Molly Brown House

The 1889 Victorian home of Margaret "Molly" Brown, famous Titanic survivor and philanthropist. Now a museum, the Queen Anne-style house showcases the life of one of Denver's most colorful historical figures.

The house at 1340 Pennsylvania Street was designed by architect William Lang and built in 1889 in Denver's fashionable Capitol Hill neighborhood. Isaac and Mary Large originally commissioned it, incorporating modern luxuries like indoor plumbing, electricity, and a telephone. In 1894, Margaret and James Joseph Brown purchased the home after J.J. struck gold at the Little Jonny Mine in Leadville, one of the richest ore strikes in Colorado history. Margaret -- known to the world as the Unsinkable Molly Brown after she helped load lifeboats and tried to turn her own boat back to search for survivors during the sinking of the Titanic on April 15, 1912 -- was a philanthropist, suffragette, and one of Denver society's most forceful personalities. J.J. was twelve years her senior and preferred the quiet of the house to the social whirl his wife commanded.

By 1970, the mansion faced demolition. A group of concerned citizens formed Historic Denver, Inc. and raised funds to restore the house using architectural research, paint chip analysis, and original photographs taken in 1910. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and has operated as a museum since 1971, drawing an average of fifty thousand visitors per year. In its long life, the building has also served as an apartment house for young men and a home for wayward girls -- giving it a layered history of occupants.

Staff and visitors report that Margaret Brown never left. The most commonly reported phenomenon is furniture that rearranges itself overnight. Museum employees will close up in the evening with everything in its proper place, only to arrive the next morning and find chairs moved, objects shifted. Sometimes an apparition of a woman in Victorian clothing has been seen doing the rearranging, though no one has been able to confirm whether the spirit is Margaret or another former resident. Light bulbs throughout the house unscrew themselves with such regularity that staff must periodically check every fixture to make sure they are still tightened. Some bulbs simply refuse to turn on at all, regardless of how many times they are replaced.

The unmistakable smell of pipe tobacco wafts through the rooms despite a strict nonsmoking policy on the property. Many attribute this to J.J. Brown, who was known for his pipe, still making his presence felt in the home he shared with Margaret. Visitors to Margaret's bedroom have felt sudden cold spots and caught glimpses of a figure turning a corner just ahead of them. Her daughter Catherine Ellen is believed to haunt her own childhood room, where the window blinds have been observed raising and lowering on their own with no draft or mechanical explanation. Dining room doors swing open and close without being touched.

Museum curator Nicole Roush has noted that the museum receives constant solicitations from paranormal investigators, reflecting the house's reputation as one of Denver's most reliably haunted locations. The museum has organized special after-hours events including "The Afterlife of Margaret Brown," featuring psychic mediums exploring the building at night. Staff describe the spirits as kind presences who do not disrupt the museum's daily operations -- much. It is perhaps fitting that the woman who refused to give up on the Titanic would also refuse to leave her own home, more than a century after the world first called her unsinkable.