Haunted Missouri

152 haunted destinations cataloged across Missouri, spanning 48 counties. The collection features cemetery, haunted hotel, and museum — every listing verified with family ratings, accessibility info, and practical visit logistics.

152 locations 48 counties 13 classifications 67 wheelchair accessible

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Featured in Missouri

Top 6

Aerial survey view of Pike Lodge (Former Marquette Schoolhouse)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Pike Lodge (Former Marquette Schoolhouse)

Cape Girardeau, MO

The Pike Lodge in Cape Girardeau, Missouri occupies a former rural schoolhouse known as Marquette School, built in 1924 and described at the time as the finest rural school in Cape Girardeau County. The building served as a schoolhouse from 1924 to 1968. It was acquired in the late 1970s by the Pi Kappa Alpha (Epsilon Iota) chapter at Southeast Missouri State University for use as their lodge.

$ All Ages (drive-by viewing only) Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Garth Woodside Mansion

Hannibal, MO

Garth Woodside Mansion is a Second Empire Victorian country estate completed in 1871 by Colonel John H. Garth and his wife Helen Kercheval Garth, both childhood schoolmates of Samuel Clemens. Twain stayed at Woodside on his return visits to Hannibal, including a documented 1882 trip up the Mississippi on the steamer Baton Rouge. The property has operated as a bed and breakfast since 1987.

$$$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Dining / Bar

Java Jive Coffee Shop and Bakery

Hannibal, MO

Java Jive Coffee Shop and Bakery occupies the former Haydon hardware store at 211 N Main Street in Hannibal's downtown historic district. The cafe was established in 2000, with its bakery foundation tracing back over 35 years to a small pottery studio. It is an active member of the Hannibal Area Chamber of Commerce.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Dining / Bar

LaBinnah Bistro (Captain Munger House)

Hannibal, MO

The Victorian house at 207 N 5th Street (5th and Center) was the residence of W.A. Munger, a former Hannibal mayor and the host of the December 29, 1888 card party that wealthy lumber and ice merchant Amos J. Stillwell attended on the last evening of his life. Stillwell was axe-murdered in his bed at 112 S 5th Street later that night — Hannibal's most famous unsolved homicide. The former Munger residence later housed LaBinnah Bistro, which closed by February 2026.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted Hotel / Inn

LulaBelle's (Riverside Inn Hannibal)

Hannibal, MO

The three-story building at 111 Bird Street in downtown Hannibal was constructed in 1917 by madam Sarah Smith as a purpose-built brothel — reportedly the only Hannibal bordello specifically designed and constructed for the trade. It was later operated by madam Bessie Heolscher into the 1950s. The LulaBelle's restaurant and B&B operation closed by March 2026; the building currently operates as the Riverside Inn Hannibal.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

The Hannibal Old Police Station and Jail, an 1878-79 Victorian eclectic brick building on Hill Street

Prison / Reformatory

Old Hannibal Jail (Old Police Station & Jailhouse)

Hannibal, MO

The Hannibal Old Police Station and Jail was built in 1878-1879 as a two-story late-Victorian eclectic brick building with two octagonal towers of different heights and a complex roofline. It is on the National Register of Historic Places (listed July 17, 1979) and contributes to the Central Park Historic District. Tour narration places the building at 208 Hill Street; the structure no longer functions as an active police station.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

More in Missouri

St. Louis — 14

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Bellefontaine Cemetery

St. Louis, MO

Bellefontaine Cemetery was founded in 1849 by the Rural Cemetery Association of St. Louis as a response to rapid urban growth and a cholera epidemic. The 314-acre grounds were modeled on Père Lachaise in Paris and Mount Auburn in Cambridge and now contain 87,000+ interments. The cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is also an accredited arboretum.

$ All Ages Family: High

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Calvary Cemetery

St. Louis, MO

Calvary Cemetery was founded in 1854 by the Archdiocese of St. Louis and is the city's principal Catholic cemetery. The 470-acre grounds contain more than 300,000 interments, including Dred Scott (whose 1857 Supreme Court case shaped the constitutional history of slavery), Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman, playwright Tennessee Williams, and author Kate Chopin.

$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Campbell House Museum

St. Louis, MO

The Campbell House was built in 1851 by St. Louis architect William Fulton and purchased in 1854 by Scottish-born fur trader Robert Campbell. Campbell and his family lived in the house until 1938, when the last surviving son died; in 1943 it opened as a house museum and has operated continuously since, retaining a remarkable proportion of its original Campbell-family furnishings.

$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Chatillon-DeMenil Mansion

St. Louis, MO

The mansion was built in 1848 as a two-story brick farmhouse by Henri Chatillon, a fur trader and Oregon Trail guide. In 1856 Chatillon sold the house to Nicolas DeMenil, who beginning in 1861 substantially enlarged and remodeled it into the Greek Revival mansion that stands today. The Chatillon-DeMenil House Foundation has operated the property as a house museum since the mid-twentieth century.

$ All Ages Family: High

Fabulous Fox Theatre 'Siamese Byzantine' movie palace, 527 N Grand Boulevard, St. Louis

Theater / Performance Venue

The Fabulous Fox Theatre

St. Louis, MO

The Fabulous Fox Theatre opened in January 1929 as one of five 'Fox' picture palaces commissioned by film magnate William Fox. Designed by C. Howard Crane in a 'Siamese Byzantine' style, the 4,500-seat auditorium was the second-largest in the United States at its opening. After decades of decline the theatre closed in 1978 and was restored by the Fox Associates beginning in 1981, reopening in 1982 as the centerpiece of Grand Center.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Theater / Performance Venue

The Grandel Theatre

St. Louis, MO

The building at 3610 Grandel Square was constructed in 1884 in a limestone Romanesque style as the First Congregational Church of St. Louis. After the congregation departed in the early 20th century the building was reconfigured for performance use and became The Grandel Theatre. Today it is a Grand Center Arts District performing-arts venue.

$$$ 16+ Family: Moderate

Exterior of the Romanesque Revival Rowe-Lehmann House at 10 Benton Place in Lafayette Square Historic District, St. Louis, Missouri

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Lehmann House Bed and Breakfast

St. Louis, MO

The Lehmann House was built in 1893 in St. Louis's Lafayette Square Historic District for financier and real-estate developer Edward S. Rowse, who developed Benton Place itself as a private residential park. The 26-room Romanesque Revival mansion has operated as a bed-and-breakfast since the 1990s and is the longest-running B&B in the city.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Lemp Brewery Complex

St. Louis, MO

The Lemp Brewery complex was purchased by William J. Lemp in 1864 and built up through the late 19th century atop the Cherokee Cave lagering tunnels in what is now the Marine Villa neighborhood. At its peak it was one of the largest American breweries; today the 13.7-acre 27-building complex serves as industrial / warehouse / studio space. It is a separate property from the in-corpus Lemp Mansion (3322 DeMenil Place) and is treated here as its own venue.

$$ 16+ Family: Low

Haunted House / Historic Home

Lemp Mansion

St. Louis, MO

The Lemp Mansion was built in 1868 at 3322 DeMenil Place in St. Louis, serving as the residence and later brewery office headquarters of the Lemp brewing dynasty. Between 1904 and 1949, four members of the family died by suicide within the property, ending one of America's most prominent pre-Prohibition brewing empires.

$$ All Ages for dining; 13+ for paranormal events Family: Low

Restored Georgian Revival facade of the former Saint Louis City Hospital, located in the City Hospital Historic District on Lafayette Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri.

Asylum / Hospital

Old St. Louis City Hospital (The Georgian)

St. Louis, MO

The St. Louis City Hospital was founded in 1845 in response to a cholera outbreak. The site at 1515 Lafayette Avenue saw three successive hospitals: an 1846 building destroyed by fire in 1856, an 1857 replacement destroyed by the 1896 'Great Cyclone,' and the surviving 1912 Georgian Revival administrative building designed by Albert Groves, which closed as a hospital in 1985 and was redeveloped into condominiums.

$ All Ages Family: High

Powell Symphony Hall exterior at 718 N Grand Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri, the 1925 Rapp & Rapp Italian Renaissance former movie palace converted to a concert hall in 1968

Theater / Performance Venue

Powell Hall (Powell Symphony Hall)

St. Louis, MO

Powell Hall opened on October 18, 1925 as the St. Louis Theatre, an Orpheum-circuit vaudeville and movie palace designed by Rapp & Rapp. The St. Louis Symphony Society purchased the building in 1966 and reopened it on January 24, 1968 as Powell Symphony Hall, named for benefactor Walter S. Powell. A major renovation was completed in 2025.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Stifel Theatre

St. Louis, MO

The Stifel Theatre is the 3,100-seat performing-arts component of the St. Louis Municipal Auditorium complex, designed by Louis LaBeaume and Eugene Klein and completed in 1934 as the Kiel Opera House. The auditorium operated through 1991, sat dark for two decades, and reopened in 2011 as the Peabody Opera House before being rebranded the Stifel Theatre in 2018.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Tower Grove House (Henry Shaw's Country Home)

St. Louis, MO

Tower Grove House was designed by architect George I. Barnett and completed in 1849 as Missouri Botanical Garden founder Henry Shaw's country residence. Shaw opened the Garden on the surrounding estate in 1859 and lived at Tower Grove House until his death from malaria in his bedroom there on August 25, 1889. The National Park Service added Tower Grove House to the Underground Railroad Network to Freedom in recognition of the documented histories of the people Shaw enslaved.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

St. Louis Union Station

St. Louis, MO

St. Louis Union Station opened in September 1894 as a Richardsonian Romanesque railroad terminal designed by architect Theodore Link. At the height of rail travel it was one of the busiest passenger terminals in the world. Closed to passenger trains in 1978, the complex was redeveloped beginning in 1985 and adaptively reused as a hotel, festival marketplace, aquarium, and event venue.

$$$ All Ages Family: High

Springfield — 12

Aerial survey view of Bass Country Inn (former Howard Johnson's)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Bass Country Inn (former Howard Johnson's)

Springfield, MO

The Bass Country Inn occupied a former Howard Johnson's location at 2610 N Glenstone Avenue on Springfield, Missouri's commercial north corridor. The property has changed hands and operating names several times, later trading as the Campus Inn. It has never been a marketed haunted destination, and its paranormal reputation derives from staff and guest accounts rather than promotional material.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Battlefield / Military Site

Bloody Hill

Springfield, MO

Bloody Hill represents a Civil War battlefield in Missouri where combat occurred during the conflict. The location has historical significance to Civil War history.

$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Brooks Phelps Grove Park Bridge

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Brooks Phelps Grove Park Bridge

Springfield, MO

Phelps Grove Park was established in 1914 as one of the first parks acquired by Springfield's Park Board. Named for Gov. John S. Phelps and his wife Mary Whitney Phelps, whose homestead once occupied the land, the park features fieldstone pavilions and bridges constructed during its founding period. The park has evolved from its origins as a private estate into a 95-acre public green space.

$ All ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Gillioz Theatre

Springfield, MO

Maurice Earnest Gillioz built the theater in 1926 using steel and concrete construction in Spanish Colonial Revival style, securing a lease on a piece of Route 66 frontage to draw travelers. The $300,000 structure introduced talking pictures in 1928 and Technicolor in 1936, hosted a Ronald and Nancy Reagan premiere in 1952, and closed in 1980 before a $1.9 million restoration returned it to operation in 2006.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Historic Fox Theatre (History Museum on the Square)

Springfield, MO

The building opened on October 8, 1916 as the Electric Theatre on a block that had been almost entirely destroyed by a major fire in 1913. It operated as the Fox Theatre from 1928 until 1982 and now houses the History Museum on the Square.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Landers Theatre

Springfield, MO

D.J. Landers opened his theater on September 18, 1909 in Springfield, making it what is now the second-oldest and largest civic theater operation in Missouri. On December 18, 1920, a fire originating in the basement boiler area gutted the stage area, though the fireproof asbestos curtain preserved the rest of the structure.

$$ All Ages Family: High

True Crime Site

Park Central Square Wild Bill Hickok Shootout Site

Springfield, MO

On July 21, 1865, James 'Wild Bill' Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt in a face-to-face pistol duel on Springfield's public square — the encounter is widely cited as the first classic Western-style showdown in American history.

$ All Ages Family: High

Other Dark Tourism Site

Pythian Castle

Springfield, MO

Built between 1911 and 1913 by the Knights of Pythias fraternal organization as an orphanage and retirement home for affiliated families, Pythian Castle was purchased by the U.S. Army in late 1941 and converted into an Enlisted Men's Service Club and POW holding facility during World War II.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aerial survey view of Springfield National Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Springfield National Cemetery

Springfield, MO

Springfield National Cemetery was established in 1867 to inter Union soldiers who died at the nearby 1861 Battle of Wilson's Creek. A six-acre Confederate section was added in 1871 by the Confederate Cemetery Association, making it one of the few national cemeteries to contain both Union and Confederate burials.

$ All Ages Family: High

Prison / Reformatory

The Calaboose (Springfield Police Substation and Museum)

Springfield, MO

Built in 1891, the Calaboose is the oldest structure owned by the City of Springfield and served as the city jail for decades. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

University Plaza Hotel

Springfield, MO

The University Plaza Hotel is said to be built on the site of a Civil War-era plantation in downtown Springfield. It operates as a full-service convention hotel and has not formally embraced its paranormal reputation.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Walnut Street Inn

Springfield, MO

Charles McCann, a Springfield wholesale grocer who helped build the city's commercial infrastructure in the late 19th century, constructed this Queen Anne Victorian home in the mid-1890s for approximately $6,000. He documented the construction personally, noting that 'good carpenters were paid only two dollars a day.'

$$$ All Ages Family: High

St. Charles — 9

True Crime Site

Eckert's Tavern Site (519 S. Main)

St. Charles, MO

The site at 519 S. Main St. in St. Charles housed Eckert's Tavern, said to be the Midwest's first tavern when built around 1780. In 1949 the building burned, and a 9-year-old girl died of smoke inhalation at the front door before she could escape.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Dining / Bar

Historic Winery of the Little Hills

St. Charles, MO

A long-operating winery and restaurant on St. Charles's historic Main Street, the building is believed to have been occupied by a French-speaking couple around 1900 whose presence — and arguments — apparently persisted after their deaths.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Dining / Bar

Lewis and Clark's Restaurant — St. Charles

St. Charles, MO

The building is a three-story 1890s home with New Orleans-style iron balconies, converted to a restaurant operation on St. Charles's historic Main Street. The structure retains much of its original residential character, including a central staircase with a landing between the first and second floors.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Lindenwood University (Sibley Hall / Sibley Chapel / Lindenwood Auditorium)

St. Charles, MO

Lindenwood University was founded in 1832 by George and Mary Easton Sibley, who had been sent west as a federal Indian agent. The Sibleys' original home became Sibley Hall (cornerstone 1856), and Mary Sibley — who died June 20, 1878 — is buried on the campus she helped create.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Dining / Bar

Mother-in-Law House (The Main House)

St. Charles, MO

Captain Krammer built this duplex in 1866 to solve a domestic arrangement that was apparently non-negotiable: one half for his household, one half for his mother-in-law. The building operated as a Main Street restaurant for nearly fifty years before its current incarnation as The Main House.

$$ All Ages Family: High

True Crime Site

Sheriff Curtis Gallows Site — Former St. Charles County Courthouse

St. Charles, MO

In 1904, Charles May and John Taylor were publicly executed at the St. Charles County Courthouse on what contemporaries described as circumstantial evidence. Sheriff Ebenezer Curtis, the man who carried out the hangings, shot himself in his apartment nearby within months.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aerial survey view of St. Charles Borromeo Lost Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

St. Charles Borromeo Lost Cemetery

St. Charles, MO

St. Charles's founding burial ground served the community from approximately 1750 to 1863, accumulating an estimated 320 interments. When the city relocated the cemetery in the 1850s, the remains were not all moved; a 1982 retaining-wall excavation turned up four coffins still in the earth beneath the neighborhood.

$ All Ages Family: High

Ghost Tour / Walking Tour

St. Charles Ghost Tours (Macabre Main Street)

St. Charles, MO

St. Charles, Missouri was Missouri's first state capital from 1821 to 1826. Its Historic Main Street district — listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 — preserves one of the most intact early 19th-century streetscapes in Missouri, including documented sites of public executions, deaths, and a lost cemetery.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Theater / Performance Venue

St. Charles Odd Fellows Hall (IOOF Building)

St. Charles, MO

Constructed in 1878 as a mixed-use three-story brick building in the Second Empire style, 117 S. Main housed a bank, a second-floor vaudeville theatre, and Odd Fellows lodge rooms on the third floor. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

$ All Ages Family: High

Cape Girardeau — 8

Museum / Historical Site

Cape Girardeau Common Pleas Courthouse

Cape Girardeau, MO

Built in 1854 on one of Cape Girardeau's highest hills, the Common Pleas Courthouse served as the Union Army's headquarters during the Civil War. Its basement held a dirt-floor dungeon where Confederate guerrillas were detained, including John Fugate Bolin, who was extracted by a mob and lynched on February 5, 1864.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aerial survey view of Cheney Hall (Southeast Missouri State University)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Cheney Hall (Southeast Missouri State University)

Cape Girardeau, MO

Cheney Hall is a residence hall on the Southeast Missouri State University campus in Cape Girardeau. University records do not confirm the death that anchors its ghost legend — a student fatality in the 1970s associated with room 301 — yet the story has circulated on campus for decades and received formal coverage in SEMO's own student news outlet.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted House / Historic Home

Glenn House

Cape Girardeau, MO

The Glenn House was built in 1883 in the Late Victorian style and is operated as a house museum by the Historical Association of Greater Cape Girardeau. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Dining / Bar

Katy O'Ferrell's Publick House

Cape Girardeau, MO

Katy O'Ferrell's occupies 300 Broadway in downtown Cape Girardeau, a building that once housed one of the city's historic opera houses. The second floor retains much of its original character and has been closed to regular use, preserving the space that staff now associate with unexplained activity.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Old Lorimier Cemetery

Cape Girardeau, MO

Old Lorimier Cemetery was founded in 1808 by Louis Lorimier, the Spanish-appointed founder of Cape Girardeau and one of the earliest Euro-American settlers in the region. The cemetery holds over 6,500 burials, many unmarked, including an estimated 1,200 Civil War soldiers. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Dining / Bar

Port Cape Girardeau Restaurant

Cape Girardeau, MO

Port Cape Girardeau occupies a circa-1860 warehouse on the Mississippi riverfront. The building dates to the Civil War era and has been a restaurant destination in Cape Girardeau for decades.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Rose Bed Inn

Cape Girardeau, MO

The Rose Bed Inn occupies a 1908 home at 611 S. Sprigg St. in Cape Girardeau, operated as a bed-and-breakfast by owner James Coley. The property gained a local reputation for paranormal activity after guests and organized investigation groups reported unexplained phenomena.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Rose Theatre (SEMO)

Cape Girardeau, MO

The Rose Theatre is the primary performing arts venue on the Southeast Missouri State University campus in Cape Girardeau. It has operated as a student and community theatre for decades and is a central institution of SEMO's arts programming.

$ All Ages Family: High

Branson — 6

True Crime Site

Branson Scenic Railway Depot

Branson, MO

The White River Railway Depot was built between 1902 and 1905 to serve the Missouri Pacific Railroad and remains the home of Branson's active scenic excursion railway. In October 1930, Jake Fleagle — last surviving member of the Fleagle Gang — was shot at or near this depot during a confrontation with law enforcement, dying the following day.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Music City Centre

Branson, MO

Music City Centre is a performance venue on Branson's W 76 Country Boulevard, Missouri's primary entertainment strip. The venue has operated as a community and performance space in the Ozarks entertainment economy, hosting theatrical productions, faith-based programming, and community events.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Noland Road

Branson, MO

Noland Road runs near the site of the former Ozarks community of Garber, a small settlement that existed in the Taney County hills before the modern Branson entertainment economy reshaped the region. The old trail that passed through here predates roads as they exist today. The postmistress of Garber, Ada Clodfelter, died when a mail thief burned her store. A church was built in Garber in 1927 but held only one service — her funeral — before being repurposed as the new post office.

$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

Shepherd of the Hills Homestead & Outdoor Theatre

Branson, MO

The Shepherd of the Hills property served as a Confederate Army sentry post during the Civil War at Inspiration Point. Harold Bell Wright used the Ozark homestead as the setting for his 1907 novel, and the outdoor drama based on that novel has run continuously since 1960.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

The Branson Hotel

Branson, MO

The Branson Hotel was built in 1903 by the Branson Town Company to serve travelers arriving with the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Among its early guests was Harold Bell Wright, who spent time in the Branson/Ozarks area while writing his 1907 novel 'The Shepherd of the Hills,' which put the region on the national literary map.

$$$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Titanic Museum Attraction

Branson, MO

Opened in 2006, the Titanic Museum Attraction in Branson is a half-scale replica of RMS Titanic housing over 400 artifacts from the April 1912 disaster that killed more than 1,500 people. The venue is one of two sister Titanic museums in the United States.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Hannibal — 5

Haunted Dining / Bar

Finn's Food and Spirits

Hannibal, MO

Finn's Food and Spirits occupies a historic commercial building at 214 N Main Street in Hannibal's downtown historic district. The restaurant operates as an active New American eatery and bar, and is a member of the Hannibal Area Chamber of Commerce. The North Main Street block is part of the late-19th-century commercial core of Hannibal preserved as the central tourism district.

$$ All Ages for dining; bar is 21+ Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Garden House Bed & Breakfast

Hannibal, MO

The Garden House Bed and Breakfast occupies an 1896 Queen Anne Victorian mansion at 301 N 5th Street in Hannibal's Central Park Historic District. It was built by Albert Wells Pettibone Jr., son of the founder of the Hannibal Saw Mill and Sash Companies and a leading northeastern-Missouri philanthropist. The property has operated as a B&B for several decades and remains in active operation as of 2026.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Outdoor / Natural Site

Mark Twain Cave

Hannibal, MO

Mark Twain Cave was originally known as McDowell's Cave after St. Louis anatomist Joseph Nash McDowell acquired it in the late 1840s and used it as a secret laboratory. The cave opened to paying tourists in 1886 under farmer John East, was renamed for Mark Twain in 1880 following the 1876 publication of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and has operated continuously as a show cave ever since — the oldest in Missouri.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Old Baptist Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Old Baptist Cemetery

Hannibal, MO

Old Baptist Cemetery was established in 1837 on a hilltop at Section and Sumner Streets in Hannibal. It is the oldest cemetery in the city, holds graves of pioneer settlers from Virginia and Kentucky, Civil War soldiers, and many formerly enslaved Black residents of Hannibal. Mark Twain drew on its setting for the graveyard scenes in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Rockcliffe Mansion

Hannibal, MO

Rockcliffe Mansion was built in 1898 by lumber baron John J. Cruikshank Jr. on a limestone cliff overlooking Hannibal and the Mississippi River. After Cruikshank's death in 1924 the 13,500-square-foot Colonial Revival mansion sat empty for 43 years until private owners began restoration in 1967. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and operates as a house museum and bed and breakfast.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Kansas City — 5

Museum / Historical Site

Alexander Majors House Museum

Kansas City, MO

Alexander Majors built this antebellum mansion in 1856 at the height of his success as co-owner of Russell, Majors, and Waddell — the largest overland freighting company in the American West. In 1860, Majors partnered with Russell and Waddell to launch the Pony Express, a relay mail service that operated for just 18 months before the transcontinental telegraph made it obsolete.

$ All Ages Family: High

Looking up at One Kansas City Place, the tallest building in Kansas City.

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Hotel Savoy Kansas City

Kansas City, MO

The Hotel Savoy at 219 W. 9th Street in Kansas City was constructed in 1888 by owners of the Arbuckle Coffee Company and opened in 1889 as Hotel Thorne, receiving its current name in 1894. The hotel hosted Theodore Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Ronald Reagan, and Will Rogers, among others. Closed for renovations in 2016, it reopened as the 21c Museum Hotel in 2018 and returned to the Hotel Savoy name in early 2025 under new management.

$$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

John Wornall House Museum

Kansas City, MO

John Wornall completed this Italianate farmhouse on what was then the prairie southwest of Kansas City in 1858. On October 23, 1864, the Battle of Westport — involving roughly 30,000 troops and considered the largest Civil War battle west of the Mississippi — swept over the property. Confederate forces commandeered the house first; Union forces took it later the same day. Soldiers died on the floors as the Wornall family took shelter upstairs.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Other Dark Tourism Site

Hy-Vee Arena (Formerly Kemper Arena)

Kansas City, MO

Kemper Arena opened in Kansas City's West Bottoms neighborhood on September 30, 1974, designed by German architect Helmut Jahn. The innovative suspended-roof structure hosted the 1976 Republican National Convention, NBA and NHL professional sports, and NCAA Final Fours before transitioning to a youth sports facility. Renamed Hy-Vee Arena after a $39 million renovation completed in 2018.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

True Crime Site

Kansas City Union Station Massacre Marker

Kansas City, MO

On June 17, 1933, gunmen ambushed a federal law-enforcement party in the south parking lot of Kansas City Union Station, killing four officers — including FBI Special Agent Raymond Caffrey — and the prisoner they were transporting, escaped bank robber Frank Nash. The FBI attributed the attack primarily to Vernon Miller and, controversially, to Pretty Boy Floyd and Adam Richetti. The killings outraged Congress and directly prompted legislation granting FBI agents the permanent authority to carry firearms and make arrests.

$ All Ages Family: High

Saint Joseph — 5

Haunted House / Historic Home

Beattie Mansion

Saint Joseph, MO

Built in 1854 for Armstrong Beattie, St. Joseph's first five-term mayor, the mansion passed through charitable hands after his 1878 death, serving as a poorhouse and then as a county home for the aged and mentally ill for more than a century before reopening as a paranormal investigation venue in 2017.

$$ 18+ Family: Moderate

True Crime Site

Jesse James Home Museum

Saint Joseph, MO

On April 3, 1882, Robert Ford shot Jesse James in the back of the head in this rented Saint Joseph cottage, ending the career of America's most-wanted 19th-century outlaw. James was living under the name Thomas Howard; Ford was a member of his own gang who had secretly negotiated a pardon and reward from Missouri Governor Thomas Crittenden.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aerial survey view of Mount Mora Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Mount Mora Cemetery

Saint Joseph, MO

Established in 1851, Mount Mora is the oldest operating cemetery in St. Joseph and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its grounds contain approximately 280 Civil War veterans from both Union and Confederate sides, including Brigadier General M. Jeff Thompson, a Missouri Confederate officer known as the 'Swamp Fox of the Confederacy.'

$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Patee House Museum

Saint Joseph, MO

Completed in 1858, the Patee House was one of the finest hotels west of the Mississippi. It served as Pony Express headquarters from 1860 to 1861, housed the Union Army's Provost Marshal during the Civil War, and briefly sheltered Jesse James's widow Zerelda after his 1882 assassination two blocks away. It has operated as a museum since 1959.

$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Wyeth-Tootle Mansion

Saint Joseph, MO

William Wyeth, a successful St. Joseph hardware merchant, commissioned this 43-room Gothic Revival mansion using more than a million locally made bricks. Construction completed in 1879. After Wyeth's death, his widow Kate Tootle — of the prominent Tootle banking and merchandising family — continued to live here. The mansion eventually became the St. Joseph Museum's main building and has housed the museum's collections since the 1920s.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Carthage — 4

Battlefield / Military Site

Battle of Carthage State Historic Site

Carthage, MO

The Battle of Carthage on July 5, 1861 was the first full-scale Civil War engagement fought west of the Mississippi. Colonel Franz Sigel led roughly 1,100 Union troops against an estimated 6,000 Missouri State Guard volunteers; the Union forces retreated after a daylong fight through and around Carthage.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Boots Court Motel

Carthage, MO

Built in 1939 by Arthur Boots at the crossroads of Route 66 and US-71, Boots Court Motel is a Streamline Moderne landmark that hosted celebrities including Clark Gable. After decades of decline it was restored over more than ten years and reopened as an operational motel.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Jasper County Courthouse

Carthage, MO

The 1895 Jasper County Courthouse replaced the original structure torched during the Civil War. Built from locally quarried Carthage gray marble in the Romanesque Revival style, it remains a functioning county courthouse and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted House / Historic Home

Kendrick House (Kendrick Place)

Carthage, MO

The Kendrick House, built in 1849 by pioneer Jasper County settler Ephraim Kendrick, is the oldest standing home in Jasper County. It served as a headquarters and field hospital for both Union and Confederate forces during and after the 1861 Battle of Carthage.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Columbia — 4

Historic photograph of Christian Female College (now Columbia College) in Columbia, Missouri

Haunted House / Historic Home

Columbia College — Williams Hall (The Gray Lady)

Columbia, MO

Columbia College was founded in 1851 as Christian Female College, making it one of the oldest institutions of higher education west of the Mississippi River. During the Civil War, Columbia was occupied and garrisoned by Union forces, and the college campus witnessed military activity in its immediate vicinity. Williams Hall, formerly called the Conservatory, is the building associated with the campus's most persistent ghost legend.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

Conley House (MU Campus Writing Program)

Columbia, MO

Built in 1868–69 by Sanford F. Conley in the Italianate style, this residence at 602 Sanford Place is one of the best-preserved 19th-century homes on the University of Missouri campus. The university acquired it in 1980; it now houses the Campus Writing Program.

$ All Ages Family: High

Senior Hall at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri — the building at the center of the Sarah Wheeler Civil War haunting legend

Haunted House / Historic Home

Stephens College — Senior Hall

Columbia, MO

Stephens College, founded in 1833 in Columbia, Missouri, is one of the oldest women's colleges in the United States. Senior Hall, one of its original buildings, became the site of a Civil War incident in 1862 when a student named Sarah Wheeler allegedly sheltered wounded Confederate soldier Isaac Johnson from Union forces — an act that ended with his execution beneath her window.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Tiger Hotel

Columbia, MO

The Tiger Hotel opened in 1928 as Columbia's first multi-story building and a symbol of the city's Jazz Age prosperity. The hotel declined during the Depression, spending years as a low-income residential facility before being converted to a retirement home. It was restored and reopened as a boutique hotel in 2012 after a major renovation.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Nevada — 4

Haunted House / Historic Home

1st Baptist Church on Walnut Street

Nevada, MO

The 1st Baptist Church on Walnut Street in Nevada, Missouri is one of the oldest structures in the city. The red brick church building was constructed during Nevada's earliest period of development. In 1998, the Community Council on Performing Arts (CCPA) temporarily housed their operations in the former church, converting it to the Red Brick Playhouse for staging community theatrical productions.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Blanche Skiff Ross Memorial Library

Nevada, MO

Blanche Skiff Ross Memorial Library is a historic library in Missouri.

$ All Ages Family: High

Prison / Reformatory

Bushwhacker Jail (Vernon County Jail)

Nevada, MO

The Vernon County Jail was built before the Civil War and survived the May 1863 burning of Nevada, when pro-Union militia gave residents 15 minutes to evacuate before torching the entire town. Federal forces called Nevada 'The Bushwhacker Capital.' The stone jail served continuously for exactly 100 years, from 1860 to 1960, and is now a museum.

$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Nevada State Hospital No. 3 Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Nevada State Hospital No. 3 Cemetery

Nevada, MO

Missouri's Lunatic Asylum No. 3 opened in Nevada, Missouri in 1887 and was reported to be the largest single building in the state at the time — described in historical accounts as a mile long. The institution peaked at 2,185 patients in the 1950s and closed in 1991; the main building was demolished in 1999. A patient cemetery on the grounds contains graves dating from the institution's history, most marked only with numbers. A community preservation group has worked for years toward better recognition of the buried patients.

$ All Ages Family: High

Boonville — 3

Pictures from the long abandonded Kemper Military School in Boonville, MO. The school shut down in 2002 and the grounds have sent empty since. The city of Boonville owns the property and the fields are used for soccer games and other activities, but the buildings sit falling down and apart. Mothe

Museum / Historical Site

Kemper Military School and College (Closed)

Boonville, MO

Kemper Military School and College in Boonville, Missouri was founded on June 3, 1844 by Frederick T. Kemper — the oldest military school west of the Mississippi River at the time of its founding. The 46-acre campus operated for 158 years before the institution filed for bankruptcy and closed on May 31, 2002. Notable alumni include Will Rogers, Hugh O'Brian, and multiple Medal of Honor recipients.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Prison / Reformatory

Old Cooper County Jail and Hanging Barn

Boonville, MO

Built in 1848 from limestone quarried in part by enslaved laborers, the Old Cooper County Jail operated continuously until 1978 when a federal court ruled its conditions cruel and unusual. The attached hanging barn witnessed Missouri's last major county public execution — that of Lawrence Mabry on January 31, 1930. Frank James was held here briefly in 1884.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Theater / Performance Venue

Thespian Hall (Lyric Theater)

Boonville, MO

Thespian Hall opened on July 3, 1857, making it the oldest continuously operating theater west of the Allegheny Mountains. Built in the Greek Revival style and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1969, it served as Union barracks, hospital, and morgue during the Civil War before returning to theatrical use.

$ All Ages Family: High

Independence — 3

The 1859 Jail and Marshal's Home limestone exterior in Independence, Missouri

Prison / Reformatory

1859 Jail & Marshal's Home

Independence, MO

Built in 1859 with two-foot-thick limestone walls, the Jackson County jail became one of the more grim Civil War sites in western Missouri. In August 1863 Union officers imprisoned women and children accused of harboring or aiding Confederate guerrillas in the building. Five of those women died on August 13, 1863, when the building partially collapsed. Bank robber Frank James was later held here for six months, and his furnished cell is preserved today. The Jackson County Historical Society operates the building as a museum.

$$ All Ages (ghost hunts 18+) Family: Moderate

Haunted Dining / Bar

Courthouse Exchange

Independence, MO

The Courthouse Exchange has operated as a bar and restaurant at 113 West Lexington Avenue in Independence, Missouri since 1899, making it one of the longest-continuously operating restaurants in the state. The below-street-level establishment is situated at the historic convergence of three western emigrant trails in downtown Independence — a city that served as the departure point for the Santa Fe, Oregon, and California Trails.

$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Hill Park Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Hill Park Cemetery

Independence, MO

Hill Park Cemetery in Independence, Missouri occupies land that originally formed part of the private holding of blacksmith Adam Hill. The cemetery's most historically notable interment is that of Frank James, older brother of Jesse James, along with his wife Ann Ralston James. Frank died February 18, 1915, and was cremated by request; his ashes remained in a bank vault until Ann Ralston James died in 1944, at age 91, when both sets of remains were interred here on July 26 of that year.

$ All Ages Family: High

Jefferson City — 3

Haunted House / Historic Home

Hobo Hill House

Jefferson City, MO

The house at 500 E. Miller Street was built around 1910 in a neighborhood near Lincoln University. It remained a private residential property until Aaron and Erin Clark purchased it in fall 2017 and undertook a renovation.

$$ 18+ Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

Missouri Governor's Mansion

Jefferson City, MO

Completed in 1871 in Second Renaissance Revival style, the Missouri Governor's Mansion on Madison Street has housed every governor's family since. More than 30 gubernatorial households have lived here, making it one of the longest-continuously-occupied executive residences in the country.

$ All Ages Family: High

Prison / Reformatory

Missouri State Penitentiary

Jefferson City, MO

The Missouri State Penitentiary opened in 1836 as the first state penal institution west of the Mississippi River, operating continuously for 168 years before its 2004 closure. During its operation it housed as many as 5,000 inmates, conducted 40 executions in the gas chamber, and earned the epithet 'the bloodiest 47 acres in America' from a 20th-century magazine profile. The facility is now operated as a museum and tour venue by the Jefferson City Convention and Visitors Bureau.

$$ 13+ for ghost tours and hunts; 17+ for overnight investigations Family: Low

Liberty — 3

True Crime Site

Jesse James Bank Museum

Liberty, MO

On February 13, 1866, a gang led by Frank and Jesse James robbed the Clay County Savings Association in Liberty, Missouri — the first successful peacetime daylight bank robbery in U.S. history. A bystander, 19-year-old William Jewell College student George Wymore, was shot and killed in the street as the gang fled. The original 1858 bank building has been restored to its 1866 appearance and operates as a museum.

$ All Ages Family: High

The restored Jacobethan Revival orphanage building at Belvoir Winery, formerly the Odd Fellows Home in Liberty, Missouri

Asylum / Hospital

Belvoir Winery (Former Odd Fellows Home)

Liberty, MO

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows established a 240-acre fraternal-care complex in Liberty, Missouri, that operated as an orphanage, nursing home, hospital, and school built in the Jacobethan Revival architectural style. The hospital, completed in 1951, served members of the fraternity, their widows, and their orphans. The site has since been restored and reopened as Belvoir Winery and Inn.

$$ 21+ for tasting room; All Ages for tours Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

William Jewell College — Brown Hall & Marston Hall

Liberty, MO

William Jewell College was founded in 1849 by Missouri Baptists on a hill above Liberty. During the Civil War, Federal troops occupied the campus, using its buildings as barracks and lookout positions and its Marston Hall basement as an infirmary. The original Brown Hall, built in 1896, burned in 1928; the rebuilt structure retained its name and the campus pool that figures in one of the campus's most persistent legends.

$ All Ages Family: High

Ste. Genevieve — 3

Open Graph image from historicstegen.org

Other Dark Tourism Site

Downtown Ste. Genevieve

Ste. Genevieve, MO

Ste. Genevieve is the oldest permanent European settlement in Missouri, established between 1735 and 1750 by French Canadian colonists drawn to the fertile agricultural plain known as Le Grand Champ. The town preserves the largest concentration of French colonial vertical-log architecture in North America and became the 422nd National Park in October 2020.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Museum / Historical Site

Guibourd-Valle House

Ste. Genevieve, MO

Built in 1784 using Creole poteaux-en-terre (post-in-ground) construction, the Guibourd-Valle House is among the oldest buildings in Missouri. Its builder Jacques Guibourd was a survivor of the Haitian slave uprising and the French Reign of Terror; his enslaved attendant Moros aided his escape from Haiti. The house passed through Guibourd's descendants before Jules and Annie Valle took ownership; Annie donated it as a museum upon her death in 1972.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Main Street Inn Bed and Breakfast

Ste. Genevieve, MO

The Main Street Inn occupies the 1882 Meyer Hotel building in Ste. Genevieve's historic district, renovated into a ten-room bed-and-breakfast with vintage detailing. A man died in the building during the 1890s; his presence has been reported by guests and staff in the decades since.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Chillicothe — 2

Prison / Reformatory

Chillicothe Industrial Home for Girls

Chillicothe, MO

The Chillicothe Industrial Home for Girls opened January 22, 1889, and held girls aged 7–21 deemed delinquent, orphaned, or abandoned under Missouri law — a population that included girls committed for 'sexual indiscretion.' The institution operated as a juvenile reformatory until 1981, when it transitioned to an adult women's correctional facility. The original Victorian-era campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 and mostly demolished in 2016 following the opening of a new prison building.

$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Slagle Cemetery

Chillicothe, MO

Slagle Cemetery is a small rural burial ground in Livingston County, Missouri, associated with Joseph Slagle, an early county settler who operated a mill on the property in the mid-nineteenth century. The companion Slagle Bridge has since been demolished.

$ All Ages Family: High

Excelsior Springs — 2

Tudor Revival limestone exterior of the historic Elms Hotel in Excelsior Springs, Missouri

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Elms Hotel & Spa

Excelsior Springs, MO

The Elms Hotel traces its origins to 1888, when Excelsior Springs' mineral water reputation drew wealthy visitors from across the Midwest. Two devastating fires — in 1898 and 1910 — destroyed successive structures. The current 1912 building, constructed of Missouri limestone with Tudor Revival and Gothic Revival detailing, survived Prohibition as a speakeasy and gained national attention when Harry Truman spent election night there in 1948.

$$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

The Elms Hotel exterior in Excelsior Springs Missouri, historic stone resort building

Haunted Hotel / Inn

The Elms Hotel & Spa

Excelsior Springs, MO

The Elms Hotel in Excelsior Springs, Missouri opened in 1888, was destroyed by fire in 1898, destroyed again in 1910, and rebuilt in 1912 using fireproof limestone and concrete. Harry Truman spent election night 1948 at the Elms while awaiting the results of his upset victory over Thomas Dewey. During Prohibition, Al Capone used the basement as a speakeasy, hosting all-night gambling parties. The hotel operates today as a Destination by Hyatt property with full spa facilities.

$$$ All ages Family: Moderate

Hermann — 2

Haunted Dining / Bar

Hermannhof Winery

Hermann, MO

Hermannhof Winery was established in 1852 in the German-settled Missouri River town of Hermann, in the area known locally as the French section. Its ten stone cellars are among the oldest in Missouri. The complex is part of the National Register of Historic Places district covering over 100 Hermann buildings.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Ghost Tour / Walking Tour

Hermann's History & Haunts Walking Ghost Tour

Hermann, MO

Hermann, Missouri was founded in 1837 by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia and developed into one of the most intact 19th-century German-American towns in the United States. Its historic district preserves the original street grid, stone cellars, and vernacular German architecture that make it a documented heritage tourism destination.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Joplin — 2

Haunted House / Historic Home

John Wise House

Joplin, MO

The house at 504 South Byers Avenue was built in 1898 for pioneer businessman John Wise in the Queen Anne style. It is now operated as a museum and paranormal investigation venue under the name John Wise Haunted History Tours.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aerial survey view of Peace Church Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Peace Church Cemetery

Joplin, MO

Founded in 1841, Peace Church Cemetery is the second-oldest cemetery in Jasper County. It gained a grim postscript in 1952 when the body of executed spree killer Billy Cook was returned to Joplin and buried in an unmarked grave outside the main cemetery grounds.

$ All Ages Family: High

Kirksville — 2

Asylum / Hospital

Grim Hall — Truman State University

Kirksville, MO

Originally a dormitory for nurses at the adjacent Grim-Smith Hospital, the building was acquired by Truman State University in the 1930s and converted to student housing.

$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Highland Park Cemetery — Devil's Chair

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Highland Park Cemetery — Devil's Chair

Kirksville, MO

Highland Park Cemetery in Kirksville, Missouri holds a concrete chair sculpture installed around 1890–1891 as a memorial commissioned by William Baird, a prominent Kirksville banker, to honor deceased family members. Sculptors Charles Grassle and John C. Baird crafted the piece. The chair belongs to a 19th-century cemetery tradition of mourning chairs — resting places for visitors to contemplate alongside the dead.

$ All Ages Family: High

Poplar Bluff — 2

Theater / Performance Venue

Historic Rodgers Theatre

Poplar Bluff, MO

The Rodgers Theatre opened in 1949 at 204 N. Broadway in Poplar Bluff, built by impresario I.W. Rodgers and designed by architects Hugo K. Graf and Stephens, Edgar & Sons. It is a three-story Art Deco and Streamline Moderne building with a distinctive ziggurat marquee tower, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Aerial survey view of Overby's Furniture Store (Beigley Building / Hays the Music Store)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Overby's Furniture Store (Beigley Building / Hays the Music Store)

Poplar Bluff, MO

The building at 401 Vine Street in downtown Poplar Bluff - known as the Beigley Building and historically as Overby's Furniture Store, now Hays the Music Store - survived the catastrophic tornado of May 9, 1927 that killed roughly 100 people. In the storm's aftermath the building reportedly served as an emergency shelter and morgue, and local accounts say a temporary courtroom operated on an upper floor while the destroyed Butler County Courthouse was rebuilt.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Republic — 2

Battlefield / Military Site

Wilson's Creek National Battlefield

Republic, MO

The Battle of Wilson's Creek, fought on August 10, 1861, was the first major engagement of the Civil War in the Trans-Mississippi Theater and the second major battle of the war overall. Union General Nathaniel Lyon launched a surprise dawn attack on Confederate forces under General Ben McCulloch, resulting in Lyon's death — the first Union general killed in the war — and over 2,500 total casualties. The Confederate victory secured southwestern Missouri for the South and energized Confederate sentiment throughout the state.

$ All Ages Family: High

Battlefield / Military Site

Wilson's Creek National Battlefield

Republic, MO

The Battle of Wilson's Creek, fought on August 10, 1861, was the first major Civil War battle west of the Mississippi River and the second major engagement of the war. Union General Nathaniel Lyon was killed leading a charge on Bloody Hill, becoming the first Union general killed in combat during the war. The 2,539 combined casualties forced a Union withdrawal and shaped Missouri's contested Civil War experience.

$ All Ages Family: High

St. Joseph — 2

Museum / Historical Site

Glore Psychiatric Museum

St. Joseph, MO

The State Lunatic Asylum No. 2 in St. Joseph, Missouri opened in November 1874 with 25 patients and expanded to house nearly 3,000 patients at its mid-20th century peak. George Glore, a Missouri Department of Mental Health employee, began building exhibit models for Mental Health Awareness Week in 1966; his collection became a formal museum in 1967 and is now operated by St. Joseph Museums as one of the most comprehensive psychiatric history collections in the country.

$$ All Ages for museum; evening investigation events have own restrictions Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Saint Joseph State Hospital

St. Joseph, MO

Saint Joseph State Hospital opened in 1874 as Missouri's State Lunatic Asylum No. 2, expanding to nearly 3,000 patients by the 1950s. The original campus closed in 1994 and now houses a state prison, while the adjacent Glore Psychiatric Museum preserves the institution's two-century medical history.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Washington — 2

Other Dark Tourism Site

John B. Busch Brewery Historic District

Washington, MO

The John B. Busch Brewery Historic District in Washington, Missouri encompasses a complex that developed from 1855 to 1917 and closed in 1954. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, it is one of Washington's most significant surviving industrial structures and now operates as an event venue.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted House / Historic Home

Thias House

Washington, MO

The Thias House at 304 Elm Street in Washington, Missouri was built in 1888 by Henry Thias as a three-story Victorian intended to be 'an ornament to the city.' The house is on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri. It has operated at various times as a restaurant and bed and breakfast, although some sources indicate those operations are no longer active.

$ All Ages Family: High

Webb City — 2

Other Dark Tourism Site

Jane Chinn Hospital

Webb City, MO

The Jane Chinn Hospital opened in March 1911 in Webb City, Missouri, funded by a $60,000 gift from Jane and Charles R. Chinn to provide medical care for the lead and zinc miners working the Tri-State district. The 33-bed hospital replaced an earlier Salvation Army hospital and operated for decades before its conversion to senior apartments.

$ All Ages Family: High

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Mt. Hope Cemetery

Webb City, MO

Mt. Hope Cemetery was incorporated on April 12, 1905, when eleven businessmen from Webb City and Joplin purchased 77 acres from Eliza Jane Webb Bigger for $11,500. The site was chosen for its elevation — it occupies the highest ground in Jasper County — and for its central location between the two cities. During the Civil War, the land had strategic value for the same reason. Eight of the nine prominent family mausoleums on the property were constructed between 1905 and 1918, during the golden age of private cemetery monuments.

$ All Ages Family: High

Arcadia — 1

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Arcadia Academy

Arcadia, MO

Arcadia Academy was founded in 1846 by Methodist circuit rider Jerome C. Berryman as a high school in Arcadia, Missouri, in the Iron County Ozarks. The campus served as a Union hospital during the Civil War (1861-1863). In 1877 the Ursuline Order purchased the property for $30,000 and operated it as a girls' school until the final graduating class in 1971. The nuns continued to run a daycare on site until 1991, when they held a public auction and relocated to St. Louis. The campus is now under private family ownership, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and operates as a bed-and-breakfast retaining its 19th-century structures.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Auxvasse — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Nine Mile Bridge

Auxvasse, MO

Nine Mile Bridge is a small rural bridge near Auxvasse in Callaway County, Missouri. No archival or county-level historical documentation accessed during research confirms a specific named event at the bridge; the site is documented primarily through folklore.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Berger — 1

Haunted Dining / Bar

Mac's Cafe (now Darlene's One Stop)

Berger, MO

Mac's Cafe was a bar in Berger, Missouri in Franklin County that later operated as Darlene's One Stop, a sports bar and grill. Regional sources suggest the establishment may have closed. The building was associated with an apartment above the bar where a man named Jack Schaefer is reported to have lived and died.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Blackwell — 1

Aerial survey view of Upper Blackwell Road & Black Tram Bridge

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Upper Blackwell Road & Black Tram Bridge

Blackwell, MO

Upper Blackwell Road is a 3.6-mile rural road in St. Francois County, Missouri, running from Highway E outside Bonne Terre to the small community of Blackwell on Big River. The Black Tram Bridge, a steel suspension bridge over Big River, was a long-standing landmark on the road before being demolished and replaced with a concrete structure. The road crosses territory with documented Native American history.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Burlington Junction — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Workman Chapel

Burlington Junction, MO

Workman Chapel is a one-room country church built in 1901 by Pastor John Workman in rural Nodaway County, near Burlington Junction in northwest Missouri. Named for the Workman family rather than a fraternal order, the chapel and its adjoining cemetery have long since fallen out of use, and the structure has lost its steeple to decay. The Workman Chapel Cemetery holds more than 340 recorded burials.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Centralia — 1

Aerial survey view of Centralia Massacre and Battle Site

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Battlefield / Military Site

Centralia Massacre and Battle Site

Centralia, MO

On September 27, 1864, Confederate guerrilla William T. Anderson and his men — including a young Jesse James — stopped a northbound train in Centralia, pulled 24 unarmed Union soldiers from the cars, and shot them. That afternoon, 107 of 155 pursuing Union volunteers were ambushed and killed, an 89% casualty rate that stands as one of the most one-sided engagements of the Civil War.

$ All Ages Family: High

Crestwood — 1

Aerial survey view of Sappington Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Sappington Cemetery

Crestwood, MO

Sappington Cemetery in Crestwood is one of the oldest burial grounds in Missouri, established by the Sappington family in the early 19th century on land that was once a vast plantation. The cemetery is now owned and maintained by the City of Crestwood as a historic site.

$ All Ages Family: High

Creve Coeur — 1

Suburban Drury Plaza Hotel exterior on Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis Creve Coeur

Creve Coeur, MO

The Drury Plaza Hotel St. Louis Creve Coeur sits at 11980 Olive Boulevard near Interstate 270 in suburban St. Louis County. The property operates as part of the family-owned Drury Hotels chain founded in Missouri, offering the brand's standard amenities including free hot breakfast and evening Kickback service.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Davisville — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Woodlock Cemetery

Davisville, MO

Woodlock Cemetery was established by the Woodlock family, Irish immigrants who settled near Davisville, Missouri in the mid-1800s. Patrick and Henrietta Dawson Woodlock received the original homestead as a gift from Henrietta's father, William Dawson of St. James. The stonemason-built circular enclosure and the hilltop setting reflect the family's ambition and craft skill in the region.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Dixon — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Wheeler Cemetery

Dixon, MO

Wheeler Cemetery (also known as Byrd Cemetery or Rumfelt Cemetery) is a small family burial ground off Highway DD in Maries County, Missouri, near Dixon. The earliest marked burial is that of Ella A. Wheeler in May 1917, and the cemetery is documented as being in poor condition on private land.

$ All Ages Family: High

Doniphan — 1

Aerial survey view of Oak Ridge Cemetery (Doniphan)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Oak Ridge Cemetery (Doniphan)

Doniphan, MO

Oak Ridge Cemetery in Doniphan, Missouri, serves the small Ripley County seat near the Arkansas border. Sometimes referred to as Doniphan Cemetery in local usage, it contains an angel-figure monument that has become the focal point of the cemetery's regional folklore.

$ All Ages Family: High

Eminence — 1

The red Alley Spring Roller Mill beside the spring at Alley Spring, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, near Eminence, Missouri.

Museum / Historical Site

Alley Spring Mill

Eminence, MO

Alley Spring Mill is an 1894 roller mill standing directly above one of the largest springs in the Missouri Ozarks. Built by George Washington McCaskill, the bright red mill anchored the small Alley community of farmers, dancers, and ballplayers who gathered for grain processing days. It is now preserved by the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and was featured on the 2017 America the Beautiful quarter.

$ All Ages Family: High

Farmington — 1

Aerial survey view of Farmington State Hospital No. 4 Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Farmington State Hospital No. 4 Cemetery

Farmington, MO

Missouri State Hospital No. 4 opened in Farmington in 1903 and grew to house 1,879 patients at its 1954 peak. Between 1940 and 1943 the hospital performed over 200 prefrontal lobotomies. The hospital closed in 1987 when its buildings were converted into the Farmington Correctional Center. The 1.9-acre cemetery, established with the hospital in 1903, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 — one of a handful of NRHP-listed asylum cemeteries in the country.

$ All Ages Family: High

Fulton — 1

Asylum / Hospital

Fulton State Hospital (Historic Campus)

Fulton, MO

Opened in December 1851 as the first public mental institution west of the Mississippi River, Fulton State Hospital grew from 67 initial patients into one of Missouri's most overcrowded institutions, with a doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:543 recorded by 1940.

$ All Ages Family: High

Gallatin — 1

Prison / Reformatory

Daviess County Rotary Jail (Squirrel Cage Jail)

Gallatin, MO

Built in 1888–1889 by the Pauly Jail Building and Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, the Daviess County jail in Gallatin, Missouri is the only known surviving example of a rotary 'squirrel cage' jail with the sheriff's residential quarters still attached. The rotating drum held cells on a central axle — the entire cell tier could spin to align any one cell door with a single exterior opening, meaning a single jailer could control access to all inmates. It operated as a working county jail until 1975 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Hornet — 1

Aerial survey view of Devil's Promenade (Hornet Spook Light Road)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Devil's Promenade (Hornet Spook Light Road)

Hornet, MO

Devil's Promenade is a four-mile gravel road along the Missouri-Oklahoma border where an unexplained luminous phenomenon — the Joplin Spook Light — has been reported continuously since at least 1881. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigated in the 1940s and could not determine a cause.

$ All Ages Family: High

Marceline — 1

Haunted Dining / Bar

Mom's Restaurant

Marceline, MO

Mom's Restaurant at 116 North Kansas Avenue in Marceline, Missouri has operated for many years in Linn County. Marceline is best known as the childhood home of Walt Disney, who spent his early years in the town before his family moved to Kansas City. Mom's Restaurant has been a local institution associated with persistent reports of paranormal activity over an extended period.

$ All Ages Family: High

Maryland Heights — 1

View across Creve Coeur Lake in the St. Louis County park near Maryland Heights, Missouri

Outdoor / Natural Site

Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park

Maryland Heights, MO

Creve Coeur Lake Memorial Park is a 2,145-acre St. Louis County park anchored by Creve Coeur Lake — one of Missouri's largest natural lakes, formed as an oxbow of the Missouri River. The park's name comes from French settlers, with French place-name lore predating American settlement and the legend of a heartbroken Indigenous woman attached secondarily.

$ All Ages Family: High

Milan — 1

Aerial survey view of Milan C-2 School District

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Other Dark Tourism Site

Milan C-2 School District

Milan, MO

Milan, the county seat of Sullivan County, Missouri, sits on land with a pre-European occupation history that became visible during courthouse construction. Excavation for the second Sullivan County Courthouse in the 1850s disturbed a V-shaped earthen mound elevated approximately 15 feet, from which three Native American skeletal remains were recovered. Milan has been the county seat since Sullivan County's formation and the C-2 school district has served the community for generations.

$ All Ages Family: High

Millersburg — 1

Outdoor / Natural Site

Little Dixie Lake Conservation Area

Millersburg, MO

Little Dixie Lake Conservation Area in Callaway County, Missouri was acquired by the Missouri Department of Conservation in 1957. The 205-acre lake was created by damming Owl Creek, flooding land that had been agricultural for generations. The conservation area now covers 733 acres and supports more than 10 miles of trails as well as university fisheries research.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

New Haven — 1

Aerial survey view of Enoch's Knob Bridge (Site)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Enoch's Knob Bridge (Site)

New Haven, MO

Enoch's Knob Bridge was a 185-foot Parker through-truss bridge built in 1908 by the Missouri Bridge and Iron Company, carrying a remote gravel road over Boeuf Creek in Franklin County, between Washington and New Haven, Missouri. Long a destination for ghost hunters across the Midwest, the deteriorating iron span was demolished in 2013 and replaced with a concrete structure.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Paris — 1

Union Covered Bridge spanning the Elk Fork of the Salt River near Paris, Missouri

Outdoor / Natural Site

Union Covered Bridge State Historic Site

Paris, MO

Union Covered Bridge is an 1871 covered bridge spanning the Elk Fork of the Salt River near Paris in Monroe County, Missouri. Built by Joseph C. Elliott using a Burr-arch truss, it is the only example of that design among the four surviving covered bridges in the state. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and is preserved as a Missouri State Historic Site.

$ All Ages Family: High

Patterson — 1

Aerial survey view of Old Fort Benton / Old Patterson School Site

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Battlefield / Military Site

Old Fort Benton / Old Patterson School Site

Patterson, MO

Patterson is an unincorporated community in northwest Wayne County, Missouri, approximately 7.5 miles east of Piedmont on Route 34. Union Fort Benton was constructed at Patterson in 1861 to anchor a string of fortifications protecting Union Missouri from Confederate Arkansas. The 1863 Battle of Patterson took place at the site.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Phillipsburg — 1

Aerial survey view of Lonesome Hill Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Lonesome Hill Cemetery

Phillipsburg, MO

Lonesome Hill Cemetery occupies a hilltop site in Phillipsburg Township, Laclede County, Missouri, near Lebanon. The cemetery holds 39 recorded graves spanning from the mid-19th century into the modern era and has been documented in historical photographs dating to approximately 1905.

$ All Ages Family: High

Pilot Knob — 1

Earthwork remains of Fort Davidson with the powder-magazine crater and Pilot Knob hill in the background, Iron County, Missouri

Battlefield / Military Site

Battle of Pilot Knob State Historic Site (Fort Davidson)

Pilot Knob, MO

Fort Davidson was a hexagonal earthwork fortification built in 1863 at the base of Pilot Knob in Iron County, Missouri, to protect local iron deposits and the railroad. The September 27, 1864 Battle of Pilot Knob, fought as part of Confederate General Sterling Price's Missouri Expedition, saw outnumbered Union defenders repulse repeated assaults before detonating the powder magazine and slipping away overnight.

$ All Ages Family: High

Raytown — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Rickey Road

Raytown, MO

Rickey Road is a short rural backroad in Raytown, Missouri, in the southeastern Kansas City metro. The road runs through wooded terrain off Old Noland Road and includes a wooden bridge and a series of chevron signs that anchor the local legend cycle.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Ridgedale — 1

Haunted Dining / Bar

Worman House Restaurant at Big Cedar Lodge

Ridgedale, MO

Harry Worman, a railroad executive, built the Tudor-style lakeside retreat in the 1920s as a vacation property on what is now Table Rock Lake. Big Cedar Lodge later acquired and restored the structure as a dining venue.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Saint Louis — 1

Battlefield / Military Site

Fort Belle Fontaine

Saint Louis, MO

Fort Belle Fontaine was established in 1805 under Lt. Col. Jacob Kingsbury as the first U.S. military installation west of the Mississippi River. The grounds north of St. Louis include a grand limestone staircase built by the Works Progress Administration in 1936. The site was acquired by St. Louis County in 1986 and now operates as Fort Belle Fontaine Park.

$ All Ages Family: High

Sedalia — 1

20160711 22 Hotel Bothwell, Sedalia, Missouri

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Bothwell Hotel

Sedalia, MO

The Hotel Bothwell opened in 1927 in downtown Sedalia, Missouri, becoming a landmark hospitality establishment. The historic property has hosted notable guests including U.S. President Harry S. Truman, actress Bette Davis, and actor Clint Eastwood. The hotel continues operations as a Choice Hotels Ascend Collection property, maintaining its historic architecture while providing modern amenities.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Senath — 1

Aerial survey view of Crybaby Bridge (Senath)

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Outdoor / Natural Site

Crybaby Bridge (Senath)

Senath, MO

Crybaby Bridge is a small bridge on the ditch-bank roads near Senath in Dunklin County, deep in Missouri's Bootheel. It is one of dozens of 'crybaby bridge' sites across the United States and is locally paired with the 'Senath Light,' a roadside ghost-light legend that has drawn curiosity-seekers for decades and been covered by regional television news.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

St. James — 1

Aerial survey view of Spook Hollow Road & Pine Hill Cemetery

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Spook Hollow Road & Pine Hill Cemetery

St. James, MO

Pine Hill Cemetery is a small rural burial ground in Phelps County, Missouri, located at the end of County Road 3450 between Rolla and St. James. The road, formerly called Pine Hollow Road, earned the nickname Spook Hollow Road from generations of local teenagers who visited the isolated cemetery after dark. The cemetery dates to the 19th-century settlement of the Phelps County hill country.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Sullivan — 1

Other Dark Tourism Site

Sullivan, Missouri

Sullivan, MO

Sullivan, Missouri is a city of approximately 7,000 in Franklin County along historic Route 66, situated between St. Louis and the Missouri Ozarks. Rather than a single venue, the Shadowlands listing for 'Sullivan' reflects a cluster of distinct regional sites: Woodlock Cemetery in nearby Davisville with its unusual circular headstone arrangement and reported phantom horse; the Bourbon Road Ghost Lights, floating orbs documented since the early 1960s; the former Ramada Inn (now Holiday Inn) tied to the legend of a girl named Aggie; and the Possum Hollow Road bridge connected to a reported fatal accident.

$ All Ages Family: High

Valle Mines — 1

Museum / Historical Site

Tunnel Bill's — Valle Mines Railroad Tunnel

Valle Mines, MO

Valle Mines (Valles Mines) is one of Missouri's oldest European settlements, founded by French colonist Francois Valle around 1749 and developed into a major lead-mining center through the 1800s. In 1890 the Mississippi River & Bonne Terre Railway blasted a 240-foot tunnel through solid rock to service the mines, creating the community known as Tunnel Town. After lead demand collapsed following World War I, the settlement was largely abandoned.

$ All Ages Family: High

Verdella — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Bluff Cemetery

Verdella, MO

Bluff Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Missouri serving the local community.

$ All Ages Family: High

Verona — 1

Aerial survey · USDA NAIP

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Lees Cemetery

Verona, MO

Lees Cemetery is a small rural burial ground near Verona in Lawrence County, Missouri. No significant historical events beyond its use as a community cemetery have been documented in available sources. The cemetery appears on regional paranormal listings primarily because of the phantom truck legend rather than any documented historical trauma.

$ All Ages Family: High

By type

Cemetery / Burial Ground (22) Haunted Hotel / Inn (19) Museum / Historical Site (18) Haunted House / Historic Home (14) Haunted Dining / Bar (13) Theater / Performance Venue (13) Outdoor / Natural Site (12) Other Dark Tourism Site (12) Prison / Reformatory (8) Battlefield / Military Site (8) True Crime Site (7) Asylum / Hospital (4) Ghost Tour / Walking Tour (2)