Pythian Castle in Springfield Missouri has a long history of ghosts and hauntings. With a long history, it is no surprise that the Pythian Castle ghosts aren’t quiet. A favorite location for ghost hunting, many paranormal groups including the Ghost Adventures crew have spent time capturing evidence here.
Pythian Castle History
Pythian Castle was originally built in 1913 by the fraternal organization the Knights of Pythian and was known as the Pythian Home of Missouri. It originally served as a lodge for the organization as well as a home for orphans and widows of lodge members.
After the outbreak of WWII, the building was commandeered by the military for a price of $29,500 and converted to a service club and recreation facility for wounded soldiers as well as service members getting medical training at the O’Reilly General Hospital.
Pythian Castle also played host to German and Italian POWs that were receiving treatment or doing labor at O’Reilly General. These were housed in the Old Laundry Building behind the castle.
After 1947 it was transformed into a Veterans Administration
A local college three times turned down offers to take the building free of charge as the land was worth less than the cost to remove the building.
In 1993 it sold at auction for a mere $1,300 and then was sold again in 2003 by the current owner Tamara Finocchiaro who renovated the building, and now holds it open for tours, ghost tours
Pythian Castle Hauntings
All of the normal events of a haunting are reported at Pythian Castle. Strange noises, male and female voices, doors shutting, boxes moving on their own and the like have all been recorded.
The castle was actually certified as haunted by the Paranormal Task Force and the Ozark Paranormal Society.
Ghostly Voices
One tale of ghosts at the Pythian Castle was recorded by GhostVillage.com. A soldier was visiting the castle on leave prior to deployment overseas. While visiting the castle, he was on the second floor when he suddenly got that “I’m not alone feeling” and then heard a man and a woman talking together, despite there being no one around.
He left immediately and never went back up on the second floor alone again.
Many other people have reported strange voices as well. Here is an account from Sebourn Paranormal Investigations of a recording an EVP on their digital recorder in the basement.
John and I decided to go down to the “dungeon,” a concrete room in the back of the basement where prisoners were believed to have been kept, and a German gentleman is believed to reside now. While we were down there we decided to try to play a little game with our Maglite flashlight, which had yielded interesting results for us on our last investigation at Powhatan Courthouse. Although we did not have a video camera with us at the time, the flashlight did turn on and off at least three times on its own. More importantly, though, our audio recorder picked up a very interesting EVP at the same time. While John and I were discussing the flashlight, a male voice says, “ja ja ja,” which I discovered means “yes, yes, yes” in German. It seems more than a mere coincidence that we would pick up German words in the one room of the castle were a German prisoner was known to have been held.
Southwest Ghost Finders on one of their investigations at the Pythian Castle got an EVP reply of “I perform here” when they asked “who performs here”. This begs the question of what performer was that attached to the castle. Perhaps instead it is a spirit that chooses to perform for the frequent ghost tours that the castle holds.
Orbs in Pythian Castle
One of the more common paranormal things for people to experience is orbs in photographs. Typically people report more of these in their photographs down in the basement, but they can be seen anywhere.
In this photo see some object moving in front of the camera. While I’m generally fairly skeptical of orbs, the woman that posted this to Reddit had this to say about it
I took a bunch of pictures that night. It’s very clear what is dust. I caught dust in other pictures, small orbs that aren’t nearly as bright or solid as this one. Out of nearly 100 pictures I didn’t catch anything else even close to this. I can’t say it’s 100% absolutely an anomaly but I believe it to be at least.
doppom
Pythian Castle ghosts
While the Pythian Castle ghosts don’t seem to show themselves often, they do occasionally make their presence known visibly.
On one occasion a police officer that was on tour saw a military officer standing in the boy’s dorm.
Other people have reported shadows moving throughout the building.
One spirit that is know to reside at the castle is that of a man named Jess who was suffering from throat cancer and ultimately shot himself. It is reported that he used to get angry at people calling him by the wrong name and would set off the fire alarms.
There are even reports of a ghost cat that can be heard running and meowing upstairs.
Sources for ghosts at Pythian Castle
With its long emotional filled history, it isn’t surprising that Pythian Castle is haunted.
As mentioned previously, at least one person has taken their life there and likely more have died there over the years, especially when it was operating as a sanatorium.
There are also stories of abuse of the orphans. It is reported that they were used to shuttle laundry to and from the Castle to the adjoining building via the steam tunnels. While the rest are all unsubstantiated rumors, the orphans were said to be abused in other ways as well.
On top of all this, there were the POWs. While America generally treated their POWs very well, they were still a long way from home and I’m sure were traumatized by their experiences.
Your experiences at Pythian Castle
Have you toured Pythian Castle and had some paranormal experiences? We would love to hear about them. You can either post them down below in the comment box, or over on our paranormal group on Facebook!
One Response
Ghost cat that’s all I care about!! love my feline friends alive or passed on