1859 Ashton Villa
Built in 1859 by James Moreau Brown, Ashton Villa was the first of Galveston's grand Broadway mansions and survived the Civil War, yellow fever epidemics, and the 1900 Storm. Its resident ghost is Bettie Brown, born in the house in 1855, a cigar-smoking, world-traveling heiress who never married and lived there until her death in 1920. Tour guides, caretakers, and visitors have reported seeing a woman in a turquoise gown at the top of the grand staircase or near the Gold Room. Other accounts describe a chest of drawers that locks and unlocks on its own though its key has been missing for years, and a ceiling fan said to have kept oscillating after the switch was hit on Bettie's birthday. The Galveston Historical Foundation stewards the property, and KHOU and Texas Escapes have both covered the Bettie Brown haunting, making it one of the island's most frequently cited ghost stories.
📍 2328 Broadway, Galveston, TX 77550, Galveston, TX · Get directions