My sister, Kat and I drove from Indiana to Columbia, Missouri. I was looking for a particular car and we decided to make a trip out of it. Of course, we looked for a nearby haunted house to stay the night.
After some research, I found Morse Mill House and read the history, it was perfect. Reputed to be one of the most haunted houses in America and close by where we were going, we agreed that this was the place. I had contacted the owner, Patrick, and arranged to stay the night. Patrick is a fantastic gentleman and awesome host. He is very knowledgeable on the history of the house and very willing to guide us.
I am writing this journal to document our observations and experiences. I won’t be providing too much history on the house itself as there is other online material that does a much better job than I could do. I am writing this with the eyes, ears and mind of a scientist. Ok, I’m not a scientist, but the point is, I am merely documenting what we saw, heard and felt. I took audio and video of everything and reviewed it later. I’ll let you be the judge.
After looking at the car and deciding not to buy it, we left Columbia city, Missouri and quickly ran into snow showers. It was so thick and earie, we could barely see. We joked about going to Walmart and buying an axe to pose with at the hotel, as if we were staying at the Overlook hotel in the Shining. Later, I was glad we didn’t buy the axe (actual picture while driving).
sister, Kat and I drove from Indiana to Columbia, Missouri. I was looking for a particular car and we decided to make a trip out of it. Of course, we looked for a nearby haunted house to stay the night.
After some research, I found Morse Mill House and read the history, it was perfect. Reputed to be one of the most haunted houses in America and close by where we were going, we agreed that this was the place. I had contacted the owner, Patrick, and arranged to stay the night. Patrick is a fantastic gentleman and awesome host. He is very knowledgeable on the history of the house and very willing to guide us.
As we drove south, the snowstorm faded, and the ground was just wet. Turning on to State Road B from Highway 30 towards Morse Mill, I suddenly felt heaviness on my chest, like someone was sitting on me. I was having a hard time breathing. I mentioned it to my sister but kept driving. I do have asthma, but that wasn’t it. It was something else. I felt ok to drive, it was just felt like something pushing on my chest. After about 5 minutes, it went away. I have never felt anything like that in my entire life.
Shortly after the heaviness went away, my sister complained of a sharp headache. She had it until we reached the house, then it went away.
By the time we reached the nearby town, it was late, and it was dark, as the sun had set some time ago. Then, we turned on to Old Morse Mill Road and saw the house. It definitely was very creepy to see at night.
We pulled up to the house and got out of the car. I wanted to take some pictures and video before we went inside. While filming the outside of the house, my sister said, “Are you seeing this?” It was hard for me to see as I was recording. She had seen it once more. Upon review of the video, I saw this very small light dancing on the side of the house. Some might say it was an orb - I am not a believer in orbs as spirits, I think they are just dust particles. Either way, the video does show some strange light dancing on the house in a peculiar way. No dust particle could do that. It almost looked like a laser pointer light, but when it went over the window, a laser pointer light would shine through the window and disappear. This did not. Its erratic pattern didn’t seem like an insect either. I don’t know what that was.
We met Patrick at the door and although we were late, he was gracious enough to show us to our rooms and give us a tour and history of the house, as well as some of the common experiences people have had. I can’t say enough about how great Patrick was! Then, he turned us loose to explore the house on our own. It was 10:15pm, perfect timing, I think!
On our way to the bedroom to drop off our stuff and get situated, I saw a small shadow at the end of the hall. The lights were on in the area of the hall where we entered, but dark at the other end so it was hard to see what the shadow was. We got closer and then we discovered… it was a cat. Apparently, we were going to have a buddy hang out with us.
We got settled in our room and I was taking video of the room and the bathroom. As soon as I walked into the bathroom, I felt a cold chill. It was wintertime, but our room was warm, and the bathroom door was open, so there was no reason for the bathroom to be cold. A few minutes after I felt the chill, it went away.
The Basement
We decided to start in the basement as it reported to have the most activity and work our way up to the attic. Patrick had given us a flashlight and two K2 meters, which measure Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) which use LED lights to indicate levels of readings from weak to strong. I had forgotten my Maglite so grabbed the built in flashlight from my jeep. My light has never failed me… yet. We had heard that this house may have been involved in the slave trade and there was a room in the far back of the basement with a block and chains, so we started there first. It was reported that people have seen a large shadow/man figure, however, we did not. There was a fire in the fireplace casting earie shadows everywhere. Very cool ambiance! We went to the very back of the room and started our video and audio recorders in completed darkness other than our two flashlights.
Right away I felt a huge presence. I don’t claim to be psychic, but you know when you have a feeling of something not quite right. I felt pressure, all over. Even the air seemed thick. Kat’s flashlight and mine were turning off frequently. We started asking questions and waiting for answers. Throughout the basement, I kept hearing odd noises, slight bangs, thumps and noises I couldn’t determine. It was dark and our video only picks up so much.
But both of our K2s were light up like Christmas, at the limits of the LED lights. I asked, “if it was ok for us to be here, turn of the flashlight”. Then our flashlight turned off (pics taken from video)
We put the K2 meter and the flashlight on the block next to the chains. The K2 meter was not lit up like it was previously, but that didn’t last long.
At first, we couldn’t get the 2nd K2 meter to work. After a while, it suddenly started to work. The flashlight on the block turned off. Then both K2 lights started pegging again. Then, when my flashlight turned off, both K2’s went silent.
The K2 meters were silent for about 10 minutes. Then both started lighting up when Kat said, “I smell death”. I asked what it smells like (my sense of smell is not good). She said, “it smells like something rotting”. Kat asked the spirits, “can we talk please?” at that moment, the cat, who apparently followed us down from out room, meowed. It was unnerving, but funny.
The K2 meters were off for about 5 minutes when Kat said, “I smell flowers”. We asked if it was ok to use another device to speak with them, then our K2 meters light briefly. We started our Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) reader which translates signals into words. The first word we received was “Henry”. Bertha Gifford once ran the famed hotel with her first husband Henry Graham. Next one was “Riley”. I started to hear many noises in the basement, often difficult to know what they were. Pops, small bangs, small various undiscernible noises. Next on the EVP meter was “Jason”. Jason was a member of the Morse family. Next word was “Quarantine” (note: the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers were prime routes for the spread of diseases). Next word was “Stuck”. The K2’s started to light up again. Kat mentioned that her ears suddenly started to ring loudly. My flashlight was focused on the chairs in the opposite end of the room and had not turned off in a while. I saw a shadow by the chairs, I couldn’t make out what it was. Then my flashlight went out. The K2 meters started pegging again. The next word was “Healer”. Bertha Gifford was a local healer. “Shovel” as the next word. Bertha was buried nearby. Kat had stated that it became very cold, the temperature had dropped suddenly. Next word was “Join in”. My flashlight turned off and never turned back on again. It was rechargeable and after multiple attempts to recharge it later, it never worked again. Both K2 meters were in the
red, once all the lights were off. Kat had said that she could feel the energy in the room. I agreed. We decided to move into the fireplace room.
It was completely dark except for the soft glow of the fireplace and the only flashlight that was working. It had been 10 minutes since the last word on the EVP meter. The next one was “Kaitlyn”. The flashlight went off again and the K2 meters were pegging. Kat mentioned that she felt a lot of anxiety. She described it as having constant “butterflies” in her. The K2 meters went silent. The camera went out of focus for the first time all night for about 1 minute. The K2 meters started lighting up again. I walked back to the doorway of the back room that we were just in. I focused my camera into the back room and got a hug chill, the temperature dropped again. The camera went out of focus again (it never does outside of the house). Somewhere in the distance I heard bells chime. I noted in the video we took that when Patrick gave us a quick tour, his flashlight (the one we borrowed) never turned off. Not once. I also smelled men’s cologne; it was very strong. I have a hard time smelling anything, so this was a very strong scent.
We went to the sunroom attached to the basement.
In this room, there is a hole in the floor filled with bicycles and other stuff. It looks like it was meant to block the entrance off. Patrick had said that that was a tunnel that went to the river and was probably used to help Confederate soldiers as this was used as a confederate hospital. We immediately heard a creaking/pop sound. Then we heard it again. Kat did not like this room and we had to leave immediately.
The Attic
We went to the attic next. We placed objects on the floor like a ball and a doll, hoping that something would move them. Nothing did move the entire time. I really wanted to see something move. We asked if they could move the ball or rock the chair. The EVP meter said, “No no no”. Kat’s K2 meter was lit up, mine was not. When she put hers down, the K2 did not light up anymore. When she picked up the 2nd K2 that was not lit, it lit up like a xmas tree! Whenever I held the K2, it did not light up. Both only lit up when Kat held it. The EVP meter spelled out “Village” next.
The cat followed us to the attic… kinda creepy stalker!
The K2 lit up with Kat
The K2 meter when I held it:
I was kneeling and decided to sit on the ground. I hit something as I was moving to sit on the floor. There was nothing behind me, no wall or object. I had said to Kat that I had hit something, and she said there’s nothing there. The K2 was on the chair and was showing activity although we saw no movement despite multiple requests to move objects.
Kat took the camera and I had the flashlight. The camera focus went out when she turned it toward me and the K2s started to light up again. Kat asked if they liked dolls, the EVP response was, “No camera”.
Annabelle’s Room
In Annabelle’s room, the K2s no longer reacted to Kat like they did in the Attic.
In the video, just after this, we heard a “pop” sound. We turned off all the lights except for our cell phone lights – we stopped using the flashlight as it would keep turning off. We had more success keeping the lights on our cell phones. The K2s lit up and Kat said she heard the newspapers rustling. On the EVP the word “Devices” came up. We turned off all devices, including video and audio recording. On the audio, I could smell cigar smoke. Then, Kat inhaled deeply, as if shocked and said, “something moved in the hallway, a shadow”. She thought she saw something behind her through a reflection in the window, but it seems to have been only in the window. She also saw something across the room by the chair. Kat freaked out and said, “Ok, I can’t do this, we need to turn on the lights.” She saw something white like a cloud of smoke over by the chair. So we turned on the lights and decided to promptly leave the room.
Grumpy Old Man’s Room
Kat sat at the foot of the bed and I sat in the chair in the corner next to the table. I put one K2 on the table and Kat held the other one. Kat immediately felt cold in the room. Both K2s were lit up. Nothing on the EVP came up for a while. Then suddenly, Kat heard a grunt and the EVP said “sample”. Reviewing the recording there is a “Hmm” followed a few seconds later by “hum” almost grunt like. About 10 seconds later there was a snap like someone snapping their fingers. I did see a shadow beside the bed, as if a young child was hiding and lifted its head up every once in a while to take a look. I couldn’t make out the form of the shadow. About 50 seconds later I heard a soft “oh well” and then a short groan (all captured on audio).
Unexplained noises found on audio and video
· Recording # 25
o 7 secs – unidentified noise
· Recording # 26
o 7 secs – unidentified noise
· Recording # 27
o 2.5 secs – Thump
· Recording # 27
o 13 secs – Bang
· Recording # 28 - Attic
o Fly underneath phone
o Chills
o Saw two shadows at end of the attic
o EVP: Amount, Cloud, Crossover, Michaela
· Recording # 29 – Annabelle’s room
o Cigar smoke smell
o Shadow in the hallway
o Shadow by chair
o Kat freaks out and has to turn on the lights, saw something white, like a cloud of smoke
· Video # 603 – Grumpy Man’s Room
o 3:00 – unidentified noise
o 3:07 – unidentified noise
o 4:15 – “Hmm”
o 4:50 – “Groan”
Conclusion
We went back to our room after our investigation to settle in for the night. Kat wanted to sleep in the same room as, well, she was scared to sleep separately. I didn’t tell her, but I was so ok with that myself.
As I was walking in front of the bed, I stumbled. It felt like I stepped on something and lost my balance. There was nothing there. Thinking about it afterwards, I believed my leg was pushed.
When we settled in and were trying to sleep, I heard “Thump… thump… thump… “ in the walls about every 4 secs. I was tired and I just asked, “can you guys knock it off, I’m tired and I want to sleep. I heard nothing more after that and we both slept very well that night.
We are not professionals, we are enthusiasts who wanted to see some ghosts or ghostly things happening. We documented everything we heard, saw and felt during our entire stay. With all the things we experienced, there is definitely something going on in this house. We captured so many experiences, but honestly, even though we captured a lot, I think there could be other nights that could be even more active. I don’t think the house showed us everything. But for us, it was a lot. I have seen many ghost hunting shows on TV and our experience far exceeded most of them.
I was a bit nervous and scared about investigating this house, but at no time during our investigation, did I feel nervous or scared. I never felt like we would be harmed. I felt Peace. Peace, but a lot of spiritual presence.
As we drove south, the snow storm faded and the ground was just wet. Turning on to State Road B from Highway 30 towards Morse Mill, I suddenly felt heaviness on my chest, like someone was sitting on me. I was having a hard time breathing. I mentioned it to my sister, but kept driving. I do have asthma, but that wasn’t it. It was something else. I felt ok to drive, it was just felt like something pushing on my chest. After about 5 minutes, it went away. I have never felt anything like that in my entire life.
Shortly after the heaviness went away, my sister complained of a sharp headache. She had it until we reached the house, then it went away.
By the time we reached the nearby town, it was late and it was dark, as the sun had set some time ago. Then, we turned on to Old Morse Mill road and saw the house. It definitely was very creepy to see at night.
We pulled up to the house and got out of the car. I wanted to take some pictures and video before we went inside. While filming the outside of the house, my sister said, “Are you seeing this?” It was hard for me to see as I was recording. She had seen it once more. Upon review of the video, I saw this very small light dancing on the side of the house. Some might say it was an orb - I am not a believer in orbs as spirits, I think they are just dust particles. Either way, the video does show some strange light dancing on the house in a peculiar way. No dust particle could do that. It almost looked like a laser pointer light, but when it went over the window, a laser pointer light would shine through the window and disappear. This did not. Its erratic pattern didn’t seem like an insect either. I don’t know what that was.
We met Patrick at the door and although we were late, he was gracious enough to show us to our rooms and give us a tour and history of the house, as well as some of the common experiences people have had. I can’t say enough about how great Patrick was! Then, he turned us loose to explore the house on our own. It was 10:15pm, perfect timing I think!
On our way to the bedroom to drop off our stuff and get situated, I saw a small shadow at the end of the hall. The lights were on in the area of the hall where we entered, but dark at the other end so it was hard to see what the shadow was. We got closer and then we discovered… it was a cat. Apparently we were going to have a buddy hang out with us.
We got settled in our room and I was taking video of the room and the bathroom. As soon as I walked into the bathroom, I felt a cold chill. It was winter time, but our room was warm and the bathroom door was open, so there was no reason for the bathroom to be cold. A few minutes after I felt the chill, it went away.
The Basement
We decided to start in the basement as it reported to have the most activity and work our way up to the attic. Patrick had given us a flashlight and two K2 meters, which measure Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) which use LED lights to indicate levels of readings from weak to strong. I had forgotten my Maglite so grabbed the built in flashlight from my jeep. My light has never failed me… yet. We had heard that this house may have been involved in the slave trade and there was a room in the far back of the basement with a block and chains, so we started there first. It was reported that people have seen a large shadow/man figure, however, we did not it. There was a fire in the fire place casting earie shadows everywhere. Very cool ambiance! We went to the very back of the room and started our video and audio recorders in completed darkness other than our two flashlights..
Right away I felt a huge presence. I don’t claim to be psychic but you know when you have a feeling of something not quite right. I felt pressure, all over. Even the air seemed thick. Kat’s flashlight and mine were turning off frequently. We started asking questions and waiting for answers. Throughout the basement, I kept hearing odd noises, slight bangs, thumps and noises I couldn’t determine. It was dark and our video only picks up so much.
But, both of our K2s were light up like Christmas, at the limits of the LED lights. I asked, “if it was ok for us to be here, turn of the flashlight”. Then our flashlight turned off (pics taken from video)
We put the K2 meter and the flashlight on the block next to the chains. The K2 meter was not lit up like it was previously, but that didn’t last long.
At first, we couldn’t get the 2nd K2 meter to work. After a while, it suddenly started to work. The flashlight on the block turned off. Then both K2 lights started pegging again. Then, when my flashlight turned off, both K2’s went silent.
The K2 meters were silent for about 10 minutes. Then both started lighting up when Kat said, “I smell death”. I asked what it smells like (my sense of smell is not good). She said, “it smells like something rotting”. Kat asked the spirits, “can we talk please?” at that moment, the cat, who apparently followed us down from out room, meowed. It was unnerving, but funny.
The K2 meters were off for about 5 minutes when Kat said, “I smell flowers”. We asked if it was ok to use another device to speak with them, then our K2 meters light briefly. We started our Electronic Voice Phenomenon (EVP) reader which translates signals into words. The first word we received was “Henry”. Bertha Gifford once ran the famed hotel with her first husband Henry Graham. Next one was “Riley”. I started to hear many noises in the basement, often difficult to know what they were. Pops, small bangs, small various undiscernible noises. Next on the EVP meter was “Jason”. Jason was a member of the Morse family. Next word was “Quarantine” (note: the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers were prime routes for the spread of diseases). Next word was “Stuck”. The K2’s started to light up again. Kat mentioned that her ears suddenly started to ring loudly. My flashlight was focused on the chairs in the opposite end of the room and had not turned off in a while. I saw a shadow by the chairs, I couldn’t make out what it was. Then my flashlight went out. The K2 meters started pegging again. The next word was “Healer”. Bertha Gifford was a local healer. “Shovel” as the next word. Bertha was buried nearby. Kat had stated that it became very cold, the temperature had dropped suddenly. Next word was “Join in”. My flashlight turned off and never turned back on again. It was rechargeable and after multiple attempts to recharge it later, it never worked again. Both K2 meters were in the
red, once all the lights were off. Kat had said that she could feel the energy in the room. I agreed. We decided to move into the fireplace room.
It was completely dark except for the soft glow of the fireplace and the only flashlight that was working. It had been 10 minutes since the last word on the EVP meter. The next one was “Kaitlyn”. The flashlight went off again and the K2 meters were pegging. Kat mentioned that she felt a lot of anxiety. She described it as having constant “butterflies” in her. The K2 meters went silent. The camera went out of focus for the first time all night for about 1 minute. The K2 meters started lighting up again. I walked back to the doorway of the back room that we were just in. I focused my camera into the back room and got a hug chill, the temperature dropped again. The camera went out of focus again (it never does outside of the house). Somewhere in the distance I heard bells chime. I noted in the video we took that when Patrick gave us a quick tour, his flashlight (the one we borrowed) never turned off. Not once. I also smelled men’s cologne, it was very strong. I have a hard time smelling anything, so this was a very strong scent.
We went to the sun room attached to the basement.
In this room, there is a hole in the floor filled with bicycles and other stuff. It looks like it was meant to block the entrance off. Patrick had said that that was a tunnel that went to the river and was probably used to help Confederate soldiers as this was used as a confederate hospital. We immediately heard a creaking/pop sound. Then we heard it again. Kat did not like this room and we had to leave immediately.
The Attic
We went to the attic next. We placed objects on the floor like a ball and a doll, hoping that something would move them. Nothing did move the entire time. I really wanted to see something move. We asked if they could move the ball or rock the chair. The EVP meter said, “No no no”. Kat’s K2 meter was lit up, mine was not. When she put hers down, the K2 did not light up anymore. When she picked up the 2nd K2 that was not lit, it lit up like a xmas tree! Whenever I held the K2, it did not light up. Both only lit up when Kat held it. The EVP meter spelled out “Village” next.
The cat followed us to the attic… kinda creepy stalker!
The K2 lit up with Kat
The K2 meter when I held it:
I was kneeling and decided to sit on the ground. I hit something as I was moving to sit on the floor. There was nothing behind me, no wall or object. I had said to Kat that I had hit something, and she said there’s nothing there. The K2 was on the chair and was showing activity although we saw no movement despite multiple requests to move objects.
Kat took the camera and I had the flashlight. The camera focus went out when she turned it toward me and the K2s started to light up again. Kat asked if they liked dolls, the EVP response was, “No camera”.
Annabelle’s Room
In Annabelle’s room, the K2s no longer reacted to Kat like they did in the Attic.
In the video, just after this, we heard a “pop” sound. We turned off all the lights except for our cell phone lights – we stopped using the flashlight as it would keep turning off. We had more success keeping the lights on our cell phones. The K2s lit up and Kat said she heard the newspapers rustling. On the EVP the word “Devices” came up. We turned off all devices, including video and audio recording. On the audio, I could smell cigar smoke. Then, Kat inhaled deeply, as if shocked and said, “something moved in the hallway, a shadow”. She thought she saw something behind her through a reflection in the window, but it seems to have been only in the window. She also saw something across the room by the chair. Kat freaked out and said, “Ok, I can’t do this, we need to turn on the lights.” She saw something white like a cloud of smoke over by the chair. So we turned on the lights and decided to promptly leave the room.
umpy Old Man’s Room
Kat sat at the foot of the bed and I sat in the chair in the corner next to the table. I put one K2 on the table and Kat held the other one. Kat immediately felt cold in the room. Both K2s were lit up. Nothing on the EVP came up for a while. Then suddenly, Kat heard a grunt and the EVP said “sample”. Reviewing the recording there is a “Hmm” followed a few seconds later by “hum” almost grunt like. About 10 seconds later there was a snap like someone snapping their fingers. I did see a shadow beside the bed, as if a young child was hiding and lifted its head up every once in a while to take a look. I couldn’t make out the form of the shadow. About 50 seconds later I heard a soft “oh well” and then a short groan (all captured on audio).
Unexplained noises found on audio and video
· Recording # 25
o 7 secs – unidentified noise
· Recording # 26
o 7 secs – unidentified noise
· Recording # 27
o 2.5 secs – Thump
· Recording # 27
o 13 secs – Bang
· Recording # 28 - Attic
o Fly underneath phone
o Chills
o Saw two shadows at end of the attic
o EVP: Amount, Cloud, Crossover, Michaela
· Recording # 29 – Annabelle’s room
o Cigar smoke smell
o Shadow in the hallway
o Shadow by chair
o Kat freaks out and has to turn on the lights, saw something white, like a cloud of smoke
· Video # 603 – Grumpy Man’s Room
o 3:00 – unidentified noise
o 3:07 – unidentified noise
o 4:15 – “Hmm”
o 4:50 – “Groan”
Conclusion
We went back to our room after our investigation to settle in for the night. Kat wanted to sleep in the same room as, well, she was scared to sleep separately. I didn’t tell her, but I was so ok with that myself.
As I was walking in front of the bed, I stumbled. It felt like I stepped on something and lost my balance. There was nothing there. Thinking about it afterwards, I believed my leg was pushed.
When we settled in and were trying to sleep, I heard “Thump… thump… thump… “ in the walls about every 4 secs. I was tired and I just asked, “can you guys knock it off, I’m tired and I want to sleep. I heard nothing more after that and we both slept very well that night.
We are not professionals, we are enthusiasts who wanted to see some ghosts or ghostly things happening. We documented everything we heard, saw and felt during our entire stay. With all the things we experienced, there is definitely something going on in this house. We captured so many experiences, but honestly, even though we captured a lot, I think there could be other nights that could be even more active. I don’t think the house showed us everything. But for us, it was a lot. I have seen many ghost hunting shows on TV and our experience far exceeded most of them.
I was a bit nervous and scared about investigating this house, but at no time during our investigation, did I feel nervous or scared. I never felt like we would be harmed. I felt Peace. Peace, but a lot of spiritual presence.
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