Experience a spine-tingling ghost story on your next vacation.
This article is presented in partnership with Visit Missouri.
Hey, Mo here to help you discover the haunted side of the Show-Me State, where you can investigate everything from ghosts at a former penitentiary to spirits lurking in a luxury spa. Grab a flashlight and camera — it’s time to go ghost hunting.
Built in the late 1860s, Lemp Mansion in St. Louis claims to be the most haunted place in the city. LIFE magazine once called it one of the 10 most haunted places in America. Learn about the Lemp family’s chilling history during a ghost tour, or hunt for paranormal activity with an infrared camera on three floors of the darkened mansion during The Lemp Experience.
By day, take a history tour of the Missouri State Penitentiary, once the oldest continuously operating prison west of the Mississippi. The facility, located in Jefferson City, housed inmates for 168 years until it was decommissioned in 2004. By night, experience the otherworldly side of the prison during a two-hour ghost tour, a three-hour ghost hunt, or an overnight paranormal investigation. Explore the grounds and cells and learn about former inmates who some say still roam the halls.
Hear ghostly tales on a nighttime tour of Springfield’s Pythian Castle, where strange noises, unexplained voices and floating orbs have been reported. Built by the Knights of Pythias as an orphanage in 1913, the castle was later owned by the U.S. military for more than 50 years. Today, the castle serves as the site of weddings and events and also hosts history tours, escape rooms and murder mystery dinners.
Said to be haunted by several spirits, The Elms Hotel & Spa in Excelsior Springs was subject to not one, but two fires — the first in 1898 and the second in 1910. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, but rumor has it that a spirit was involved in one of the fires. Guests have reported paranormal activity in the lap pool area of the hotel — once a popular hangout during the Prohibition era for gangsters such as Al Capone.
Ready for more harrowing encounters? Check out VisitMo.com and explore Missouri’s Most Haunted Places.
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