Historical Haunted House
The Castle of Heron Bay overlooks Lake Worth, brimming with haunted history.
October 23, 2019
You meet a person, you think they’re pretty chill, and next thing you know, they’re dead. In continuation with our weekly dose of weirdness, we’re exploring the Castle of Heron Bay near Lake Worth– and why you shouldn’t go swimming in a lake the day of your wedding.
Located on Lake Worth, this property goes by a variety of names: The Castle of Heron Bay, Lake Worth Castle, Whiting Castle, and Inverness Castle. The castle is believed to be haunted and home to a ghost. The story of the Castle takes us back to the 1860’s, when a young groom was building the Castle, in hopes to marry his fiancé there after it’s completion.
However, because a little swim is an obvious must on the wedding day, the bride drowned. The bride, fortunately, had a sister, so it wasn’t a complete loss on the groom’s part. In fact, a month later, the two were married.
The newly weds would eventually move into the Castle and that’s when the sightings started. People began reporting a woman in a white dress running towards the lake, only to vanish at the lakes edge. But wait, there’s more!

The ownership of the property changed many times, eventually falling into the hands of the Whiting family in the 1920’s, after winning it in a game of poker. The Whiting family would move into the property and of course, things got weird. The family was met with many random tragedies.
From a young son committing suicide within the Castle, to a fire that damaged the Castle a great deal, records of the property’s previous ownership began to show that rarely anybody stayed for more than a year or two. The property would fall into the ownership of the City of Fort Worth and finally was bought by Houston developers for a shocking $270,000. Current plans for the Castle are unknown.
The castle can be found near Lake Worth, at 9125 Heron Drive. Although you can’t get inside and see the marvelous building from within, my friend and I were able to get beautiful shots and a great view from the street as the stone wall that protects the Castle is really short.If the inability to truly experience a haunted building firsthand is a bummer, next week’s Point of Interest will be your cup of tea. Nearing the end of our Spooky Journey, we’ll visit what is known to be the most haunted place in Fort Worth: Miss Molly’s Hotel.


Giovanni Mata is a Senior at Paschal High School and new to the Pantherette. Gio is an avid Ukulele player and photographer. In his free time, he meditates,...
Hey this was really interesting. Im actually looking forward to the next article.
I would love to know more about this and it’s history and pictures!
I actually visited the place on Halloween of 1994, me my friends my mother and grandmother went, they used to have it open on Halloween, as we got there it was already dark and spooky, and as my grandmother, she took it upon her self to do the right thin and stay at the car. As me, my mother and friends went in we felt a cold shiver (well I know I did), we got to freaked out while walking in the living room with all the white sheets on the furniture and spider webs and other creepy things we decided we had enough and we were all hungry and wanted to go to Whatabuger, so as we headed back to the car my grandmother said she had seen me and the window waving at her she said she waved back as soon as she did I stopped, she said I stood at the window for a while, but I userd her we all stayed in the living room because we were all terrified to go more in, she said she wanted to leave and we all got back into the car and drove off, my grandmother passed away in 2007, I wish I could have asked more of what she had seen that night.