AMERICAN HAUNTINGS GHOST HUNTS

NIGHT AT THE DILLINGHAM-LEWIS HOUSE
BLUE SPRINGS, MISSOURI
NEXT AVAILABLE DATE:
8:00 pm TO 2:00 am
$56 PER PERSON

another date coming soon!

Join American Hauntings at a place so haunted that the resident ghosts can’t be content to merely remain within the walls of this historic home — they sometimes venture out to infest the entire neighborhood! We hope you’re brave enough to join us, and if you are, get signed up early because we have VERY limited spots for this event!

Blue Springs, Missouri, on the way to Kansas City, has always been a popular spot for travelers. For centuries, Native Americans utilized the springs for which the town would later be named. Those traveling west often stopped at the springs on their way to Independence, which put many on the trail to western settlement. A town grew up around the springs and attracted many who chose to stay — some even after their deaths.

Morgan Vachel Dillingham was born in 1843. While still a young man, he joined the Confederate military at the start of the Civil War, during which he fought in a number of battles and was badly wounded. When he returned from the war, he found that this family home had been inhabited by the Mock family. As it turned out, this wasn’t a problem because he fell in love with and married one of the Mock daughters, Melvina.

Morgan and Melvina built the Dillingham house in Blue Springs and Morgan went into business. He became a bank president and opened a mercantile store that was very successful for decades. He also purchased a large farm in Jackson County, Missouri. He passed away in 1925.

Morgan and Melvina’s son, David, was born in 1873. He married Mary Estella Spicer in 1898 and they built a home on property adjacent to the Dillingham house at 15th and Main in Blue Springs. Later, their daughter, Margaret, married Wade Brownfield, and they raised a family together in the house. Today, the Brownfield House is a museum and houses the local historical society.

But the family was not untouched by tragedy. David Dillingham owned and operated a store and a gas station in the early twentieth century. In 1955, he was shot and killed during a botched robbery at the store.

After the elder Dillinghams passed away, their home was sold to Narra Lewis, who was a local character in her own right. She was a world traveler, known for her lavish parties, famous for her claim to have met every American president from Lincoln to Roosevelt, and infamous after a hatchet-swinging raid on a local saloon in the style of Carrie Nation. She purchased the house in 1928 — three years after Morgan’s death — and lived there until her death in 1948.

The next owner of the house was Arthur Frank Cummins, who moved in on October 7, 1949. He died in the house on March 31, 1966 — for reasons unknown. Although others died while living in the house, details on whether they died inside the house are sketchy. There is no question, though, that Arthur’s death remains the most mysterious.

In 1977, the Historical Society of Blue Springs purchased the Dillingham-Lewis House to use and operate as their headquarters. The house today is a museum filled with period pieces that take you back into the early 1900s.

And it’s a place that has earned a reputation for its ghosts.

Over the last few decades, guests and staff members have had unnerving encounters in the house. They have seen apparitions of a man who looks like Morgan Dillingham and have heard disembodied footsteps. Closet doors open and close by themselves. A top hat, kept on display in one room, has been known to move to other rooms when the house is empty. People have been touched by unseen hands. At a board meeting one night, one of the members told the president that she was convinced that someone was tapping her on the shoulder to get her attention. When she looked, no one was there.

Who might be the next person to encounter the resident ghosts? Perhaps it will be you…

This is your chance to experience the haunting and help the staff members at the museum solve the mystery of who some of the lingering spirits in the house might be. Who is in the children's room on the 2nd floor? Who is the lady that has been seen standing in the windows? Who is the hooded and robed figure that is seen lurking in the back of the basement?

This is your chance to find out — join us at our next event!