Ray County Museum Investigation

This building was built in 1909 and opened in 1910 at a cost of $19,491. There is another poor farm which is north and west of town and was built in Monroe County and it was platted and built in 1855. This building ran for 50 years as a poor farm and several administrators lived on site. Close to 1500-200 people went through here.

This was a real working farm. They had smoke houses, milk cows and vegetable gardens. It continued through the 1950s and the county still ran it but by that time it wasn’t much of a working farm anymore. It was more elderly people at that point. It became more of a rest home. In 1971, the new nursing home east of town became a place where the county decided to move all of the people to that new location.

In 1973 the Historical Society managed to wrangle two rooms out of it and by 1976 we had the whole building. One of the ways the Historical Society fund-raises in through ghost hunting and paranormal tours as well as general admission to explore their history.

There are three stories, 38 rooms covering over 14,424 square feet of space loaded with artifacts from the past from the 1800s right up to the present. There is a room inside the building designated as the chapel.

Over 200 people have died in this building. Some are buried in the back of the house, while others are interred in the Ray County Cemetery located a few hundred feet behind the building. That cemetery was at one time much larger than it is today.

In the 1980s or 90s, a Boy Scout group did some research on the cemetery and their work was instrumental in providing information which eventually was implemented into the large marker that was placed at the front of the cemetery with names and dates of many who were buried there.

Address:  901 W. Royle St., Richmond, MO 64085

Phone: 816-776-2305

Owner: Ray County

Curator: Cathy Gottsch

Website: https://raycountymuseum.org

Hauntings: In the basement are three jail cells. The basement used to be more open than it is today. There used to be between 8-10 cells down there. There were shackles that were sometimes used for unruly prisoners. That room has had some intense energy in the past.  Many people have had experiences while inside that cell.

The curator was down in the basement with the group, Paranormal Task Force. She experienced some energy in the room that wasn’t visible but definitely there and she could not take her eyes off the area where she believed the energy was. The energy continued to get stronger and stronger to the point that everyone had to leave that area. It was a profound sadness but also an anger. She seems to attract whatever it downstairs and has had quite a few experiences while coming down the stairs. It’s almost as though something or someone is on her to the point where she has to leave the area. A lot of this activity has occurred in the last six months prior to our investigation of the museum.

Reports of footsteps headed down the stairs toward the basement. Motion sensor “cat balls” and Paranormal Music Boxes went off pretty regularly when other teams have investigated the basement.

The current curator, at one time, actually saw the apparition of the former curator in the building. They were friends in life. Her friend, Linda, just smiled at her! Shadow figures walk through the main floor hallways. She saw one upstairs during the day approximately a year before our visit. It was an undefined shape. It moved down the hallway, blocked a mannequin out and moved into a room. A lot of people have heard footsteps running down the upstairs hallway.

There have been sounds of glass or large objects hitting the floor and breaking but there’s never any evidence of anything that fell. Someone got scratched in one of the rooms upstairs in the past.

The Ghost Research Society investigated the Ray County Museum on September 30, 2023 and the team members included: Charles Williams, Mike Rosario and  Dale Kaczmarek, with help from Raylene Swinock.

Equipment setup: A couple of camcorders were employed both on the main floor and in the Basement area near the jail cells, Phasma Box, Soul Receiver, Tri-Field Natural EM Meter, K-II Meter, Samsung Galaxy S-21 Slim Ultra, digital recorders, full spectrum cameras, GoPro camera, Zoom recorder and various IR illumination where needed. One camcorder was stationed on the main floor facing the entrance to the building on the main floor. A REM Epod was placed on the floor of the Basement near the cells.

Experiments performed: Two EVP sessions were conducted. One in the Basement by the jail cells using the Ovilus V in both dictionary and phonetic modes and the Soul Receiver device. The other session was conducted upstairs near a large piano using the Soul Receiver device.

Personal experiences:

Mike Rosario: For this investigation, we traveled to the Ray County Museum and Historical Society in Richmond, Missouri. This took off on Saturday, September 30, 2023, at approximately 9:00pm with Dale Kaczmarek, Chuck Williams, and me. The night’s weather was slightly warm, with partly-cloudy skies and calm.  Equipment I used in this investigation were my K-II Meter; a Philips VoiceTracer Digital Voice Recorder; a DVC 4K Ultra HD 48mp Night Shot Digital Video Camcorder with an LED IR Light, and FujiFilm FinePix A330 3.2mp Digital Camera for interior shots.

For this investigation, I was accompanied primarily by Dale and Chuck during the basement, and first floor level investigations. I first began by doing my usual K-II sweeps in and around the basement area to get some base readings. Around a steady 0.9-1.2mG reading.  The first floor also had a little fluctuation, around 0.7-1.1mG action at times, but not too much. I had my IR camera stationed near the rear section of the first floor for about one hour or so, concentrating on that main hall, all the way down towards the main foyer of the museum. EVP sessions were conducted on all two levels: basement, and first floors. These main areas of the building yielded some interesting results with the Phasma Box ITC device sessions, mainly. A very interesting night, however! 

Upon reviewing all of my evidence, I did not capture any video or photographic evidence, but did capture some interesting audio whilst during our EVP Phasma Box session on the two floors of the building. Various disembodied voices without the ITC device were also heard on the first floor. In the basement area, I did experience some heaviness, and there was a thickness in the air at times. It was an overall very productive, fun night, and can’t wait to visit again!

Charles Williams: Zoom Recorder, Go Pro Camera, IR Lights, Melmeter, and Full Spectrum Camera were used throughout the building. I did not have any personal experiences.

Downstairs near jail cells, EVP sessions included spirit box, another session in the Lobby.  Intelligent responses in basement included number of fingers help up, calling the dog’s name and piano music on spirit box in Lobby, by a piano. 

Dale Kaczmarek: The only personal experience that I had was a slight headache when we entered the Basement by the jail cells. Other than that the building was pretty quiet. I did not take any unusual pictures or video but the Ovilus V was very active in spitting out a lot of random words; some that made sense to the area we were in, others not.

Evidence collected:

Chuck rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Lobby near the piano, the device repeatedly said what sounded like, “Chuck” over and over again.

Dad rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Basement, a question was asked, “Who’d they keep in these cells?” The device responded with, “Dad.”

Dale property rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Lobby, the device blurted out, “Dale property.”

Dale what’s your name today Tom rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Lobby, the device rambles on and says, “Dale what’s your name today” and then answers itself with the name, “Tom.”

Hello rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement by the jail cells, a question was asked, “What that a hello?” Just as the question was asked a “Hello” came through the device.

Help me rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Basement by the jail cells, a female voice came through and said, “Help me.”

Hi hi howdy rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement by the jail cells, the device spits out, “Hi hi howdy.”

Jack1 rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Basement near the jail cells, the device said the name, “Jack.”

Jack2 rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Basement near the jail cells, the device once again said the name, “Jack.”

My baby Mark rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Lobby, a question was asked, “Who used to sit in that little jump chair?” The device responded with, “My baby Mark.”

Piano music rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Lobby what sounds like “Piano music” came through the device.

Three one rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Basement near the jail cells, a question was asked, “Ok, how many now?” (Referring to how many fingers I have up.) The device said, “Three3.” A follow up question indicating one finger up, the device clearly said, “One.”

Three1 rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Basement near the jail cells, a question was asked, “How many women are in this building?” The device responded with, “Three.”

Three2 rcm.MP4 – while conducting a Soul Receiver session in the Basement near the jail cells, a question was asked, "How many guys are in thid building?" The device responded with, "Three."

Whistling rcm.MP4 – while conducting an EVP session in the former Chapel area, a very faint “Whistling” sound is recorded about half way through the clip.

Conclusions: Imagine walking into a building loaded with antiques and trigger objects. Such was the case for the Ray County Museum. Our host Cathy was a very hospital person, full of very information about the past and current history of the building as well as many personal experiences that she filled us in with throughout the course of our visit.