Tennessee Ghost Stories: The Woodruff-Fontaine House

Having grown up the daughter of a wealthy carriage manufacturer, Mollie Woodruff moved into her father’s 5-story French-Victorian mansion on Millionaire’s Row on the outskirts of Memphis in 1871.

A few years later Mollie married Egbert Wooldridge and the two lived together in what is now known as “The Rose Room”. The couple soon began expecting a child but sadly, after it was born, it only survived a few days before passing away. Heartbroken, Egbert went on a fishing trip to take his mind off things. Unfortunately, during the getaway, Egbert fell into the Mississippi River and nearly drowned. His friends managed to pull him from the river but he contracted pneumonia and died within days.

Mollie mourned the loss of her husband and baby for several years. In 1883 she remarried and moved out of her father’s house.

After her death in 1917 people began to notice strange things in the old Woodruff-Fontaine House, especially in the Rose Room. According to those who work in the house a young woman has been seen by children on tours in Mollie’s old room. Staff members often hear odd noises there and occasionally smell a woman’s perfume. From time to time people will walk into the Rose Room to find the the sheets on the bed disheveled as if someone had just laid down.

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