the Barbizon Hotel for Women in New York City.

When the Browns moved to Denver in 1894, they bought a lovely three-story Victorian home built by the Large family in the late 1880s. Molly still retained ownership of the home at the time of her death, although she had not lived there for quite a while as she enjoyed traveling all over the world.

After Molly’s death, the home was used as a rooming house, apartments, and even a home for “wayward” girls. The house fell into a sad state until 1970, when a historic group restored the home.

The Molly Brown House in Denver is now a museum. Staff and guests report strange occurrences in the home such as dining room chairs being rearranged, doors that open and close by themselves, cold spots, footsteps, piano music, a ghost cat thought to have belonged to Molly, and the smell of cigar smoke thought to belong to J.J. (although Molly had forbidden him to smoke inside the house).

The image of an angry-looking man believed to have been a male servant for the Browns has been observed in a mirror hanging on a wall near the steps leading to the second floor. A lady dressed in Victorian clothing sometimes sits at the dining room table.

In Catherine’s old room, the window blinds raise and lower on their own. In the room occupied by Molly’s mother while she stayed with the family, an elderly woman has been seen standing by the window gazing out. The apparitions of Molly and James have also been seen in the home…together again after their deaths.

For more information on touring the Molly Brown House located at 1340 Pennsylvania Street in Denver, check out the museum’s website: www.mollybrown.org.


References:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/937215/the_haunted_home_of_molly_brown_the_pg2.html?cat=

http://www.mollybrown.org/

http://hauntsofamerica.blogspot.com/2007/07/haunting-of-unsinkable-molly-brown.html

http://www.epinions.com/review/Molly_Brown_House_Museum_epi/content_451592228484

http://www.examiner.com/arizona-haunted-sites-in-phoenix/arizona-ghost-hunter-travels-molly-brown-house-denver-colorado

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Brown

http://www.ghosteyes.com/unsinkable-molly-brown-home-ghosts

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/co-denverghosts3.html