The Most Haunted Spots in DFW

By Nikki Stephens and Rhonda Aghamalian

There's nothing more spooky than ghost hunting, and there's plenty of haunted spots here in Arlington and all around the DFW Metroplex. Something about these spots sends shivers down visitors’ spines; maybe it’s the change in weather and crunch of falling leaves – or the spirits hanging around. Check out some of Arlington’s most haunted places… if you dare. 

And remember, most ghost stories have been passed around by word of mouth from generation to generation, and this blog was originally written years ago, but we update it every spooky season. Happy ghost hunting!

HAUNTED SPOTS IN ARLINGTON

Hell’s Gate and Screaming Bridge at River Legacy Park

701 NW Green Oaks Blvd, Arlington, TX 76006

A trail at River Legacy leads up to two old fence posts. It is said that the gate that used to stand there was the last thing captured soldiers saw before being hanged during the Civil War. Some say you can hear the sobs of those soldiers as you approach Hell’s Gate. Others say you see a redheaded man in a uniform standing guard. Like the Screaming Bridge, people feel uneasy at this spot, feeling watched and hearing strange sounds and voices. This phenomenon is said to be better when visiting Hell’s Gate at night.

Ghost stories are hard to pin down, and the legend of Screaming Bridge is no exception. The bridge now standing in River Legacy Park isn’t the original; it once sat farther down the road and no longer exists. According to legend, a car carrying teenagers crashed near the bridge after colliding with another vehicle, though another version claims the bridge collapsed after boys set it on fire as a prank. The cars plunged into the river, killing several teenage girls. Today, the closed road and former bridge site are accessible only by walking through the park, often after dark. Visitors claim they can hear the girls crying for help and see their names and dates of death glowing in the river, while others report mysterious lights, eerie fog, and unsettling sensations. Is Screaming Bridge really haunted? Visit and decide for yourself.

You can find an article about the car accident in the Arlington Daily News Texan from February 6, 1961, and check out a video from WFAA ABC Channel 8 where local Arlington ghost expert and owner of Ghosts of Arlington, Josh Hamilton, tells the real story of the Screaming Bridge.

Six Flags Over Texas

2201 Rd to Six Flags, Arlington, TX 76011

Annie is one of the legendary spirits said to haunt the park's Texas section. Believed to be a young girl who died in or near Johnson Creek in the early 1900s, she is considered friendly but notoriously mischievous. Six Flags Over Texas employees have reported seeing lights switch on and off in her “room,” located in the yellow house near the Texas Giant entrance. Others claim to have spotted her inside Runaway Mountain—though in the dark, their eyes may have played tricks on them.

If you believe in Annie, visit her during the spookiest time of the year for Six Flags Over Texas – during Fright Fest! 

A ghostly child captured on film in an amateur photo from Six Flags Over Texas.

Arlington’s Lost Cemetery of Infants  

801 West Mitchell St, Arlington, TX 76013

Founded in 1894 by Reverend James Tony Upchurch, the Berachah Industrial Home sheltered and trained single mothers before becoming an orphanage in 1935. Today, the only remaining trace is a secluded cemetery near UT Arlington, believed to contain the graves of infants lost to stillbirth and other complications. Visitors have reported shadowy figures, children’s voices, the sensation of being watched, and small toys mysteriously appearing and disappearing from graves.

Arlington Music Hall

224 N Center St, Arlington, TX 76011

“Fred” is the name Jean Collins has come to know for the ghost-in-residence at Arlington Music Hall, Arlington’s 65-year-old Downtown music venue.  She not only heard an invisible being move onstage, but she and countless other employees are deadly serious when they say the lights came back on after being completely shut off. Howard Ball, next door to Arlington Music Hall, has had strange occurrences at Babe’s Chicken Dinner House, including Fred himself walking up to him and asking to look around the restaurant, saying that “he used to live here,” only to disappear. 

Even the Dallas-Area Paranormal Society caught clear EVPs (electronic voice phenomena) and concluded that more than one spirit may roam the hall, as the team also recorded a female voice. “Fred is a good ghost, and he’s here,” says Jean. Watch the video and judge for yourself.

MORE HAUNTED SPOTS AROUND DFW

The Adolphus Hotel (Dallas)

Guests at this landmark downtown hotel have long reported sightings of a 1930s-era bride in a white gown, believed to be a jilted woman who died at the hotel on what should have been her wedding day.

The Baker Hotel (Mineral Wells)

Once a getaway for stars like Clark Gable and Judy Garland, the Baker Hotel is now known for phantom dinner-party chatter, orchestra music, clicking high heels, and sightings of the former manager’s mistress.

The Stockyards Hotel (Fort Worth)

Opened in 1907, this Stockyards hotel has an elevator that moves on its own, a faucet that turns itself on in the room where Bonnie and Clyde once stayed, and TVs and radios that switch on without warning.

White Rock Lake (Dallas)

White Rock Lake is home to the Lady of the Lake, a hitchhiker in vintage formal wear who reportedly vanishes from cars before reaching her destination.

Miss Molly's Hotel (Fort Worth)

This Stockyards bed and breakfast, once a boarding house, speakeasy, and brothel, is known for strange perfume smells, cold spots, and the ghosts of former working girls, a sick child, and a cowboy who appears in the Cowboy Room.