| Ghosts & Haunts In Missouri Hunter-Dawson Mansion Stories My girlfriend and I had flown down to visit her dad and step-mom in Lilbourn, Missouri. One day she and I decided to drive the couple of miles to New Madrid to go inside the Hunter-Dawson Mansion. We went inside with the tour guide Delores. It was just my girlfriend, myself and Delores. We toured the downstairs and then went upstairs. she did a lot of filming of the house inside and out. I have the tape. However she did not have the camera on at the point when we entered one of the upstairs bedrooms. I had my Minolta camera in my right hand with the strap circled around my wrist. I always carry it this way so if I would lose my grip on it, it would still be attached to my wrist and I would not drop it. We walked into this bedroom and there was a set of old-fashioned men’s clothes lain out on the bed. There was also a picture of a man over the fireplace. I turned and was facing the fireplace and listening to Denise and Delores talk about the house. I was thinking that I should take a picture of the bed with the clothes laying on it. At that moment something attempted to jerk the camera from my hand. It was pulled away from my hand as if someone was standing in front of me and reached out and tried to pull it out of my hand. I gasped rather loudly because it scared me. Denise and Delores were turned away from me so they did not see what had happened. I told them that something had just tried to pull the camera out of my hand. If I had not had the strap wrapped around my wrist the camera would have fallen on the floor. It was a very force full grabbing of the camera. Needless to say, I did not take a picture of that room. J I was at the Hunter-Dawson June 24, 2006!!! When i was next to the 3/4 child's bed, something grabbed my leg. I freaked out and wanted to leave, my group encouraged me to stay. While we were in the room with the sewing machine, we herd loud steps right behind us! We then went to the oldest son's room...i felt sick to my stomach and left right away! I was so scared! GN I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but these stories are not true. I happen to live in New Madrid and have lived in New Madrid since birth. One of my best friend's dad runs the tours at the Hunter Dawson Home. I am also a decendent of the Hunter family. My parents were married inside the home, and I've been inside many times for tours. There are no ghosts. There is an excellent story behind the home, a wonderful history, but no one I know has ever seen anything unexpected. Like, I said, I've lived here for my whole life, as well as my mother and father, and my grandparents, and my great-grandparents, and so on. The home has never been 'haunted.' I know of no resident who believes this. I'm not sure I would take this back even if I did find someone who believes it. The Hunter Dawson Home should be visited for it's place in history, not for the supposed ghosts that live there. PP I just wanted to post a comment to what "PP" had to say. You say this Home has an excellent story and a wonderful history. That's funny, the historians told us about this home being in the middle of war, flood, slavery, and death. I go to New Madrid every year, and I obsessively ask people about the home. People I talk to say in the day time it is beautiful and so on...but wont even drive by at night. None means any disrespect to the home when they believe it is haunted. You can't help but feel it all over the home. (Especially the etchings on the glass.) G.N When I was seventeen years old, my grandparents took me with them on a trip down to the Missouri Bootheel to visit some of their familys' homes. While we were there, we took a tour of the Hunter-Dawson House. According to the tour guide, she has on numerous occasions heard her name called quite clearly and urgently from the upper floors--while she was downstairs alone in the house. She said it could even be heard over a noisy vacum cleaner. Apparently at least one of the spirits--yes, there's more than one!!--is friendly; we believe the spirit of the servant-lady Phylis shut the heavy door to the parlor behind us as we went in. All the outside doors were closed, thus precluding the chance of it having been merely a draft. The guide also stated that on numerous occasions the security systems will report motion in parts of the house that are at the time known to be unoccupied. ((At first it was chalked up to the blowing of the canvas curtains--until it was realized the same happened in the same room after the curtains were taken down for cleaning.)) That happened on our trip as well; our group was the last of the evening, and as we left the system showed motion in the formal dining room. MH If you have experienced paranormal activity at any of these haunted sites, please e-mail us with your photos or stories to add to the database. Page Back |