Strange Things Happen in Kansas

Strawberry Hill Mansion Museum and Cultural Center is located in Kansas City. It is a Queen Anne Style 3 story mansion with 42 rooms and an attic and basement. The mansion was the home of the Scroggs family and later was owned by the Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King, who ran the St. John’s Children’s Home. Inside the home one can see lovely stain and leaded glass windows, tile faced fireplaces and there is even a chapel. The third floor is not open to the public but used for private events. It was once the Scroggs grand ballroom and later used by the nuns as a classroom. The 2nd floor housed the family’s and servants bedrooms and the dormitories for the orphaned children. Today it is part of the museum tour. All the rooms contain toys, furnishings and artifacts from the mansion’s long history. One of the rooms on this floor is called the Pope’s Room usually kept locked but visitors can get to see the objects that Pope John Paul the 2nd used during his U.S. tour. On the 1st floor is the entry hall, the parlors, the men’s library, the main dining hall and children’s dining hall, the old kitchen, with stairs that lead up to the 2nd floor and the chapel addition. The basement houses the big kitchen and a variety of rooms where practical activities take place.

The original mansion was built in 1887 for the family of successful attorney John B. Scroggs who was married to a widow Margaret E. Kerstetter Cruise. The site chosen was Splitlog’s Hill from which one could see both the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. Margaret had 4 children. Her eldest son Eugene died as a young man and her three surviving children Marice, Emma and Delia grew up in the mansion. After Margaret died in 1915 Emma and her husband John Feldman inherited the mansion.

There is a male entity which hasn’t found his peace. It is thought that perhaps he was a family member. Then there is "The Lady in Red" who was a homeless woman, taken in by the sisters. She became pregnant and died when she suffered a botched abortion. Another unknown female entity likes the 2nd floor and sometimes gets frustrated and angry at the living. The 1st floor is visited by an unknown presence as well and some of the children who lived here must of caught illnesses and died.

A female entity known as "The Lady in Red" appears to the living and always asks the same question, "Where’s the house of the priest?" Then she disappears. She has been seen all over the mansion. Two nuns saw the entity walking in the chapel and standing at the altar. She’s described as wearing red clothing in the style of the 40s, with red hair and trailing blood. She also asked the nuns her question. The entity has appeared in solid form outside a first floor window and appeared to a tour guide again inquiring about the house of the priest and has appeared before a group of women preparing food for a museum event in the basement during the 1990s. She was wearing the same red outfit mentioned before but this time she wasn’t trailing blood. "The Lady in Red" is a friendly entity who has said, "Hi there," to the staff and the living who visit the museum.

At times the lights in the front and the back have turned themselves on after the museum has been locked up for the evening. Two Ghost Virgil Investigators heard footsteps above them in the attic. A male entity haunts the 3rd floor. A woman caterer setting up for an event opened a closet door and got a shock when she saw a male apparition sitting in the back of the closet, waving his hands in front of himself and looking stern. He reached out to grab her. The woman screamed out in fright and ran down the stairs. The male apparition kept tapping her on the shoulder and chased her all the way downstairs disappearing on the first floor. She later identified the apparition as that of James A. Cruise from his picture in the ladies parlor. Her back where he touched her was ice cold.

Psychics have detected a female presence in the master bedroom on the 2nd floor. Music and singing have been heard coming from the Nun’s Hallway and an angry presence was detected here by a Ghost Virgil investigator in May 2006. Strangely enough the smell of baby powder has also been detected.

One Christmas the staff was shocked to see that the Pope’s Room which is usually locked was open and that the crèche in the Children’s dormitory had been changed. Hay was spread all over the floor and another baby Jesus had joined the baby Jesus which had been left in the display.

Footsteps of an unseen presence have been heard coming down the hall toward the office on the 1st floor. The heavy swing door between the main dining room and the children’s dining room has been known to swing open and closed all by itself.

Besides the "Lady in Red" it is commonly thought that all entities still come to the chapel to worship. A group of psychics have sensed entities sitting in the pews. Ghost Virgil investigators have picked up high unexplained electromagnetic field (EMF) levels and there have been a few members who have thought they heard men singing and chanting although the equipment didn’t pick this up.

The entity of a little girl has been seen rocking in a chair in the tower room on the 1st floor and a group of psychics have felt the presence of several children playing and moving about the recreation room in the basement.

Marice Schwalm a famed paranormal investigator did an investigation in the Strawberry Hill Mansion Museum and Cultural Center. In the 2nd floor hallway he heard a knock and a friendly, "Hello there!" Then through a lucid dream he discovered that this was the only home the female entity had. She liked the place because it brought back warm memories of the nuns who had been kind to her. He also found out the date of her death. She had died from a botched abortion and was being haunted by the spirit of the dead child. The entity was seeking the priest to be forgiven and an exorcism. In 2006 a professional group of Ghost Virgil investigators conducted two 4 hour sessions here seeking out evidence of the paranormal. They got some strong results for evaluation.

A well-known surgeon built a two story bungalow in 1890 in El Dorado, in Butler County. The house has four bedrooms, two on the 2nd floor and the master bedroom on the 1st floor. There is also a large basement and it has a large yard with huge, beautiful ancient trees. At the time the surgeon built this house there was no hospital in Butler County so he used the basement as an operating room and let his patients recuperate in the upstairs bedrooms.

From 1967 – 1973 the house was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Richardson who had two daughters. They had been living in the house for a month when their 12 year old daughter headed up to her bedroom on the 2nd floor. She turned off the light and got into bed when she thought she heard her mother’s footsteps coming up the stairs. The footsteps entered her room stopping at the head of the bed. She opened her eyes expecting to see her mom but no one was there. She got up quickly and ran back downstairs to find out that on one from the family had come upstairs. Several days later the girl’s closet door started to open and shut by itself. She ran to her sister’s room only to see that her sister was also standing and watching her closet door open and shut. The frightened girl’s didn’t say anything to their parents.

Soon dresser drawers were also opening and shutting on their own and coming home from school they would find the dresser drawers wide open. Leaving for school they would pull down the window shades in their rooms but coming home the shades were always up even though no one had been home all day. Finally the two sisters told their mother about the happenings. Shortly after this the three of them started seeing an apparition of a large, very tall man, in different areas of the house. At times they just caught a glimpse of him leaving a room. He appeared to be going about his own business. The apparition had been with them for 2 years when Mrs. Richardson told her husband about their experiences. Mr. Richardson just laughed about it. Then his wife and daughters went out of town for a weekend. Sleeping in the master bedroom downstairs Mr. Richardson was suddenly awoken by slamming and banging noises. Footsteps were running swiftly up and down the stairs. He got dressed quickly and ran from the house taking refuge in an all night restaurant. After that he never doubted his family’s stories.

The house was sold in 1973 but the new owner lived there for only one year. The house changes owners and renters frequently because of ghostly activities.