night at the governor thomas fletcher house
hillsboro, missouri
next available date: january 10, 2020
7:00 pm to 1:00 am
$56 per person (very limited spots!)
click here for reservations!
The stories that you may have hear about this legendary Missouri home are true — this house is haunted? Aren’t convinced by newspaper stories and second-hand accounts? This is your chance to find out for yourself! Join American Hauntings at the former home of a Missouri governor and perhaps experience its former occupants face-to-face. We’ll be taking along a very limited number of ghost hunters to explore this house, so don’t miss out on your chance!
Thomas Clement Fletcher was born in the city of Herculaneum, Missouri, on January 17, 1827. He was the first Missouri governor who was born in the state and was governor at the end of the Civil War and charged with restoring order to the war-torn state. As a child, Fletcher’s family owned slaves, but he became an abolitionist as a young man. He began his public service at 17, when he was elected to a position in the circuit clerk’s office in 1849.
In 1851, he built this house in Hillsboro for his new wife. It began as a two-room log cabin, with a living area on the first floor and a single bedroom upstairs. The couple lived there until 1857, when Fletcher became a lawyer and they moved to St. Louis. He partnered with Louis J. Rankin and helped to lay out the city of De Soto. He bought a house and moved his family there in 1860, when he helped to form the state’s Republican Party. He served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, where he supported the nomination of Abraham Lincoln.
But things weren’t going well in Missouri for Lincoln and the Republicans. The Missouri governor at the time was Claiborne Fox Jackson, a Southern sympathizer who was pro-slavery and a supporter of secession. He had won the election portraying himself as a moderate and a supporter of the Union, but once elected, he pushed for secession. Jackson then prepared a militia with the hopes of capturing the St. Louis arsenal. When Union commander Nathaniel Lyon captured a militia training camp named after Jackson near St. Louis, both sides prepared for war. Lyon then led forces to capture the state capitol and Jackson, his supporters, and most of the state legislature fled.
Meanwhile, Fletcher was fighting for the Union. He served as assistant provost marshal general in St. Louis before receiving his commission as colonel of the 31st Missouri Volunteers in October of 1862. Fletcher saw action with Blair’s brigade at Chickasaw Bayou, north of Vicksburg, on December 19, 1862, where he was wounded and captured. He spent the next five months in Libby Prison at Richmond. Fletcher later commanded the 47th Missouri Volunteers under General Thomas C. Ewing at the Battle of Pilot Knob. After the battle, Fletcher was made a brigadier general of volunteers.
Fletcher was elected as Missouri’s governor in 1864 and took office in January of 1865. While in office, he drew up the documents to emancipate the state’s slaves and worked to bring opposing sides together again. His term ended in 1869 and he returned to practicing law for the remainder of his life. He died in 1899 after an apparent stroke.
The house in Hillsboro had its own life after the Fletchers moved to St. Louis. It was sold to his brother-in-law E.T. Honey and his family remained there — making several additions — until 1920, when it was sold to Ware Evans. In time, it was abandoned and sat vacant for many years. In the early 1970s, it was rescued by the Jefferson Heritage and Landmarks Corporation and the Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Commission. They restored the house and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It remains today as a museum, devoted to the history of Governor Fletcher.
And many believe that he — or at least some of the past residents — remain there today.
Since the restoration of the building, many unusual and unexplained occurrences have been reported, including the smell of bread baking in the kitchen, music being played on the piano, mysterious footsteps, voices, whispers, cold spots, and the feeling of being watched throughout the house.
Ready to experience this for yourself? This is your chance to discover Missouri history at what has been called one of the most eerie house in the state!