St. Mary's Episcopal Church

A historic church founded in 1854 at the southeast corner of 13th and Holmes streets in Kansas City. The church is known for the sordid tale of its controversial priest, Father Henry D. Jardine, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1886.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Kansas City is one of the city's oldest congregations, tracing its roots to 1857. The church has served the community for over 165 years, but it is perhaps best known for the spirit of a controversial priest whose dramatic death and posthumous vindication have made him one of Kansas City's most persistent ghosts. Father Henry David Jardine led the congregation from 1879 to 1886, and his story is one of religious passion, institutional betrayal, and a soul that seemingly cannot find rest.

Father Jardine was a zealous clergyman who pushed the boundaries of Episcopal worship by introducing High Church rituals associated with the Anglo-Catholic movement. He added candles and incense to services, recruited altar boys, and introduced the formal confession of sins -- practices that delighted some parishioners and horrified others who viewed them as dangerously close to Roman Catholicism. Jardine's innovations were not limited to liturgy; he founded two schools and played an instrumental role in creating the hospital that would eventually become St. Luke's, institutions that have served Kansas City for over a century.

But Jardine's High Church practices generated fierce opposition within the Episcopal hierarchy. He was subjected to an ecclesiastical trial that resulted in his conviction and removal from the priesthood. When a motion for retrial was denied, Jardine traveled to St. Louis on January 5, 1886, to make a personal appeal to the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri. He stayed at Trinity Church as a guest of Father George C. Betts, and on the morning of January 9, Betts found Jardine in the sacristy, apparently asleep. But when Betts attempted to wake him, he discovered that Jardine was dead, a handkerchief draped over his face and a small bottle of chloroform at his side.

Jardine's death was ruled a suicide, and as a consequence, he was denied burial in consecrated ground -- the ultimate indignity for a man who had dedicated his life to the church. It was not until thirty-five years later that Jardine was officially exonerated and given a proper burial. But by then, his restless spirit had reportedly taken up residence in St. Mary's Church, the place where he had served with such passion and from which he had been so unjustly expelled.

Witnesses have reported eerie noises throughout the building, attributed to Father Jardine's ghostly presence. His apparition has been seen floating past the second floor at night, holding a candle just as he did during the High Church services that brought him both fame and ruin. The sounds of footsteps, whispered prayers, and the faint scent of incense fill the church at hours when no living person is present. Those who know the history of St. Mary's believe that Father Jardine has returned to clear his name and to continue the ministry that was so cruelly taken from him in life.