HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
An 1884 Victorian on the National Register, defined by gargoyle sculptures and a legend that the man who tried to remove them fell to his death on the interior staircase.
819 N 4th St, Atchison, KS 66002
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Private residence — exterior viewing only at no cost. Interior access is not available to the public.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Sidewalk viewing of exterior from public street; no interior access.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1884 · Built 1884 for Bailie P. Waggener, general counsel to Missouri Pacific Railroad · National Register of Historic Places since May 3, 1974 · Rare example of gargoyle-adorned domestic Victorian architecture in Kansas · Included on Atchison's official haunted trolley tour route
Bailie P. Waggener was a lawyer who rose to the position of general counsel for the Missouri Pacific Railroad, one of the dominant rail carriers of the post-Civil War American West. In 1884 he commissioned a three-story Late Victorian residence at what is now 819 N 4th Street in Atchison, Kansas, a city that was then a significant commercial and legal center on the Missouri River.
The house's defining architectural feature is a pair of gargoyle sculptures positioned on the roofline. Gargoyles — common on European ecclesiastical architecture — were unusual on American domestic buildings of the period, and their placement on the Waggener House generated local commentary from the time of construction. Legends of America notes that local folklore framed the gargoyles as honoring a supposed pact with the devil, though this attribution has no documented historical basis and reads as the kind of Gothic embellishment that accumulated around unusual architectural choices in nineteenth-century small cities.
The Waggener family retained the property until the 1950s. The house was recognized by the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1974 (Reference No. 74000820), acknowledging its architectural and historical significance in Atchison's Victorian building stock.
The property is a private residence and has no public interior access. It is included in Atchison's haunted trolley tour as a stop-and-view exterior, and the Kansas Travel & Tourism blog includes it among the city's prominent haunted sites.
Sources
The core legend attached to the Waggener House is straightforward: a later owner, dissatisfied with or disturbed by the gargoyle sculptures on the roof, decided to remove them. Before the removal was complete — or in the process of attempting it — this unnamed owner fell on the interior staircase and died from the fall. The story is narrated as a consequence of interfering with the gargoyles, whatever their origin.
The supposed Faustian backstory — that the gargoyles were placed to honor a devil's bargain that enabled Waggener to accumulate his wealth — has no documented historical basis. Bailie Waggener's railroad legal work provides a conventional explanation for his professional success, and the gargoyle-placement story reads as folklore that accumulated around an unusual architectural choice.
The Kansas City Ghost Hunters, a local paranormal investigation group, reportedly conducted an investigation at the property and detected what they characterized as paranormal presences through their equipment. This was covered by the Travel Channel, though specific findings from that investigation are not extensively documented in local sources.
The Waggener House remains a private residence; public access is limited to the exterior view from the sidewalk. Atchison's haunted trolley tour includes the house as a visual stop, and the gargoyles on the roofline remain the property's most photographed feature.
Media Appearances
The Waggener House is a private residence viewable from the public sidewalk on N 4th St. The pair of gargoyle sculptures perched on the roofline are visible from the street, and the house is included on Atchison's haunted trolley tour route.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
Lawrence, KS
The Victorian mansion at 1111 W 6th St was built for William Stubbs, who served as Kansas governor from 1909 to 1913. After Stubbs vacated, the building passed through private hands before the University of Kansas Sigma Nu chapter acquired it for use as a fraternity house.
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 Dilgert House was built in 1890 by Adam Dilgert, described by local sources as one of Atchison's original stonemasons. Frances Dilgert, a resident of the home, died at the age of 22 from double pneumonia. The property operates as a paranormal tourism destination, bookable through Visit Atchison, offering 2- and 4-hour investigations to the public.