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Sometimes late at night after the cleaning crews have left and most office workers are long gone, an elderly man and woman have been seen walking with arms linked along the hallways of the Depression-era Clay County courthouse on Liberty Square.
 At other times in other buildings, water runs, doors open unexpectedly, tools disappear, a shadowy presence is felt or a baby cries — all with no explanation. Are these sounds of someone’s overactive imagination, or are there ghosts hanging around town?
Those who sign up for a ghostly tour of Liberty scheduled for Saturday, June 5, will learn where there could be paranormal activity.
Beth Meyer, owner of Ghost Tours of Missouri, a company that specializes in paranormal investigations and ghost tours, said a 40-seat bus would depart at 8 p.m. Saturday, June 5, from the Corner Bar, 200 E. Kansas St. She said the tour costs $19.50 per person and lasts nearly two hours. Tickets can be purchased online at www.ghosttourmissiouri.com.
Megan Garrison, manager of the Corner Bar, said she believes the place where she works is haunted.
“We get weird things happening,” Garrison said. “The men’s toilet will flush, the back door will open and there’s no one there, and the water turns on by itself. I don’t like to be here alone, especially on a Sunday.”
Meyer said her company plans to do an investigation of the bar in hopes that the ghost will reveal it self.
“Liberty has so much history and so much has happened here,” Meyer said.
Meyer said the bus would travel around the older sections of downtown, to the Henry Routt house, Stone-Yancey Bed & Breakfast, William Jewell College and Fairview Cemetery.
The college, which was established in 1849, is a treasure trove of ghostly tales, Meyer said. A student who drowned in the pool can reportedly be heard shouting “mom, mom;” a tall, lanky man wearing overalls appears in the theater, as does a glowing woman who sits in the same seat, Meyer said.
Jewell Hall served as a hospital for Union soldiers during the Civil War and a mass grave is located on the campus grounds. Meyer said the tour would stop for a short stroll through Mount Memorial Cemetery at the college and at Fairview Cemetery.
Brenda Berger of Liberty, a tour guide, has been doing research about places where ghosts have been seen or felt in structures open to the public.
Berger said her family settled here in the 1820s and she is fascinated by the area’s history. Liberty was established in 1822.
“There is so much to be learned by those who have gone before us,” Berger said. “Being part of the ghost tours is a great way to share these stories, since we believe that without the history, there are no haunts.”
Berger said one of her favorite stories is about Dr. Goodson, who had a medical office on the Square, now preserved upstairs at the Clay County Museum.
“When he would operate, the doctor used to throw body parts out the window,” she said.
Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 781-4941 or
aborgedalen@npgco.com
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