The Ivy House Inn Bed & Breakfast, courtesy Ivy House Inn.
Casper, Wyoming, is home to the Ivy House Inn, a beautiful Cape Cod-style inn that apparently houses not only the ghost of its prior owner but also her two Siamese cats.
While no longer an Inn, Mr. and Mrs. White built it where the prairie meets the Rocky Mountains in 1916. The roomy three-story home was finally complete when two grand front porches were added in 1940.
Said to have been controlling in life, Mrs. White continues her manipulating behavior in the afterlife by ensuring that guests do not drink or smoke in her place. However, Mrs. White doesn’t appear to limit her activities to only undesirable activities; she shows up according to the historic inn’s owners and guests.
Mrs. White passed away in 1995 at the age of 93, and Tom and Kathy Johnson purchased the house in 1996. Tom Johnson didn’t believe in ghosts when he bought the property, but that changed as he renovated it into a bed-and-breakfast inn.
Mrs. White was not entirely happy with the renovations. Suddenly, when Johnson was using a power drill, it stopped working. As he turned around, the plug hung in mid-air for several seconds before falling to the floor. On another occasion, a hammer got up and left the room.
To say the least, Tom Johnson is a believer today, so much so that he has since become a paranormal investigator. He also believes that the inn houses Mrs. White and several other spirits, including two Siamese cats. These two spectral felines have often been seen running throughout the building, and one guest reported that a cat slept on the end of the bed, purring contentedly.
Another apparition is that of a man often seen in the back parking area, where car alarms are set off regularly. Perhaps this is Mr. White? Finally, another guest reported seeing a male figure standing above her bed and hearing a male voice saying, “Isn’t it funny how people get lost?”
Others who have stayed in one of the downstairs rooms have often reported having the same dream of a young man wandering back and forth from the sink to the closet.
With all the odd happenings at this former historic inn, the controlling Mrs. White’s presence is most often shown. One regular occurrence is when smells of the past suddenly fill a room, such as old menthol cold medications, the aroma of baking chocolate, and the odor of a scouring pad on a skillet. Her face appears in mirrors and windows, and her shadowy body is often seen walking down the hall and through walls. Guests often reported someone knocking at the door, but when they answered, no one appeared. When they take too long to answer, the doorknob will begin to twist. Mrs. White has also been reported to have appeared in many photographs.
Paranormal investigators have researched the house on nine different occasions.
In 2009, the beautiful inn on South Ash Avenue in Casper was sold to Turning Point Self-Help Center and is no longer an Inn or bed and Breakfast.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated March 2025. See Sources.
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