Once the site of electroshock therapy, the Confederate Women’s Home is haunted by its former inhabitants.
As a prime property for paranormal enthusiasts, this supernatural hotspot is full of phantoms. Investigators have even spent the night inside the historic building, eager to find evidence of paranormal activity.
With ghostly ongoings like mysterious sounds and full-bodied apparitions, what’s prowling about?
Many of the women who spent their final days in the Confederate Women’s Home became test subjects for experimental procedures. Controversial treatments such as electroshock therapy were used to battle even the most common diseases such as dementia.
With their final days lost to barbaric practices, it’s no wonder these specters are restless.
One of the most popular poltergeists is an older woman in a white suit, white gloves, and a hat. She was most famously sighted by an unidentified AGE employee, who recalled seeing her specter during his shift.
This sharply dressed woman allegedly materialized from a storage closet before making her way down the hall. When the employee followed her, she quickly entered the break room. There, she vanished before his eyes.
Another AGE employee named Tammy also had an eerie encounter within the building. She was working late one night when she began to hear voices from beyond her second-story office.
Although she claims women were “talking and laughing,” Tammy found no one when she went outside.
The spookiest encounter at the Confederate Woman’s House occurred to former-employee Maria. Maria, who worked the night shift alongside her husband, claimed the couple experienced some crazy things.
Her reported paranormal disturbances included mysterious sounds, screams, and other strange, unidentified noises. Maria’s husband even once heard chilling sounds through the elevator. Thinking the noise was emanating from the hallway, he decided to investigate.
When the elevator doors opened, he found himself alone.
Things became creepier once he tried to record the occurrence. Whenever he took out his phone to take a picture, the screen froze. Next, the battery drained despite being charged. He was left alone.
It was only after he and Maria met up at their truck that he was able to recover his phone. He was shocked to find that his camera had captured something he hadn’t seen himself. Outside of the elevator, the image revealed a mysterious white mist.
Were these the tortured spirits of the Confederate Women’s Home?
In 1903, the United Daughters of the Confederacy officially founded the Wives and Widows Home Committee. They were able to purchase the property three years later, quickly hiring architect Arthur O. Watson for the building’s design.
As a well-established architect, Watson was a primo pick. Watson had already designed buildings at both Texas A&M and Baylor University, the courthouses of Travis, Comanche and Milam Counties, and the First Congregational Church of Austin.
After two years of planning and construction, the organization opened its doors to Austin’s widows and wives. Anyone who had married a Confederate Soldier was welcome within the Confederate Women’s Home.
From 1920 until 1935, the building housed as many as 110 women. By 1945, the number of residents dwindled by half.
Only three women were living within the home less than a decade later. With no easy solution, the Confederate Women’s Home relocated the remaining women before closing their doors.
In 1986, the former Confederate Women’s Home was sold to Austin Groups for the Elderly (AGE). Austin Groups for the Elderly was responsible for helping citizens process age and disabilities.
Their contributions included Meals on Wheels, Lutheran Social Services, and Hospice Austin.
Realizing they needed to recognize more diverse causes, they began to extend the AGE family. Soon they became a launching pad for nonprofits, at times housing as many as twenty-five emerging organizations at once.
Now referred to as the AGE Building, the Confederate Women’s House is located at 3710 Cedar Street. Let us know if you encounter any paranormal activity!
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