HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
An 1880 home built by Atchison's first stonemason for his own family, now open for 2- and 4-hour paranormal investigations centered on the ghost of Frances Dilgert, who died at 22.
919 Atchison St, Atchison, KS 66002
Research updated September 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
2-hour investigation: $35/person. 4-hour investigation: $150 flat rate (up to group). See visitatchison.com for current availability.
Access
Limited Access
Victorian two-story home; accessibility details unavailable.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1880 · Built 1880 by Adam Dilgert, Atchison's first stonemason and contractor · Frances Dilgert died at age 22 from double pneumonia at the property · Part of Atchison's official haunted tourism portfolio managed by Visit Atchison
Adam Dilgert immigrated to Atchison from Germany in the late 1850s and became the town's first stonemason and contractor, operating his own limestone quarry and laying much of the city's infrastructure between 1866 and 1894. In 1880 he built a home at 919 Atchison Street for his wife Mary and daughter Barbara. His great-niece Frances also lived in the house. Additions followed in 1895 and 1905.
Frances Dilgert, a resident of the house, died at age 22 from double pneumonia. Pneumonia was a common cause of death in the pre-antibiotic era, and the death of a young person in a family home left a mark on the property's memory in the community.
The house passed out of the Dilgert family and, after standing vacant, was purchased in 2014 by siblings Keli and Rob Adams, who began restoring it. It has since transitioned to paranormal tourism use and is now bookable through Visit Atchison, the city's official tourism operation. The Atchison Chamber of Commerce administers reservations across the city's haunted house portfolio, and the Dilgert House sits alongside the Sallie House and McInteer Villa as one of the ticketed investigation venues in the city's dark-tourism cluster.
Sources
The paranormal identity of the Dilgert House centers on a single figure: Frances Dilgert, who died at 22 from double pneumonia in the Victorian home her family built. The death of a young woman from illness in the late nineteenth century — before widespread antibiotic treatment, in an era when pneumonia could progress from fever to fatal within days — is documented in Visit Atchison's listing for the property.
The specific phenomena attributed to Frances Dilgert's presence are not extensively detailed in published sources. Visit Atchison's booking materials describe the house as offering access to its 'paranormal residents,' a plural framing that suggests the experience may involve more than one attributed entity, though Frances Dilgert is the only named figure in the accounts reviewed.
The Dilgert House competes for visitors within Atchison's increasingly developed dark-tourism market, sitting between the well-documented Sallie House (anchor) and McInteer Villa (nine deaths) on the city's paranormal circuit. The Visit Atchison platform provides booking, which places the Dilgert House within the Chamber of Commerce's curated portfolio of investigation venues.
Notable Entities
Private investigation sessions at the Dilgert House in 2-hour ($35/person) or 4-hour ($150) formats. Investigators have access to the historic home built by Adam Dilgert in 1880. Activity is associated with Frances Dilgert, who died at age 22 from double pneumonia.
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Atchison, KS
The McInteer Villa was built 1889–1890 by John McInteer, an Irish immigrant who built a small fortune selling harnesses and saddles in Atchison, Kansas. The Queen Anne mansion at 1301 Kansas Avenue passed through several owners and saw nine documented deaths on the property — among them the suicide of Charles J. Conlon, brother-in-law of McInteer's second wife, who died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and now operates as a paranormal tourism destination.
Atchison, KS
The Sallie House at 508 N 2nd Street in Atchison, Kansas is a two-story residence built by the Finney family in the mid-1800s, where physician Dr. Charles Finney maintained a medical practice. Local legend — uncorroborated by any documentary evidence — holds that a young girl named Sallie died on Finney's basement operating table. The house gained national attention in 1993 when renters Tony and Debra Pickman documented unexplained fires, physical scratches on Tony's body, and poltergeist phenomena that were captured on live cameras.
Mitchell, IN
Whispers Estate was built in 1894 in Mitchell, Indiana. Dr. John Gibbons purchased the property around 1899 and established his medical practice on the first floor while his family lived above. The Gibbons family was known locally for adopting orphaned and abandoned children. Three family members died in the house within a short period: ten-year-old Rachel (burned in a parlor fire), infant Elizabeth (unknown cause), and Jessie Gibbons (double pneumonia).