The Driskill Hotel isn't just Austin's oldest operating hotel — it's a four-story postcard from Texas' Gilded Age, built in 1886 by Confederate Colonel Jesse Driskill, who lost it two years later in a game of poker. Locals call it "the Old Lady of 6th Street." Visitors call it charming. But if you ask the night staff, the housekeepers, or the bellboys who've lasted more than a few months — they'll tell you the real heart of the Driskill beats inside Room 433.
And that heart stopped a long, long time ago.
The Girl with the Locket
Room 433's clawfoot tub where the bride was found
The official record is thin: in 1991, a 23-year-old woman from Houston checked into Room 433. She was supposed to be getting married that weekend. Instead, she spent over $40,000 on clothes and perfume from nearby boutiques, charging it all to her father's platinum Amex. She was last seen walking into her room around 11:37 p.m., holding a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and humming Patsy Cline's "Crazy" under her breath.
She never came out.
A housekeeper found her the next morning, sitting upright in the clawfoot tub, still in her wedding dress. The bottle was empty. Her eyes were wide open. There was no water. No wounds. No drugs. No trauma. Just a cracked antique mirror — and a single gold locket in her palm, clenched tight enough to leave crescent moons in her skin.
It wasn't hers. No one knew whose it was.
The case was ruled "cardiac arrest due to unknown causes." The family buried her with the locket. But the hotel quietly boarded the room for years.
Case File: 1991
- Victim: 23-year-old female, Houston resident
- Date: Wedding weekend, 1991
- Spending spree: $40,000+ in one day
- Time of death: Between 11:37 PM and 7:00 AM
- Cause: Cardiac arrest, unknown origin
- Evidence: Unidentified gold locket
Something in the Mirror
Mirrors in Room 433 repeatedly shattered without explanation
By 2007, the hotel was under pressure to reopen the infamous room. Room 433 was remodeled. Mirrors replaced. Carpet swapped out. But within weeks, guests were reporting strange things: rust stains in the sink that wouldn't scrub out. Cold spots. Whispers coming from the closet vent.
A newlywed couple from Galveston checked out early after the groom claimed he saw a woman standing behind his wife while she brushed her teeth — not a reflection, but someoneinside the mirror.
Hotel maintenance replaced the mirror. Then the second one shattered. Then the third. After that, they stopped documenting it.
The Bellhop Who Knew Too Much
Danny Cardenas
Bellhop, disappeared during shift - 2016
In 2016, bellhop Danny Cardenas made the news when he disappeared during his shift. His last logged keycard swipe was Room 433. He'd been asked to check on an elderly guest who claimed "the girl in the mirror won't stop crying." Body cam footage from the hallway shows Danny entering the room.
The door never opened again.
They found his belt buckle a week later in the hotel's coal chute, five floors below.
Internal Hotel Memo - 2017 (Leaked)
"Room 433 to be blocked from general booking effective immediately. Staff access requires signed liability waiver. Use only during sold-out periods (SXSW, ACL Festival). Remove from all website listings and booking platforms."
Since then, it's been used only when every other room is sold out, usually during SXSW or ACL Fest. They don't list it on the hotel website.
But if you ask for it by name — and slide a crisp hundred across the front desk — they'll hand you the key. No questions asked.
The Second Locket
The mysterious locket found in October 2024
Last October, a tourist from El Paso stayed in Room 433 during the Formula 1 weekend. He left in a panic at 3:22 a.m., barefoot and screaming that "someone climbed out of the mirror and laid down next to him."
Housekeeping found his suitcase untouched. But on the pillow? Another gold locket. Identical to the one buried with the Houston bride 34 years ago.
Inside was a photo. A girl. Smiling. Same face. Same eyes.
Different wedding dress.
Room 433 remains available for booking at the Driskill Hotel. The staff won't volunteer information about its history, but they won't lie if you ask directly. The room has been updated again since the October incident, but the mirrors... well, they've stopped trying to keep mirrors in Room 433.
The Driskill Hotel continues to operate as Austin's premier historic accommodation. Room 433 bookings are handled by special request only.