The Most Haunted Bookstore in Texas is in Fort Worth

Texas is known for lots of ghostly encounters. In addition to those encounters, you could come face to face with a demon or maybe even see a little green man or two. Around this time of year, those encounters become more top of mind and tall tales become a little more exaggerated. It's all in good fun. One of those tales exists in Fort Worth of a bookstore that you can shop in where a being likes to mess you while you shop.

Ghostly Encounter

In Ghostbusters, the first encounter with a ghost by Egon, Peter and Ray was in the basement of a New York library. That ghost blew out a majority of the library card catalog and spread it's ectoplasm all over it. The three reluctant Ghostbusters then made contact with the ghost only to be shooshed by the ghost then scared out of the building by it. While it's not what happens at Barber's Bookstore in Fort Worth, that scene was the first thing to come to mind.

You can find Barber's Bookstore at 901 Throckmorton Street in Fort Worth. It is a corner building that has been there since 1908. Barber's Bookstore has been around since 1925 and is the oldest independent bookstore in the state. The history of the building includes being a hotel, various cafes and heavily rumored to have been a bordello at one time.

The bookstore has an unusual organizational system, meaning that there is no organizational system. You literally come in and browse the book selection until you find what you want. This system seems to be a favorite of the ghost that lives there.

Barber's Bookstore - Google Maps

The Ghost in the Store

This ghost has no problem making itself known. The entity will cause lights to flicker, it will throw books to the floor and will make itself heard by stomping up and down the stairs between the second and third floor. The feel and smell of the store certainly adds to the experience. You can feel the history of the book's age while inside and customers describe the smell of old pages.

Another ghost story to come from Barber's Bookstore is from Robert Francis whose mother worked at the store in the 90's. He said she witnessed books being moved around, lights turning on and even talking to the ghosts.

She said she would often move a book to one stack only to come back an hour later and find the book back where it had first been. Then there were the lights she would turn off and go down the stairs, only to look up to see the light on again. She eventually just began talking to them. My mother would talk to anyone, anyway, so why not ghosts? - Robert Francis wrote in the Fort Worth Business Press about his mother's experience in the store

I'm not super into reading books but this place sounds pretty cool to check out. If you're ever in the downtown Fort Worth area, stop by and see if you have a ghostly experience while browsing.