-JOHN LUDWIG/Daily Forum Jason Offutt stands outside of Roberta Hall on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University. Roberta Hall is just one of the 32 ghostly sites covered in Offutt?s new book, ?Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to the Show-Me State?s Most Spirited Spots.?
Maryville author's new book will be haunting shelves throughout state
By JOHN LUDWIG
Forum Reporter
It's that time of year again.
The sun is shining, the grass is green and lush, and the long summer days invite adventure and travel.
It's the perfect weather to pack the car and hit the road. It's the perfect weather for ghost hunting. Wait ? what?
That's the idea behind writer Jason Offutt's new book, "Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to the Show-Me State's Most Spirited Spots," a comprehensive collection of strange and mysterious places throughout the state.
Offutt said he's been interested in the weird, the unexplained and the paranormal his whole life. And while he was traveling the state to find prime candidates for his book, he looked for sites that fit a couple of criteria.
1. A site had to have a haunted reputation.
2. It had to be open to the public.
Offutt said he didn't want to go anywhere a reader wouldn't also be able to go. People need to have the freedom to explore sites themselves, he said.
"The book's not just about ghosts, it's sort of a tour guide," the author said. "That's why it came out this time of year ... because this is the start of the tourist season. And if somebody's coming to Missouri and interested in ghosts, well, then my book can point out all of the fun places to go."
In compiling his book, Offutt conducted hundreds of interviews with people who work at or live around each haunted location.
"I drove thousands of miles over a year and a half and hit 32 mostly historic spots around the state; and I had a heck of a lot of fun," he said.
Through his research, he gathered stories of inexplicable odors, disembodied voices, unexplained lights, hauntings, cold spots hanging in the air during 90-plus degree weather, items moving seemingly by themselves and more.
Of the 32 sites included in his book, Offutt visited Mark Twain Cave, the Pythian Castle, Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, Kendrick House, Workman Chapel, Hazel Ridge Cemetery, and the Jesse James Farm, among others.
There's even an in-depth chapter on Roberta Hall and the ghostly happenings that have been reported in the building for decades, right on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville.
He also visited Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, which was voted by USA Today in the early 90s as one of the top 10 most haunted spots in America.
Some people might get the heebie-jeebies just from hearing about real life haunted houses and sites of ghostly legends (let alone find the resolve to visit them first-hand, oftentimes at night), but Offutt has channeled his fascination with the paranormal into a sourcebook of Missouri history and legend.
"This is just something I've always been interested in," he said. "There's a lot of interest in the paranormal out there right now.
?Lots of people are interested in ghosts, and lots of people are interested in travel. Why put together this book? It's a travel book for people who want to visit haunted places."
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