Haunted by History: Tales the Land Tells
Welcome to Real Creepy Estate, where we delve into the unexplained, the mysterious, and the downright eerie. I'm your host, Jarrett Lease, a real estate agent who's been inside thousands of houses over the years. In my time on the job, I've encountered more than just impressive layouts and stylish decor. I've had my fair share of strange experiences and have listened to countless stories from homeowners about their own. I was once a bit skeptical myself, but after hearing so many accounts from the most unsuspecting sources, I couldn't deny it any longer.
Jarrett:There's something more to this world than meets the eye. Join me as we explore the paranormal one house at a time. Hey, everyone. Welcome to the show. I hope you're having a great week.
Jarrett:I wanna start by saying this podcast isn't specifically focused on Kansas. I'm open to stories from anywhere, all over the country, all over the world. If you've got a ghost story, I want to hear it no matter where it takes place. That said, a lot of my own paranormal experiences just happened to have taken place in Kansas, specifically in Lawrence, Kansas. I think there are a couple reasons for that.
Jarrett:One is that I sell homes in Lawrence, and many of them are older homes with a lot of history behind them. The other reason ties back to something I've talked about before, the idea that land itself can be haunted. Lawrence is actually a very interesting example of this. There's a lot of deep historical context here. And when you look at the land's past, it makes sense why the area might have more spiritual or lingering energy than other places.
Jarrett:So while the show isn't centered on Kansas, I do end up talking about it often, mostly because of my own personal experiences and the history that surrounds the area that I live in. But Lawrence isn't the only spooky place in Kansas. Some of the scariest stories in Kansas, in my opinion, include the Sally House in Atchison, Kansas, which is a town infamous not just for its hauntings, but also because Atchison is the hometown of Amelia Earhart. I'm going to record an entire episode on that home. Then there's Stull, Kansas, which has a notorious reputation.
Jarrett:Stull Cemetery is one of the most famous haunted spots in Kansas. It's said to be a supposed gateway to hell. Kurt Cobain actually traveled there, and rumors claim Ariana Grande has visited too, though the truth is anyone's guess. It is said that there are seven gateways to hell in the world, and Stull, Kansas is one of them. Twice a year, on Halloween and on the spring equinox between three and 4AM, the devil is said to appear in the cemetery, and there's supposedly a stairway leading to hell in the basement of an old church that has been demolished in more recent years.
Jarrett:There's no explanation for why the church was torn down, but legend says that even when it was just ruins with no ceilings, it would never get rained on. No water would ever get inside. People also claim that if you threw a glass bottle against its walls, it would hit with a thud instead of shattering. None of this has been proven, but the stories are wild. I actually visited Stoll Cemetery myself when I was in high school so that I could write a newspaper article about it, and I did not love it.
Jarrett:There was actually a fresh grave with dirt still piled high on it, which I didn't even realize that it was an active cemetery at the time. So, of course, that creeped me out. It's just a tiny plot of land, but the history and events associated with it are intense. One story tells of a priest who impregnated a woman and then claimed that she had seduced him, then he called her a witch. And the story goes that he killed her and her unborn child and then later hung himself.
Jarrett:Other accounts include a little boy who died chasing his father into a burning field and a missing man found hanging from a tree after weeks of being lost. These stories give me chills to this day. I visited the cemetery in broad daylight and was able to explore a little bit, but it's said to be heavily policed at night and around Halloween in the spring equinox. So if you're thinking about visiting, you might not be able to get in after dark. Stoll, Kansas isn't the only hot spot with hauntings nearby Lawrence.
Jarrett:Kansas City, Missouri also has its fair share of ghost stories, many of which connect to its role in the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a secret network that helped enslaved people escape to freedom in the years leading up to the Civil War. Missouri was a slave state, but it bordered Kansas and Iowa, both of which were free states. People would travel through hidden routes to escape, often hiding in secret rooms behind false walls or in basements in certain homes along the way. I've heard many ghost stories from parts of Kansas City tied to this history, and it seems like the intense fear, struggle, and tragedy of that time could have left a lingering presence, All of which brings me back to Lawrence.
Jarrett:One of the reasons I think Lawrence has so many hauntings is its robust civil war history. Recently, a friend of mine sent me an article titled site of bloody eighteen sixty three massacre named most peaceful place in Kansas. It's fascinating because Lawrence was actually voted the most peaceful place in Kansas despite its bloody past. The article references a massacre during the time of Bleeding Kansas, which was the period in the eighteen fifties and sixties when there was intense conflict over whether Kansas would enter the union as a free or slave state. Ultimately, Kansas did enter the union as a free state, but that didn't come without much turmoil.
Jarrett:During the eighteen sixty three massacre noted in the article, between a hundred and fifty and two hundred men were killed in Lawrence. When you look at the city during that period, there's so much history. Some of the buildings that were standing then are still standing today, while others are gone. It's really interesting to consider how the history, the violence, and the stories tied to the land itself could be one of the reasons why Lawrence has such a strong reputation for hauntings. Some of the stories I've personally heard about hauntings in Lawrence are connected to the civil war.
Jarrett:People seeing apparitions of soldiers, especially near older parts of downtown. But it's not just the civil war that left an imprint here. Lawrence also has a deep Native American history. The Kansas River runs right through town, and long before the city as we know it existed, entire civilizations lived along its banks. You can almost feel that history in certain places.
Jarrett:I think I may have a bit of a unique lens on this because I'm lucky enough to go inside so many historic homes as part of my work. Last year, I sold two properties right on the Kansas River, both dating back to the eighteen hundreds. One of them actually used to be an old hotel, which was just another cool fact about it. The owners of the property still had the original paperwork, documents that traced ownership all the way back to when Native American tribes lived on that land. I believe that the Delaware tribe originally owned the land that that house stood on if I remember correctly, which that's incredible to see in writing all these years later.
Jarrett:Another home I sold not long after that one also overlooked the river. One day when I was in the front yard of that home, I looked up and saw five bald eagles perched in the trees above. They live in that area and hunt along the river, which makes perfect sense because people lived by that water for the very same reasons. The fertile soil, the fish, the easy access to resources. It's rich land, both literally and spiritually.
Jarrett:And interestingly enough, that same property sat on land that was purchased by a former slave. I believe it was the very first land in Kansas ever sold to a former slave. Just standing on that property, knowing the history, the struggles and triumphs tied to that land, it's incredibly powerful. When you stand on ground like that with layers of history, struggle, and survival beneath your feet, you can feel something powerful there. I've heard stories of people seeing Native American apparitions in Lawrence.
Jarrett:And with history like this, it's really no surprise. When you're in these places, it's hard to deny that there's something beyond what we can see. This is not to say that homes that stand on land like this are haunted. Because in the case of these homes that I sold, I actually do not believe that they were haunted. But it's all to say that this is exactly why I believe that you could live in any home, even a brand new one.
Jarrett:And if it sits on land like this, where things happened, where people lived, it is a possibility that it could be haunted. One of my favorite things about talking about the paranormal, even though I'll be first to admit that I'm a total scaredy cat, is that it forces you to think about the world differently. I was honestly hesitant to start this podcast because I was worried it might open me up to things that I didn't really want in my life, But I've learned that whether I talk about it or not, strange things still happen. So I might as well talk about them. For me, exploring the paranormal is also a way of exploring connection.
Jarrett:We live in strange, sometimes violent, divided times. But when you really think about it, we're all part of the same story. We all worry, dream, love, and lose. We all end up in the same place in the end. And I think that the paranormal reminds us of that in a weird, haunting way.
Jarrett:It levels the playing field. Studying or even just thinking about the supernatural reminds me that there's something beyond this current existence, something bigger, something we can't explain. It's a reminder that we're only here for a brief time and that history, both seen and unseen, is still shaping the world around us. I've always been drawn to people's stories, to the way they lived and what they left behind. I studied cultural anthropology at the University of Kansas.
Jarrett:So I've always been interested in understanding people, places, and traditions through their cultural context. Maybe that's why I see the paranormal as just another piece of that. It's the part of history that refuses to fade away. Okay. So that's it for today.
Jarrett:A little insight as to why I focus on Lawrence so much and why its history makes it such a hotspot for hauntings. Next episode, though, we're heading out of Kansas to the Pacific Northwest where I had a paranormal experience with a friend of mine. She has given me permission to share her side too, which honestly is even creepier than mine. And fittingly, it all happened around Halloween just a few years ago. In the meantime, over the next couple of weeks, I'll be on the road visiting a couple national parks.
Jarrett:Honestly, I haven't done any research into hauntings or anything like that in these parks because I really don't wanna know. I feel like researching hauntings in national parks is kind of like researching crime. It's totally opening a can of worms because there is so much. It's just very scary. There's so much history.
Jarrett:And if you dig too deep, it can get very intense. So I'm just going to enjoy the land and let it speak for itself. Some of my favorite parks are the ones where you can really feel the history of the people who lived there. I love Mesa Verde with its cave dwellings, Capitol Reef with its petroglyphs, and Zion along with the Slot Canyon just outside of it, where you can still see footprints in the stone from people who climbed up and took shelter from the elements. The history of those civilizations is incredible.
Jarrett:And just standing in those places, imagining the lives of the people who lived there, it's mesmerizing. Most national parks have incredibly deep history and are undoubtedly haunted in some way. But for the ones I'll be visiting this time, I'm just going to ignore that. I wanna sleep at night and not be scared. Before I go today, I wanna mention a couple more things.
Jarrett:First, if you're in Lawrence, Kansas City, or anywhere nearby, the Lawrence Arts Center is hosting a ghosting Lawrence tour on October 2025. I've never been, but I think they do it every year, and some tours run multiple times a day. I hear that some of them are family friendly if you wanna bring your kids. I'm planning on checking it out myself this year just to see what it's all about. They'll be covering some of the town's most haunted spots with reenactments and a bit of history behind the hauntings, which I think will be really interesting and fun.
Jarrett:And second, this is a brand new podcast, and while I have plenty of creepy stories of my own, nothing excites me more than hearing yours. Bone chilling or just plain bizarre, I want it all. Haunted houses, eerie neighbors, unexplained noises, anything that makes your skin crawl. No story is too small or too strange. Yours could be the perfect feature on the next episode.
Jarrett:Send your stories to hello@realcreepyestate.com. Can't wait to hear them. Talk to you next time. That concludes this episode of real creepy estate. Thanks for listening.
Jarrett:Talk to you next time.
