Image courtesy of The Elms Hotel & Spa
Often regarded as the most haunted place in St. Louis, the Lemp Mansion offers a haunted history tour with Betsy Belanger, a famous psychic and Lemp expert. Participants tour three floors of the Lemp mansion while learning about the history of the Lemp family. At the end of the tour, Belanger hosts a dark room session where she attempts to make psychic communication with the ghosts of the Lemp family. (Read historian Chris Naffziger’s tour experience with a psychic here.) 3322 Demenil Place, St. Louis.
The penitentiary housed inmates for 168 years, and some say (the spirits of) prisoners still roam the halls of the state penitentiary, was decommissioned in 2004. See for yourself during one of the many tours that are offered. Depending on your interest level, there's a two-hour ghost tour—or an overnight paranormal investigation that lasts five or eight hours. 115 Lafayette, Jefferson City.
While it might not be haunted, this museum will still make your hair stand on end. The museum's considered one of the more unusual in the country, with exhibits of surgical tools, patient artwork, nurse uniforms, and even items removed from a patient’s stomach. The museum chronicles 145 years of a state hospital that dates back to 1874 and once sat on the same grounds. 3406 Frederick, St. Joseph.
Featured on SyFy’s Ghost Hunters in 2013, The Elms offers a paranormal nightly tour at 9 p.m. There are rumors floating around about ghosts said to inhabit the hotel—some say a ghost was involved in one of the two fires that occurred at the hotel in 1898 and 1910. There’s supposedly another spirit around the pool, a popular haunt during Prohibition. 401 Regent, Excelsior Springs.
Built in 1913 as an orphanage and a retirement home for the Knights of Pythias members, the stately building was later owned by the military and used as a site for prisoners of war. Today, it’s best known for the spirits that supposedly haunt the castle. People have reported seeing orbs and hearing voices, especially in the basement. The castle's been featured on the Travel Channel and offers ghost tours year-round. 1452 E. Pythian, Springfield.
