Ghost Stories

Do you believe in curses? At one time, it may have crossed the minds of those living in Excelsior Springs, Missouri. The Elms Hotel and Spa burned down twice. Thankfully, no one was hurt in either fire. But lets start at the beginning. The Elms didn't become a twinkle in someone's eye until after a local farmer used the healing mineral waters to cure his daughter's incurable tuberculosis in 1880. Word of her miraculous recovery spread about the country and people began to descend on the location in hopes of curing their own ailments. A pastor named John Van Buren Flack and a landowner named Anthony Wyman saw it's business potential, forming Excelsior Springs. Excelsior Springs Company was created to bring the town pavilions, parks and The Elms Hotel. The hotel opened in 1888 and guests enjoyed the mineral water baths, gardens and luxurious parties and balls. Ten years after it open its doors, the first fire burned the wooden structure to the ground on May 9, 1898. A...

I kick myself for not taking the chance to visit the wonderful place when I had the chance. My dad lived in St. Louis, MO and I often visited him during the summers. If only I had developed my taste for the paranormal as a teenager, I could have seen this structure up close. Lemp Mansion is certainly a Victorian showplace displaying the rise and tragic fall of a brewery dynasty. Johanne Adam Lemp traveled to St. Louis from Eschwege, Germany. He sought his fortune as a grocer, providing one unique item no other store contained - lager beer. Lemp used his father's recipe and the natural cave system under St. Louis to accommodate his customers demands until abandoning the grocery business two years later and building a modest brewery. His dreams of fortune came true. John Adam Lemp died a millionaire on August 25, 1862. William J. Lemp succeeded his father, taking the family business and building it in to an industrial giant. Lemp Mansion was built in 1868 by William's father...

Following such fraternal orders as the Freemasons and Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias was founded during the Civil War. It’s considered the oldest secret male fraternal organization in North America. Its first official meeting took place in Washington D.C. on February 19, 1864. By 1895, there were 269 Knights of Pythias lodges and 21,000 members in Missouri alone. In 1913, the Knights of Pythias built the Pythian Home of Missouri as an orphanage and senior citizens homes for its members and families as well as a meeting place for the order in Springfield. Its exterior was designed to appear like a castle befitting royalty. The building is constructed of “Carthage Stone”, a hard variety of limestone quarried in the Ozarks. A common theory in the paranormal world is limestone stimulates paranormal activity. The original main floor featured a grand foyer, meeting room, ballroom, dining hall, and sitting parlors. Dual staircases leads to the second story dormitory areas for child...

From the title, I'm sure you're scratching your head asking yourself "What could be so strange about a couple of white dogs". They haven't been classified as dogs per se. Eye witness accounts describes these creatures as "large, white, and dog-like". In 2008, a man spotted this creatures about 800 feet away. At that distance, some may question his ability to describe them accurately. How did he know they looked like dogs? Or, that they appeared to be in the 200 lb category? According to the eye witness, they were large enough for him to fear the safety of his cattle. He grabbed his rifle and wounded one of the "white dogs". The dog turned red but didn't react like a wounded animal and no blood was found in that area. A couple of days later, his daughter saw the dogs on her property but said there was no blood or evidence it had ever been shot. From September to December, several other people have seen the "white dogs". The onl...

Lawler Ford Road was constructed in the 1860s to provide access to the Meramec River and railroad tracks. It is unknown how the "Lawler" portion of the name came about but there was a "Ford" somewhere down the line. It obtained its' Zombie Road name in the 1950s. The original name was tossed due to many stories of a local killer named "Zombie" that supposedly lived by the river. Like any unused place, Zombie Road become the hot spot for teenagers to party, drink and hangout. I guess that accounts for the killer story. It's a good way to scare kids away from such places as well as draw them to it. Murderer stories aside, it also has a reputation for ghosts. Supposedly, the first inhabitants were Native Americans, Shawnee to be exact. A family in the 1800s claimed to have been frequently visited by their spirits. There is also the story of a man who was run over by a train. There is no record of this act ever happening (though I doesn't say i...