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The Belvoir Winery and Inn in Liberty, Missouri is well-known in the area for being haunted. It stands on the site of what was once the Odd Fellows’ Home – a statewide home providing care and education for the orphans and elderly members of the Missouri International Order of the Odd Fellows in the early to mid-20th century.
Operating manager of the haunted hotel, Jesse Leimkuehler, says that at the height of the orphanage, about 450 children lived there. After the orphanage closed in the 1950s, a nursing home and a hospital were built on the site. As a result of so many people having utilized the services that were offered there, the remains of nearly 600 people are buried in a cemetery on the property.
Making the inn even more creepy is the fact that the power often goes out. “Anytime we have big storms like this, especially with lots of wind and things like that, I usually come out and man this for the night to make sure nothing goes wrong,” Leimkuehler said about last Tuesday night’s weather in the area.
He said that when the storm hit, five of the nine rooms in the haunted hotel were occupied. In one of them was a person who wasn’t aware of the hotel’s reputation and history. The Belvoir Winery and Inn was once featured on the Travel Channel show Kindred Spirits.
“We had one guest that came through that didn’t know there was paranormal activity here or anything like that,” he told KSHB News.
“About 2 a.m., he had a hand reach up and grab his leg underneath the sheets,” he continued. “Freaked him out at the time, but he didn’t leave. He stayed and then he told me about it in the morning.”
Leimkuehler says the power at the Missouri hotel went out about an hour later, dropping temperatures in the inn to about 55 degrees. That’s the kind of night that most people would want to experience just once, and never again.
“He told me on the way out, he said, ‘Now that I’m looking back on it, it was pretty awesome. Maybe I’ll come back and stay,'” Leimkuehler said.