HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Captain W.A. Munger's Victorian house at 5th and Center in Hannibal, where wealthy Amos Stillwell spent his last evening at a card party before being axe-murdered in his bed in December 1888 — the unsolved Stillwell case.
207 N 5th St, Hannibal, MO 63401
Research updated May 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
LaBinnah Bistro permanently closed per Yelp February 2026 update. Building remains a ghost-tour exterior stop. No current dining operation at this address.
Access
Limited Access
Closed historic Victorian residence; exterior viewing only.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1880 · Former residence of Hannibal mayor W.A. Munger · Site of Amos Stillwell's last social engagement (Dec 29, 1888) · Stillwell axe-murder case archive locus
207 N 5th Street, at the corner of 5th and Center Streets, was built in the late 19th century as the residence of W.A. Munger, sometimes referenced as Captain Munger, a former mayor of Hannibal. The Munger family hosted regular Hannibal society gatherings, including the high-society card parties that drew the city's wealthiest businessmen.
On the evening of Saturday, December 29, 1888, Amos J. Stillwell — among the wealthiest and most influential men in Hannibal — attended a card party at the Munger home with his wife Fannie Stillwell. Later that night, after the Stillwells returned to their own home at 112 S 5th Street, Amos was killed with an axe while he slept. The Hannibal Free Public Library's digital Stillwell archive preserves the chapter-by-chapter contemporary accounts of the case, which became one of Missouri's most famous unsolved murders.
Gossip in Hannibal centered on Fannie Stillwell and Joseph Carter Hearne, the family physician and frequent household visitor, who were reported to be romantically involved. Both were tried for the murder and acquitted. The case has never been officially solved.
In the 20th and early 21st centuries the former Munger house operated under various uses. By the 2010s it housed LaBinnah Bistro, a Mediterranean-American restaurant that became a Hannibal destination. Per Yelp's listing updated February 2026, LaBinnah Bistro is now CLOSED — though the building remains a regular stop on the Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tour for its Stillwell-case narrative.
Sources
The LaBinnah / Munger House paranormal lore is anchored in the documented Stillwell murder rather than in generic ghost-tour invention. Per the 101 The Eagle feature 'Six Hannibal Sites You Had No Idea Were Haunted,' the narrative holds that Stillwell's spirit returned not to the site of his murder but to the Munger house — the place he had been happy on the last night of his life.
The larger Hannibal tradition described by Mary Lou Montgomery's Hannibal Courier-Post history column adds that Stillwell's own home at 112 S 5th Street was reportedly demolished in part to stop hauntings — a claim that recurs in the regional ghost-feature ecosystem but is treated more as folklore than verified record.
A LaBinnah Bistro co-owner, quoted in the 101 The Eagle piece, reported personal experiences including interior doors opening and closing on their own when no one was nearby, and hearing his own name spoken aloud with no source. Larry Wilson Urban Paranormal documented a 2014 paranormal investigation of LaBinnah Bistro with additional reports of activity in the dining areas.
With LaBinnah Bistro closed as of 2026, the building's paranormal narrative now lives primarily in the Haunted Hannibal Ghost Tour's exterior-stop narration. Visitors interested in the Stillwell case can also explore the Hannibal Free Public Library's full digitized Stillwell archive, which preserves the period reporting.
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