Union Station

A grand Beaux-Arts railroad station built in 1914, once processing over 200 passenger trains daily. Union Station was the site of the infamous 1933 Kansas City Massacre, when gangster Vernon Miller ambushed FBI agents. Now a science center and museum.

Union Station in Kansas City is one of the grandest railroad terminals in the United States, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece that opened in 1914 with a ninety-five-foot-high Grand Hall and a waiting room that could seat ten thousand travelers. But on the morning of June 17, 1933, the station became the site of one of the most shocking acts of violence in American law enforcement history -- the Kansas City Massacre -- and the ghosts of the men who died that day are said to have never left.

The massacre occurred when federal agents and local police were escorting prisoner Frank "Jelly" Nash through the station's parking area, returning him to the U.S. Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas. As the group approached their waiting cars, a team of gunmen led by Vernon C. "Verne" Miller opened fire in an attempt to free Nash. The ambush lasted only seconds but left four law enforcement officers dead: FBI Special Agent Raymond Caffrey, Kansas City Police detectives William Grooms and Frank Hermanson, and McAlester Police Chief Otto Reed. Nash himself was also killed in the crossfire, shot through the head before he could be liberated. The massacre shocked the nation and prompted Congress to pass legislation giving FBI agents the authority to carry firearms and make arrests.

In the decades since, Union Station employees and visitors have reported paranormal phenomena concentrated in and around the area where the massacre occurred. The ghost most commonly identified is Frank Nash himself, whose translucent figure has been spotted at multiple locations throughout the station, both during the day and after dark. His spirit seems restless and confused, as if still processing the violence of his final moments.

Near the station's main entrance, where the massacre took place, witnesses have reported seeing men in dark suits standing in small groups, their outlines slightly transparent, who vanish when approached. The phantom footsteps of men walking across the parking area are heard with particular frequency -- the measured, purposeful gait of law enforcement officers escorting a prisoner, replayed on an endless loop. Inside the station, employees have experienced unexplained phenomena on the main floor, including cold spots, the sensation of being watched, and the sound of voices in areas confirmed to be empty.

Ghost Adventures investigated Union Station for Season 7 of their television program, focusing on the massacre site and the potential for residual hauntings -- the theory that traumatic events can imprint themselves on a location and replay indefinitely. The investigation produced evidence consistent with an active haunting. Union Station was restored to its original grandeur in 1999 and today houses Science City, theaters, and exhibition halls, welcoming over a million visitors annually. Among those visitors, some leave with the unsettling feeling that they shared the Grand Hall with people who have been waiting at Union Station for over ninety years.