A Haunted Courthouse in Cass County, Missouri
I saw this article in the Democrat Missourian - read it online at:
www.democratmissourian.com/news2-122305.html
Haunted Courthouse?
By Shandi Duggins,
Staff Reporter
For anyone who has ever heard footsteps when there was no one there, a door open with no one to push it, or just having felt a little something creepy in the Cass County Courthouse, you may have not been imagining things, according to local paranormal researchers.
On Sunday, a team from Miller's Paranormal Research, a company based out of Harrisonville, conducted an investigation at the Cass County Courthouse.
"We're here to find out who is here and why they're still here," said Brenda Marble, one of the founders of the company.
Seer Misty Maeder believes there are several spirits still lingering in the Cass County Courthouse, including a maintenance man who seemed to follow the group around during their tour.
Marble and her sister, Dee Ann Tripses, have been researching the paranormal for about five years, traveling all over the midwest to conduct investigations.
When conducting an investigation the team takes pictures, records video, records sounds and utilizes the help of a psychic. Miller's Paranormal Research uses different techniques when determining if a location is actually haunted including electric and magnetic field meters.
They also use audio recording to look for EVP, or electronic voice phenomena. Marble said although no sound may be heard when recording audio tape during an investigation, there may be sound and voices on playback.
Another clue the team looks for is orbs.
According to the Miller's Paranormal Research Web site, orbs are the soul of a once living person or animal that appear in photographs as a spherical shaped light.
During the investigation of the court house, team members found what they believed to be orbs in several pictures.
Marble said in the past she has heard stories about people who have had strange experiences at the courthouse. When her daughter began working there, she too had strange encounters.
"She would come home and tell me about things that happened to her," Marble said. "That pretty much validated to me that there is something going on here."
The team was especially interested in one particular case of a man, whom they though might be the courthouse ghost (see sidebar.) Marble said prior to the investigation, Maeder is given no information about the history of the building, including any abnormal incidents people have encountered there.
At the courthouse, Maeder was immediately drawn to the basement, which now houses restrooms and a maintenance closet.
This is where she had her first encounter with a maintenance man, who she said seems to be sticking around to keep an eye on the courthouse. She said he is a practical joker and is probably the one responsible for incidents people like Marble's daughter have encountered such as doors opening on their own. She said the maintenance worker had spent many years taking care of the courthouse and had died of a heart attack, but not in the building.
It was also in the basement when Maeder first received a message from a man who kept saying "it's not fair." This message was received by Maeder several times during the tour.
Another active room was the old courtroom on the second floor.
Also, several members of the team smelled pipe tobacco during the investigation, especially on the third floor of the courthouse. "Smells are commonly associated with hauntings," Marble said.
Maeder said at times she was almost overwhelmed with information and images in the courthouse due to the long history of the building.
Now that the initial investigation is complete, the team will go back and look at the video and photographs and listen to the sounds recorded at the sight. They will also take information from Maeder and see if it can be collaborated with known history of the courthouse. This will include researching names of possible ghosts given by Maeder during the investigation.
Marble said the team may have the opportunity to film a pilot for a new television show about paranormal research. She said she hopes to bring a film crew back to the courthouse and include it in the pilot. Miller's Paranormal Research has already been involved with a documentary, "Villisca Axe Murder House: The Untold Story" about a home where eight axe murders took place in 1912 in Villisca, Iowa.
For more information about the company, visit millersparanormalresearch.com.
Article sidebar: Is Soper the Cass County Courthouse Ghost?
One case the team from Miller's Paranormal Research was interested in was that of a man who was executed by hanging on March 30, 1899 in the Cass County Courthouse basement.
According to the book "Archie. . . A History of a Railroad Town," on April 24, 1891, the bodies of Delia Hunt Soper and her two children, Maud, 5, and Gillis, 2, were discovered murdered in their Archie home. Two days earlier, E. Bates Soper, Delia's husband and an Archie butcher, had withdrawn money from the bank and boarded a northbound train.
The murder weapon, an axe, and two letters from E. Bates were discovered in the home. One letter was to the local justice of the peace, instructing him to sell the Soper's property to pay for the funerals; the other, a letter to the Kansas City Times, explaining his actions. Several men were arrested in the following years, but were not Soper.
Soper had traveled around the country, beginning a new life under a new name. He married again and had a son. When the boy was 2, E. Bates strangled the boy and buried him in a shallow grave.
In 1897, E. Bates Soper was arrested in Oregon. He was tried and sentenced to death at the Cass County Courthouse.
This article (c) copyright by the Democrat Missourian, and all rights belong to them.
www.democratmissourian.com/news2-122305.html
Haunted Courthouse?
By Shandi Duggins,
Staff Reporter
For anyone who has ever heard footsteps when there was no one there, a door open with no one to push it, or just having felt a little something creepy in the Cass County Courthouse, you may have not been imagining things, according to local paranormal researchers.
On Sunday, a team from Miller's Paranormal Research, a company based out of Harrisonville, conducted an investigation at the Cass County Courthouse.
"We're here to find out who is here and why they're still here," said Brenda Marble, one of the founders of the company.
Seer Misty Maeder believes there are several spirits still lingering in the Cass County Courthouse, including a maintenance man who seemed to follow the group around during their tour.
Marble and her sister, Dee Ann Tripses, have been researching the paranormal for about five years, traveling all over the midwest to conduct investigations.
When conducting an investigation the team takes pictures, records video, records sounds and utilizes the help of a psychic. Miller's Paranormal Research uses different techniques when determining if a location is actually haunted including electric and magnetic field meters.
They also use audio recording to look for EVP, or electronic voice phenomena. Marble said although no sound may be heard when recording audio tape during an investigation, there may be sound and voices on playback.
Another clue the team looks for is orbs.
According to the Miller's Paranormal Research Web site, orbs are the soul of a once living person or animal that appear in photographs as a spherical shaped light.
During the investigation of the court house, team members found what they believed to be orbs in several pictures.
Marble said in the past she has heard stories about people who have had strange experiences at the courthouse. When her daughter began working there, she too had strange encounters.
"She would come home and tell me about things that happened to her," Marble said. "That pretty much validated to me that there is something going on here."
The team was especially interested in one particular case of a man, whom they though might be the courthouse ghost (see sidebar.) Marble said prior to the investigation, Maeder is given no information about the history of the building, including any abnormal incidents people have encountered there.
At the courthouse, Maeder was immediately drawn to the basement, which now houses restrooms and a maintenance closet.
This is where she had her first encounter with a maintenance man, who she said seems to be sticking around to keep an eye on the courthouse. She said he is a practical joker and is probably the one responsible for incidents people like Marble's daughter have encountered such as doors opening on their own. She said the maintenance worker had spent many years taking care of the courthouse and had died of a heart attack, but not in the building.
It was also in the basement when Maeder first received a message from a man who kept saying "it's not fair." This message was received by Maeder several times during the tour.
Another active room was the old courtroom on the second floor.
Also, several members of the team smelled pipe tobacco during the investigation, especially on the third floor of the courthouse. "Smells are commonly associated with hauntings," Marble said.
Maeder said at times she was almost overwhelmed with information and images in the courthouse due to the long history of the building.
Now that the initial investigation is complete, the team will go back and look at the video and photographs and listen to the sounds recorded at the sight. They will also take information from Maeder and see if it can be collaborated with known history of the courthouse. This will include researching names of possible ghosts given by Maeder during the investigation.
Marble said the team may have the opportunity to film a pilot for a new television show about paranormal research. She said she hopes to bring a film crew back to the courthouse and include it in the pilot. Miller's Paranormal Research has already been involved with a documentary, "Villisca Axe Murder House: The Untold Story" about a home where eight axe murders took place in 1912 in Villisca, Iowa.
For more information about the company, visit millersparanormalresearch.com.
Article sidebar: Is Soper the Cass County Courthouse Ghost?
One case the team from Miller's Paranormal Research was interested in was that of a man who was executed by hanging on March 30, 1899 in the Cass County Courthouse basement.
According to the book "Archie. . . A History of a Railroad Town," on April 24, 1891, the bodies of Delia Hunt Soper and her two children, Maud, 5, and Gillis, 2, were discovered murdered in their Archie home. Two days earlier, E. Bates Soper, Delia's husband and an Archie butcher, had withdrawn money from the bank and boarded a northbound train.
The murder weapon, an axe, and two letters from E. Bates were discovered in the home. One letter was to the local justice of the peace, instructing him to sell the Soper's property to pay for the funerals; the other, a letter to the Kansas City Times, explaining his actions. Several men were arrested in the following years, but were not Soper.
Soper had traveled around the country, beginning a new life under a new name. He married again and had a son. When the boy was 2, E. Bates strangled the boy and buried him in a shallow grave.
In 1897, E. Bates Soper was arrested in Oregon. He was tried and sentenced to death at the Cass County Courthouse.
This article (c) copyright by the Democrat Missourian, and all rights belong to them.
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