MISSOURI - Epperson House

by: blueowl

I'm a collector. I believe I have retained every real-life ghost story I've ever heard. There are varied and apocryphal stories regarding the background of the house, and I have only my own and personally related stories to go by, but it holds a place in my heart.

Once the house of a prominent family and now part of the UMKC campus, Epperson House hearkens back to an age of propriety, with a ballroom, an organ loft, and a formal arrival entry.

There are many stories of hearing late-night organ music coming from the house, strange lights and forms in the windows. To my knowledge, no formal investigation has been done. Anyone with any different info?

A campus security officer I knew from my days at UMKC related an experience there, which he claimed came "right from the horse's mouth." One night, an officer was patrolling and noticed a strange light in a window and pulled around to the back of the house, where the driveway/entry is. He had just stepped into the building when he heard another car coming quickly up the driveway. The driveway makes a fairly sharp turn, which he heard the car make, then a slamming on of brakes. When the officer rushed outside, there was no second car, but his own car was several feet forward of where he had parked -- and there was a set of skid marks from his own car being shoved forward with great velocity. Based on this and others' experiences, there were several security people who would not go to Epperson House alone.

I attended a wedding there in the mid-80s and the house was open. We went up to the turret, from where I was told, the original Epperson spied on his rival, William Rockhurst Nelson (whose house was visible from the turret -- now the Nelson-Atkins museum). As we came back into the house, I felt a strong sensation of being stared at and turned in that direction, only to be facing the organ I had heard so much about. There was also a palpable shove to indicate we should move along and get out of there. Although separated by several feet, both of us felt the shove at the same time.

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