HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena, as catalogued
+ 3 further entries on record
The 54-room Tudor-Gothic mansion on the UMKC campus where campus police logged an organ-playing ghost and a phantom rear-end collision.
5200 Cherry St, Kansas City, MO 64110
Research updated October 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior viewing from the public UMKC campus is free. The interior has been closed since 2011 and is not open to visitors; a proposed hotel redevelopment still seeks operating and financial partners.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved campus sidewalks on a hillside at 52nd and Cherry; the house sits above street level behind a lawn.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1923 · Largest private residence of its era in Kansas City, designed by Horace LaPierre (1919-1923) · Navy air cadet dormitory during World War II · Home of the Epperson organ, designed by Harriet Barse and dedicated in 1925 · Historic Kansas City Foundation Most Endangered List
Uriah Spray Epperson made his money in insurance and, with his wife Mary Elizabeth Weaver Epperson, commissioned French-born architect Horace LaPierre to design a house on a hill at 52nd and Cherry streets. Work ran from 1919 to 1923 and the bill came to roughly $450,000 to $500,000, a figure KCUR puts at around $13 million in today's money. The result was a four-story, 54-room building of about 24,000 square feet mixing Tudor and Gothic Revival elements: a Grecian-tiled swimming pool, a billiards room, elevators, a barbershop, a tunnel joining the east and west wings, an 'Elephant Room' for Mary's travel collection, and a grand performance hall with an organ loft. Mary reportedly called the place 'the Eppersons' Folly.'
The couple had no children and gave much of their attention to music charities, including the Kansas City Conservatory, now the UMKC Conservatory. Through it they befriended organ instructor Harriet Evelyn Barse, who lived with them and whom they described as an adopted daughter. Barse designed a custom organ for the house. She died on December 20, 1922, following gallbladder surgery, at age 47 according to UMKC accounts. The organ was not dedicated until November 29, 1925.
Uriah Epperson died of a stroke in 1927, four years after moving in. Mary died of cancer in 1939; more than 600 people attended her funeral. In 1942 a business associate donated the property to the University of Kansas City, later UMKC. It served as a dormitory for Navy air cadets during the Second World War, then as a School of Education residence hall, Conservatory practice space in the 1970s, and home to the architecture and urban planning department. The building has been empty since 2011. UMKC spends about $60,000 a year keeping it weather-tight, and the Historic Kansas City Foundation has placed it on its Most Endangered List, with restoration estimated at $12 to $15 million. In January 2025 the university reported that a group involving Sunflower Development Group and Jen Gulvik had permission to explore a proposed 14-room boutique hotel conversion with a restaurant, library bar, spa, and event space.
Sources
The house's reputation dates to the 1940s, when Navy air cadets billeted there reported a woman in a white gown walking the hallways at night. The figure has since been assumed to be Harriet Barse, and UMKC's own account notes a campus legend that she fell down the grand staircase, though the university and contemporary records agree she died in hospital after gallbladder surgery.
The most repeated claim is organ music rising from the basement when no one is at the console, which KCUR called the most common report attached to the building. Students and staff over the decades have also described footsteps in unoccupied parts of the house and the light in the tower switching on, even though access to the tower had been sealed for years.
Two incidents come from campus police. In 1978, officers on a night check said they saw an arm in a blue suit sleeve reach out and turn off a light at about 2 a.m. In May 1979, a patrol car parked outside was struck from behind hard enough to move it roughly eight inches; the officer found no other vehicle and no damage consistent with a collision. UMKC also recounts a chandelier that fell and narrowly missed a custodian.
Local television coverage states the house was once featured on Unsolved Mysteries among the country's most haunted houses; the episode and air date are not cited in the university or public-radio accounts used here, so treat that credit as unconfirmed.
Notable Entities
Walk the UMKC grounds at 52nd and Cherry to see the four-story Tudor-Gothic mansion from the outside, including the tower where the light was said to switch itself on. Interior access is closed; the building has stood vacant since 2011 with a hotel redevelopment now proposed.
Occasional historian-led tours outside Epperson House during Halloween season cover the house’s history and haunting lore. The public is not permitted inside while the house awaits rehabilitation.
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