It almost looks like something out of the television show, American Horror Story. The Queen Anne Style building houses tragic stories as well as ghostly apparitions in an absolutely charming abode. Are you brave enough to stay the night in the Ferris Mansion Bed & Breakfast?
The Ferris Mansion is considered one of the most architecturally significant buildings in the Cowboy State, having been built between 1899 and 1903. It’s described by enthusiasts of architecture as one of the last Queen Anne Victorian mansions in Wyoming. The mansion is only a few blocks away from another haunted location we’ve previously covered; The Wyoming Frontier Prison in Rawlins. With beautiful arches and a tower that looks out of a fairy tale, this significant structure has been operated as a bed and breakfast in the past. Today, the mansion is for sale, with all of the history and ghosts packed into the gorgeous abode.
Unfortunately, the man who began it’s construction, George Ferris, didn’t live to see it’s completion.George was the owner of the Ferris-Haggarty mine in the Grand Encampment copper mining district, making him a very, very wealthy man in the late 19th century. After an accident at the copper mine Ferris owned in 1900, he was killed after being thrown from a runaway carriage. It was then up to his wife, Julia, to complete the construction and settle in.
Continuing the tragedy in the home, the Ferris family’s youngest son, Cecil, passed away in the home. The young Ferris boy was killed by his own older brother when a gun he’d been playing with went off unexpectedly. Julia Harris lived in the home until her death in 1931.
After that, the building was converted into apartments in the 1940s, and those living in the home reported paranormal activity, even back then. Many families tried to occupy the home, and reported strange poltergeist behavior and many full-bodied apparitions. When it became a Bed and Breakfast in 1986, those reports didn’t cease, they became a draw.
Unexplained noises are frequent in the antique home, as are many apparitions, including Cecil Ferris, a few male apparitions, and one who just might be Julia Ferris, though it’s said the latter ghost is usually more occupied with household chores and domestic tasks.
Full body apparitions are reported, with poltergeist activity and the sense of a cold breeze walking through the unventilated home. Windows may open or shut on their own, and lights are always finding themselves in the opposite position the last living person left them in.
It’s worth noting that the Ferris Mansion is currently not operating as a bed and breakfast, or really as anything at all. Currently, it’s listed for sale and you can own a piece of haunted history. Until then, the home is currently being rented out by the night on Air BnB.
Paranormal Hunting and Observation Group (PHOG) has investigated the Ferris Mansion on two different occasions, and captured a compelling apparition photograph, visible on their research page.
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Born in Death Valley and raised on the prairie, Deborah is a Wyoming-based paranormal researcher and University of Wyoming graduate. Her interests lie in folklore, history, symbolic interaction and research. She also researches the paranormal academically and is a graduate student studying sociology.