The Most Haunted Places in Missouri

Ranked

1. 

   1. Epperson House Kansas City · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified five distinct published accounts at this historic home, across six kinds of published source. Eight later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include electrical anomalies and phantom footsteps.

   5 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1942-2020 · retold in 8 later publications

2. 

   2. Lemp Mansion St. Louis · Haunted House / Historic Home · Family Comfort: Low

   Built in 1868 as the Lemp brewing family's residence, this St. Louis mansion later became the brewery's offices. Between 1904 and 1949, four Lemps died by suicide, including William Lemp Sr. in his bedroom in 1904 and his son William Jr. in his office in 1922, after Prohibition forced the brewery's sale. Investigators report sounds in the basement cave tunnels once used to lager beer, and cold spots in his old office.

   6 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1960-2023 · retold in 8 later publications

3. 

   3. Landers Theatre Springfield · Theater / Performance Venue · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified five distinct published accounts at this working theater, across three kinds of published source. Six later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and objects moving.

   5 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1920-1990 · retold in 6 later publications

   Disputed by the venue The theater's longtime technical director has said he invented one of its ghost stories, pointing tour groups to carpet stains and telling them a man had been stabbed to death there, purely to spook visitors.

4. 4. Devil's Promenade (Hornet Spook Light Road) Hornet · Outdoor / Natural Site · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this outdoor site, across four kinds of published source. Three later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include electrical anomalies.

   3 original accounts · documented across 7 decades, 1836-2023 · retold in 3 later publications

5. 5. Avilla Avilla · Outdoor / Natural Site · Family Comfort: Moderate

   HauntBound identified four distinct published accounts at this outdoor site. Seven later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and shadow figures.

   Documented since 1856 · 8 independent sources

6. 

   6. Lehmann House Bed and Breakfast St. Louis · Haunted Hotel / Inn · Family Comfort: Moderate

   Financier Edward Rowse built this 26-room Romanesque mansion in 1893 as a retirement home, but reportedly died of a painful illness in the master bedroom soon after moving in. The property later took its name from owners Frederick and Nora Lehmann, who lived there for 31 years, and has run as a bed and breakfast since the 1990s. The innkeeper attributes footsteps, whispers, and children's laughter to Rowse, though no child death is documented there.

   3 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1970-2021 · retold in 4 later publications

7. 

   7. Rockcliffe Mansion Hannibal · Haunted Hotel / Inn · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified four distinct published accounts at this working hotel, across three kinds of published source. Four later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and electrical anomalies.

   4 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1902-1924 · retold in 4 later publications

8. 

   8. Powell Hall (Powell Symphony Hall) St. Louis · Theater / Performance Venue · Family Comfort: High

   HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this working theater, across three kinds of published source. One later publication retells those accounts. Reported phenomena include apparitions and electrical anomalies.

   3 original accounts · documented across 3 decades, 2001-2025 · retold in 1 later publication

9. 

   9. Pythian Castle Springfield · Other Dark Tourism Site · Family Comfort: Moderate

   HauntBound identified three distinct published accounts at this documented site. Three later publications retell those accounts. Reported phenomena include cold spots and disembodied voices.

   3 original accounts · documented across 4 decades, 1993-2021 · retold in 3 later publications

10. 

    10. Missouri State Penitentiary Jefferson City · Prison / Reformatory · Family Comfort: Low

    The Missouri State Penitentiary opened in 1836 as the first prison west of the Mississippi and ran 168 years, holding up to 5,000 inmates and carrying out 40 gas-chamber executions. A 1954 riot left four dead, earning the name 'the bloodiest 47 acres in America.' Guides in Housing Unit 4 report a metallic clink like coins on the floor, and staff in solitary confinement report being poked by a guard who died in 1932.

    2 original accounts · documented across 2 decades, 1954-2025 · retold in 3 later publications

Superlatives