The John Wornall House Museum
Location Information
Date:6th August, 2005 Type:Business
Location Title:The John Wornall House Museum City/State:Kansas City, MO
Investigation Times:07:00 PM - 09:30 PM Status:Analysis
Weather Information
Sunrise:06:23 AM Sunset:08:24 PM
High Temperature:89 °F Low Temperature:66 °F
Sky Condition:Clear Wind:ENE at 5 mph
Humidity:66% Precipitation:0%
Lunar Phase:Waxing Crescent % disk visible:5%
Solar X-Rays:Active Geomagnetic Field:Storm
Pressure:30.1 mmHg
Investigators Present
Jenny Kerr
Beth McLenaghan
Hugh McLenaghan
Kelli Patrick
Becky Ray
Location History
Question: How long have you lived here?
Answer: It is a museum, no one lives there.
Question: When did the phenomena start?
Answer: Years ago
Question: Any certain hour of the day or certain rooms?
Answer: No
Question: Any visual apparations?
Answer: Yes, a Civil War person seen for a split second and something hiding in the kitchen
Question: Any apports (things appearing out of nowhere)?
Answer: No
Question: Any sounds?
Answer: Yes, footsteps, voices
Question: Any cold spots?
Answer: Yes, on the stairway
Question: Any touches or caresses?
Answer: Yes
Question: Any physical attacks?
Answer: When the staff would lean over the railing of the stairs to turn the light out, something pushes them back so they won't fall
Question: Any smells?
Answer: pipe tobacco
Question: Are you or any member of the family under stress?
Answer: No
Question: Any past investigations, priests or clergy?
Answer: No
Question: Any use of Ouija boards, seances, automatic writing, etc?
Answer: No
Question: Did previous occupants, neighbors or landlords know of phenomena?
Answer: Visitors
Question: How far back can you trace the history of the property?
Answer: 1843
Question: Have there been any deaths or violent occurances in the the property?
Answer: Yes, family members and it was also used as a Civil War field hospital
Investigators Notes
Jenny Kerr:I used my Epson PhotoPC digital camera w/o flash inside the Wornall home. What a house! It is so beautiful inside, the layout and the old time furniture is wonderful. I did not have any particular rooms that I felt strange in. Walking up the stairs to the second floor I did feel an uneasy tingling through out my body. The kitchen smelled wonderful from the fireplace ashes remaining from a previous usage 3 years ago. I took a total of 70 pictures. Forty-five inside and the ramaining outside. I captured nothing inside the home and the only thing captured outside were dust orbs.
Beth McLenaghan:By and large this was an interesting place to investigate. =) I felt creeped out in the upper level, while going between the master bedroom and the room adjacent to it, and then again once while standing on the landing at the top of the stairs on the second floor. While descending the stairs after the initial tour, I experienced an odd event- at first I assumed I had just lost my balance, but that's not accurate- I was leaning over the railing, envious of how beautiful the staircase would be with Christmas garland and lights running up it, when I felt myself pushed (somewhere between gently and insistently) back against the wall, as though something had been afraid I would fall over the railing. That was the first real physical experience I've ever had of the paranormal.
Hugh McLenaghan:This was an interesting building, lots of cool stuff in there, but for me there really wasn't much going on paranormal-wise. I didn't feel or hear anything and didn't capture anything on video.
Kelli Patrick:From the interviews of the staff, there are reports of a smell of pipe tobacco in the office area (once used as a relatives bedroom), feelings of being watched/followed throughout the house,unexplainable voices, footsteps, doors shutting, etc. A man dressed in a Civil War uniform smoking on the landing of the stairs has been seen, but only for a split second. The staff also report that they have seen a person bent down in front of the fireplace in the kitchen. As soon as the door opens, it hides. The office, stairway landing, kitchen and upstairs bathroom seem to be the most active areas in the house. Here are some details of what the staff have felt, seen or heard: Misty images or shapes, shadow people have been seen, feelings of fear or dread (only once), voices heard, sensations of being touched, feelings of being watched or not being alone, footsteps heard in the area, pleasant smells (pipe tobacco), cold spots on stairway and lower hall entry, breezes felt around them on the stairway. Equipment I used: Sony Nightshot Video Camera, 35mm camera (outside of house only), laser thermometer. I filmed in the kitchen (facing the fireplace), the living room facing the piano (where I saw a lady in a period piece long dark blue dress sitting, playing the piano years ago-she was not an actor nor alive), and the entry hall facing the first landing (corner). Nothing was seen or heard on video besides what I was filming. At the end of the tape, my video is still pointing up at the first landing corner. We all leave to film the outside of the house (no one is in the house). My video records something or someone snapping, like someone would snap their fingers, but it is a single snap next to the camera. About every 30 seconds, this goes on. Becky had her video camera facing the other corner of the first landing and was stationed approx. 5 feet from mine. Hers didn't record any of the snapping. The pictures that I took w/ my 35mm camera doesn't show anything besides a beautiful house inside and out.
Becky Ray:From the first time I walked through this home, I felt welcome and most comfortable in the kitchen. The smells of baking and busy kitchen atmosphere are still present today. To me, this was the "heart" of the house. Kelli and I started our night in the kitchen, and we were getting a very odd EMF reading from my Gaussmaster around an apron and broom hanging on an external wall. The broom was a re-creation and it wasn't very old, so that part was odd. The EMF was low, right around 2, so it was in the correct range for paranormal activity. The Director's son was with Kelli and I at the time, and he came over to move the broom to see if that had any effect on the reading. At the exact moment he touched the broom, the motion detector that Kelli had set up in the parlor next to the kitchen goes off and my meter spikes! The room was suddenly filled with loud obnoxious sound! Kelli ran out to shut off the motion detector and I turn to see what was is going on in the room. It was then that I noticed that my Cell Sensor I had left on was also going wild! For about 15 seconds I stand there looking between my Cell Sensor flashing and the pass through window to the room Kelli is in yelling "Kelli, my meters are going crazy!" thinking "what is going on?!" waiting for the full figure apparition to come walking in the room... until Kelli gets her motion detector shut off and I hear... that the central air had kicked on. THAT's what triggered the motion detector and set off both of my EMFs. Kelli has that moment of bravery on my part on her video. We never did figure out what the deal with the broom area was, as there is nothing on the other side of the wall except outdoors.
When we went to check out the cellar, I left my nightshot video pointed where some of the employees stated they had seen movement as they entered the kitchen. Upon viewing my video from that night, I discovered that within seconds after everyone left the kitchen, something moves the strings on the roped off area. View this in our video section.
Throughout the rest of the home, the humidity was extremely high, therefore our EMF meters were not overly active. I personally feel there is activity in this historic home, however, and can't wait to return!