Kemper Military School

A former military academy founded in 1844, one of the oldest west of the Mississippi. The campus, which now houses State Fair Community College, saw generations of cadets pass through its grounds. Will Rogers and Harry S. Truman attended the school.

Kemper Military School, founded in 1844 in Boonville, Missouri, operated for over 150 years before closing its doors in 2002, leaving behind a sprawling campus steeped in military tradition and ghostly legends. As one of the oldest military academies west of the Mississippi, the school shaped thousands of young men during its long history, but not all of its cadets appear to have left when the final bell rang.

The most disturbing haunting involves a female cadet who was reportedly raped and murdered by an ex-boyfriend on the grounds. Her apparition has been spotted by visitors and former cadets jogging around the athletic track, following her habitual route in death as she did in life. Witnesses describe her running at a normal pace before she reaches a certain point on the track -- the alleged location of her murder -- where she simply vanishes into thin air. Her ghost has also been seen near the old bridge leading to the golf course, a translucent figure standing alone before fading away.

D Barracks, one of the oldest residential buildings on campus, has earned a particularly dark reputation. The fourth floor, which once served as an infirmary in the late 1800s and early 1900s, is reported to be haunted by cadets who died there before modern medicine could save them. Former residents and visitors describe a shadowy apparition standing in the fourth-floor windows at night, visible from the grounds below, even though the floor has been closed and empty for decades. Those who have ventured to the upper floor report an overwhelming sense of dread that intensifies the deeper one goes into the corridor.

The old band barracks harbor another entity entirely -- a ghost clad entirely in black, known simply as "the shadow." This dark figure has been observed moving through the hallway, particularly late at night, opening windows and slamming doors with apparent force. Former band members who lived in the barracks reported hearing footsteps in the hall and finding windows flung open that they were certain had been latched shut.

Since the school's closure, the campus has sat largely abandoned, its empty buildings slowly surrendering to time and weather. The vacancy seems to have amplified the paranormal activity, with local residents and urban explorers reporting more frequent sightings and unexplained sounds emanating from the decaying structures. The ghosts of Kemper Military School appear to be conducting their own perpetual formation, long after the last living cadets marched away.