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The History: Morgan County, Missouri was organized January 5, 1833, and was named for Daniel Morgan, a Revolutionary War general. The County consists of 594 square miles and has an approximate population of 20,000.
In 1836, Morgan County’s first courthouse in the frontier town of Versailles was a log building that was purchased and reconstructed on the square. It remained there in service until 1843, when it was removed in favor of a more permanent building. The county's second courthouse, built in 1844, was a rectangular, two-story, brick building. After more than forty years of continuous use, the voters agreed to build a third courthouse, but in 1887, while the new building was under construction, the old building was damaged by fire. The still hard-at-work court house is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Claims: All the claims of paranormal activity have been centered in the basement. The basement was used as the county jail until the Morgan County Justice Center was built several years ago. After the last prisoners were moved out several of the county offices were moved to the basement. No offices are in the basement at this time and the old jail area is currently used as storage. Current and former employees have claimed to see shadows and hear file cabinet drawers being opened and closed when no one was in the area. Voices have also been heard in the basement. Our Findings: We investigated the Morgan County Courthouse on two different dates about 3 weeks apart. Night one was a clear night with evening temps around 40°F. Wind speed was 14 mph from the southwest. No precipitation. While we did catch a picture of a dark mass in the basement most of the activity, much to our surprise, was concentrated on the 4th floor. We saw shadows, heard voices and experienced cold spots. One of the best EVPs we have every captured was heard on the 4th floor. It is clearly the sound of someone whistling a tune. We later uncovered evidence that a former 40-year court clerk used to whistle while she worked on the 4th floor. We believe that is who we heard. Night two was foggy with a little rain. The temperature was about 57°F, with very light winds from the south. During this investigation we did capture some very faint EVPs, saw shadows, heard more whistling and one of our investigators was touched while in one of the old jail cells. During both investigations we heard an abundance of noises that sounded like footsteps, doors opening and closing and light switches being turned off and on. However, outside noise is easily heard inside the courthouse and we couldn’t rule out the possibility of the sounds coming from outside. The Morgan County Courthouse is a very clean, comfortable location to investigation. We certainly look forward to returning for another investigation soon! |