Littlefield House

Major George Washington Littlefield — Confederate vet, cattle baron, UT benefactor — built this Second Empire Victorian mansion in 1893. It's on the UT Austin campus today.

The Littlefield House on the University of Texas campus stands as an ornate Victorian monument to one of Texas' most colorful figures--Major George Washington Littlefield, Confederate cavalry officer, cattle baron, and university benefactor. But the elegant 1893 mansion's most persistent resident is not the Major himself, but his devoted wife Alice, whose attachment to the home she loved has apparently transcended death.

Alice Littlefield poured her heart into making the house a showplace of Victorian refinement, personally selecting every furnishing, every fabric, every decorative element that filled its opulent rooms. The couple lived there for over three decades, and when Alice died in 1935, her spirit seemingly refused to abandon the home that represented her life's work. Staff and visitors have reported seeing a woman in Victorian dress walking through the restored rooms, her form most frequently observed on the main staircase and in the parlor where she once entertained Austin's elite.

The piano in the front parlor has been a focal point for ghostly activity. Security guards and caretakers report hearing it playing late at night--delicate melodies that Alice was known to favor during her lifetime. When they investigate, the keys are still, but the lingering notes seem to hang in the air. The instrument has been examined multiple times and found to be in perfect working order, with no mechanical reason for its phantom performances.

Major Littlefield himself, who lost a leg during the Civil War and walked with a pronounced limp afterward, may also linger. The distinctive sound of his uneven footsteps has been heard on the upper floors, accompanied by the tap of his cane on the hardwood. Photographs taken in the house occasionally reveal shadows and light anomalies that nobody can account for.

The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who maintained the property for years, documented numerous incidents--doors opening and closing on their own, objects moving between rooms, and the pervasive sense of being watched. The house remains one of Austin's most elegant and persistently haunted landmarks.