Est. 1900 · Independent Order of Odd Fellows Fraternal Care · Jacobethan Revival Institutional Architecture · Adaptive Reuse as Winery
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows arrived in Missouri in 1835. By the late nineteenth century, the fraternity had developed a 240-acre complex in Liberty designed to care for members and their families. The campus, built in the Jacobethan Revival style favored for institutional buildings of the era, included an orphanage, a nursing home, a hospital, and a school.
A fifty-bed hospital was completed in 1951, expanding the facility's capacity at a moment when the broader Odd Fellows orphanage and care system was already in decline. The development of Social Security, postwar pension systems, and county-level care facilities had eroded the demand for fraternal-care complexes. By the late twentieth century, most of the buildings on the property had ceased operations and entered a long period of partial abandonment.
In the 2010s, the complex was acquired by new ownership and rehabilitated as Belvoir Winery, with the restored orphanage building serving as the centerpiece for a tasting room, an event venue, and an inn. Other structures on the campus, including the hospital and nursing home, remain in their decommissioned state and are accessed only through ticketed tours and paranormal investigations.
The property has been featured on Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures and Destination Fear, and on Kindred Spirits, raising its profile within paranormal-investigation tourism.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odd_Fellows_Home_District
- https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/odd-fellows-home
- https://kcyesterday.com/articles/odd-fellows-home
- https://theclio.com/entry/44300
Phantom footstepsPhantom voicesPhantom soundsApparitionsObject movementDoors opening/closing
The most frequently reported phenomena at Belvoir involve sounds rather than visual encounters. Overnight guests at the inn describe footsteps in unoccupied corridors, distant adult voices that fade when approached, and the unmistakable sound of small children running. Investigators who sing simple nursery rhymes in the upper rooms have repeatedly reported what they describe as juvenile vocal responses, which they interpret as residual orphanage activity.
Guest accounts collected during the inn's operation include televisions that turn on without input, bathroom doors that close abruptly, and the impression of pressure on bedcovers as if a small figure were attempting to climb onto the bed. These accounts have been documented by multiple unrelated guests over several years, lending them weight beyond a single witness.
The unrestored sections of the campus, particularly the hospital and nursing-home buildings, generate more dramatic accounts. Witnesses describe earlier reports of bloody handprints on bathtubs and bathroom walls, though these are difficult to corroborate. Investigators have also reported full-body apparitions in the hospital corridors. The property's owners have leaned into its paranormal reputation, hosting Ghost Adventures, Destination Fear, and Kindred Spirits, and offering monthly public investigations during peak season.
The property's on-site cemetery, where Odd Fellows members and orphans are buried, is included in some tours and is the subject of additional folklore.
Notable Entities
The Children of the Orphanage
Media Appearances
- Ghost Adventures
- Destination Fear
- Kindred Spirits