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Step inside and the Hill House does not wait long to make itself known — footsteps cross empty rooms, voices curl up the staircase, and visitors swear objects move when asked to. The house is said to hold many presences, but the one people feel most is small: Joshua, a child who died within these walls and, by most accounts, never left. Then there is the Scratch Room — its name says enough. People come curious and leave shaken; some, the owners say, get addicted, dreaming of the house long after they have gone.

Built in 1890 by Fanny Yeager Kyle, who lived here until her death in 1924, the house sat in the lengthening shadow of the Baker Hotel — Mineral Wells' grand 14-story resort, opened in 1929 to serve the thousands who came seeking the town's famed healing mineral waters. In time, the Hill House is said to have served a less respectable function, operating as a brothel for the Baker's wealthier clientele. An 8-year-old boy, Jacob Henry Kyle, was found hanging on the property in 1940. The documented record calls it a family home turned boarding house; legend, as usual, filled in the rest.