The Grove, a 1861‑built house at 405 East Moseley Street in Jefferson, Texas, was named third in USA Today’s latest 10Best list of haunted destinations, according to MySA’s coverage.
The ranking follows the entry of Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas and the Indiana State Sanatorium in Rockville, cementing The Grove among the nation’s most storied spooky sites.
Built by Frank and Minerva Stilley, the house showcases ante‑bellum architecture that has survived fire, floods, and decades of renovation, including an 1870 addition that linked a detached kitchen to the main block.
The most famous legend is the Lady in White, identified by the house’s website as Minerva Fox Stilley, who reportedly walks through a former porch wall and appears to glide the house’s back stairs. The narrative, passed down by the property’s caretakers, frames the apparition as a silent, mournful figure that never speaks.
Visitors have also reported a man in a lily‑bed garden moving as if in a hurry, and a mischievous presence in the den that some claim flirted with female guests. These encounters, while unverified, add layers to the house’s reputation among paranormal enthusiasts.
The earliest documented ghost story dates to 1882 when T.C. Burke bought the property and his family abandoned it with the remark, “We can’t live there.” The house’s owners in 2002 later shared accounts of bedsheets being pulled, a deadbolt locking by itself, and a mirror that suddenly fogged, yet no scientific explanation has emerged.
The ranking is poised to draw a surge of tourists before the Halloween season, a period already busy for Jefferson’s historic sites. Property managers expect a new wave of guided tours and ghost‑hunters, potentially turning the house into a seasonal revenue engine for the town.