Classic Kia’s Halloween Road Trip Guide to Haunted Missouri

Oct 24, 2022

Our last haunted road trip guide for Halloween is covering our neighbors in Missouri. We’ve scoured the state for the scariest and most haunted places, and gathered them in one place so you can plan the creepiest car ride from destination to destination. Some of these sites are stuff of local legend, but others have been verified by professional paranormal investigators. What do you think? Let us know in the comments if you’ve visited these sites and had an experience!

This haunted home and brewery site is considered one of the ten most haunted places in the United States! Visitors can opt in for a historical ghost tour, or even participate in a paranormal hunt after hours during “The Lemp Experience.” Unfortunately, not one, not two, but three members of the Lemp family committed suicide on site, and a fourth off site. William Lemp Senior and William LEmp Junior both shot themselves in the same room, 18 years apart, in an extra office space at the Brewery. It later became a boarding house in the 1940s, and several residents reported hauntings and spiritual encounters, Additionally, other spirits have joined the Lemp Family and use the mansion as a way station to the afterlife. There have been reports of figures circling the bed, leaning over and looming near visitors, and general unnerving discomfort.

Beattie Mansion in St. Joseph

The original owner of this historic residence was the first mayor of the city, and a wealthy Victorian businessman Armstrong Beattie, and his wife Elizabeth, who lived there until their deaths in 1878 (Armstrong) and 1880 (Elizabeth.) Without any heirs, the home was sold off to the Ladies Union Benevolent Association, and used as a group home for the houseless, aged, and displaced residents of the city. Later, it was converted to a home for the elderly, mentally ill, and addicts. In 2004, it passed hands with plans to be converted to a bed and breakfast, but any renovations were thwarted by paranormal activities and experiences. Disembodied voices, shadowy figures, and full body apparitions unnerved the contractors and construction was halted. Professional ghost hunters have confirmed the presence of Eliza, a child spirit, and multiple unidentified apparitions. You’ll experience ghosts that tease and taunt, giggles and disembodied laughter, and footsteps in rooms that have no other presence.

Pythian Castle in Springfield

This historic castle has a dark and storied history with nefarious connections to torture, suicide, and medical violence. Originally built as an orphanage in 1913, it was later commandeered by the US military for prisoners during WWII. Visitors can book a history tour during the daytime to learn the unnerving history, or participate in a nighttime ghost tour and chance an encounter with a malevolent spirit. Ghost hunters and visitors alike have reported disembodied voices, shadowy figures, and an unnerving atmosphere.

The Elms Hotel and Spa in Excelsior Springs

This hotel and spa was subject to two destructive fires in 1989 and 1910, and although no one died in either blaze, it’s long rumored that a dastardly spirit may be the culprit. Guests have reported encounters with visitors from the spirit realm in the lap pool, which was once the site of a Speakeasy during the days of Prohibition. The hotel has embraced its ghostly guests, and hosts tours where you may encounter the spirit of a gambler, a spiritual advisor from the 1920s, and other gracious, gentle spirits.

Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph

This unusual museum is a dark and macabre, and frankly disturbing, look at our past treatment of those with mental illness and disorders of the brain. At one time, it was home to some 3,-000 patients at any given time over teh decades, but now it’s a nineteenth century time capsule of our country’s strange medical history, founded in 1967 by the Missouri Department of Mental Health. You’ll find bizarre exhibits such as 1,000 items removed from a patient’s stomach, strange medical equipment, and unnerving tools of the trade for psychiatric practitioners. Some say the grounds are haunted by patients who have passed on during their stay, and ghost hunters host limited tours on special event nights at the museum for visitors with a taste for the paranormal.

Union Station in Kansas City

This active and in-use railroad station is not just open to the general public, but also a whole rotating cast of spectral characters. As you head off to your destination, you may spot the figure of notorious criminal Frank Nash, who is said to wander the station faceless, or other strange and hauntingly faceless figures with shined, polished shoes and classy wardrobes, or a figure of a woman in a black dress walking down the stairs after hours, and spirits dragging their suitcases down the halls. At sundown, the paranormal presence increases as the ghosts of those who are still waiting for their train take over.

Other terrifying destinations in Missouri to explore on your trip through the state: Vaile Mansion in Independence, Rivercene Mansion in New Franklin, Belvoir Winery in Liberty, STL Haunted History Ghost Tours in St. Louis, St. Charles Ghost Tours on Main Street in St. Charles