Recently, I drove an hour out to the countryside of Liberty Missouri to the Belvoir Winery for a sip and shop. The minute I pulled onto the property, I realized I had stumbled upon something so unique – it was wholly incomparable. A long, slow drive draws the visitor up to four massive, historic brick buildings. I quickly noticed that only the first building was still in its grandeur. The others were in an almost eerie state of decay.
I was glad to begin my visit in the winery building. It is fully restored and now enjoys a life as a winery, event venue, and boutique hotel.
I chose a lovely sweet wine, and went upstairs to the sip and shop. I met Sherrie at one of the booths. She owns Just One Day Travel Tours. I thought her concept ingenious. She customizes and creates day tours according to each client’s wishes. I browsed through all the vendors and then went outside to explore the other buildings. Signs are posted to prevent guests from entering. I learned that many of the t.v. paranormal shows have been here to film. Belvoir also offers their own monthly paranormal tours. I have never been interested in this, as I am of a pragmatic nature. But I began to wonder as I peaked in the broken windows…. The disconcerting sense heightened as I climbed the hill to the Odd Fellows Cemetery in the back. I walked along the rows and found only three orphan graves — out of almost 1,000. That didn’t make sense to me, as the ophanage was in operation for almost 60 years. As I turned to leave, I noticed a woman, with black hair, dressed all in black, sitting on a black blanket, reading a book, under a tree in the corner of the cemetery. I moved towards her, and quietly spoke as I approached….”pardon me”. She looked up. A young, ethereal face. I asked her, “where are the orphans buried?” She responded, “no one knows where the orphans are buried”. Then I gently asked, “did many orphans die here?” She answered fervently “many, many orphans died here”. I turned to walk down the hill and determined to discover what truly happened to the orphans. And so my research began….
I went home and pulled the 1910 and 1920 census records for the Home. I made a list of all the names of the orphans and segued over to the Missouri Digital Heritage which, thankfully, has all the death certificates from 1910 forward. I started with Robert Jackson, one of the orphan graves in the cemetery.
Do you see what I see??!! Primary cause of death is Spinal Meningitis. Secondary cause of death is Typhoid Fever! I am envisioning close-quartered dormitory style living arrangements. As contagious as Typhoid Fever was, I began to wonder how many of the other children contracted the disease.
The second cemetery orphan, Clara Giegrich, died at age 9 in 1898 – before death certificates were mandated.
And the third child was Samuel Kelley, who died in 1922 at the age of 8. His death certificate revealed his cause of death as Cerebral Spinal Meningitis.
I finished my online search and turned to the repositories. At the Clay County Archives, I met several very helpful volunteers. Tony Meyers provided me insights into the era and society of that time. I then spoke with Jesse, the owner of the Belvoir and Chris, who has worked there for years. I visited the archives at the Midwest Genealogy Center. I wrote copious notes everywhere I went. I concluded with emails to the Officers of the State and National Odd Fellows Association. I hit all dead ends. I reviewed my notes and realized I had more questions than answers. There do not appear to be any records for the Liberty Odd Fellows Home. I was chagrined. I have rarely encountered this in my long history of researching. Organizational records are customarily archived in a repository somewhere. It is just a matter of finding which one. I will continue the search and hope to find them somewhere. I want to learn about the lives of the children.
My friends got wind of my hunt, and wanted to join in. So we all returned to the Belvoir together. Charlotte, a career schoolteacher, could give us insights into the developing mind and emotions of children at that stage. Chris, who is involved with IT, downloaded an SLS Camera app on his phone. It purportedly picks up voices through radio waves, and visually triangulates on human bodies. We entered the grand building of the winery, walked down the hallway and turned into the first room. Suddenly, Chris’ phone transmitted garbled, brief words. One word was spoken clearly – “help”. Rationally, I reasoned that the app could be embedded with pre-programmed words. But then…. happenings began to occur that were beyond defining. When we asked his name, the voice responded “Owen”. Just outside THAT room is a plaque on the wall with the names of a few of the orphans on it. Owen is one of them. Coincidence? Yes, but there are many rooms in all the buildings. Many. The probability seemed too high to just be a coincidence.
Then I took the group out to the other buildings. The main building was the orphanage. Next door the Odd Fellows built a nursing home, with a morgue in the back. The third, large E-shaped building was created to be an assisted living-type space. And the forth building, on the far end, was a hospital.
In a small, cement building called the “Bunker”, Eric and Chris, the two men in our group peered in the doorway of the dark empty interior. The camera triangulated on 3 human shapes across the confined space. Eric and Chris remained surprisingly composed. I think I would have melted with fear. The camera had proven itself reliable in that it had consistently diagramed each of us everytime, and all other persons we had crossed paths with. I have posted the video on my Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/roamingthemidwest/, and on my Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/cami.mayer.75.
One last puzzling anomaly occurred when we stopped in front of the assisted living building. The voice on the app suddenly turned angry. Very angry. And then I heard Lin behind me say – “look at my phone”. We all stepped back and saw with unease that her phone screen was undulating. We pulled out our phones. We all had iPhones. None of ours were affected. Lin said her phone had become unusable in those moments. We hurried on down the path. We circled to the backside of the buildings and when we once again came to that same building, Lin quietly spoke – “it is happening again”. We peered over her shoulder and cringed with foreboding. We ended our visit in the cemetery.
Afterwards, we went out to dinner to discuss the day’s occurrences. Lydia, who has a sensitive nature, suggested that if spirits are active, then they most likely want to be heard. They want their stories told, which would include their happy moments as well as their times of grief. My son and his wife are child therapists. They help many distressed children with beneficial methodologies. I wonder if those young orphans, 100 years ago, had experienced assistance for the adversities life had imposed upon them. The Odd Fellows organization affirms that they help those who are in need. Their Homes provided for the widows, orphans, elderly and indigent. I am sure the orphans were well sustained, which would have helped diminish the effects of the loss of family and home they had suffered.
The Belvoir is a winery without precedent. It is so rare in its uniqueness that it is a definite must-see for those who prefer anything beyond the ordinary.