Jesse James Birthplace And Farm

During spring break of this year (March 15-21) I went on a small road trip with my grandma, my aunt and my cousins. On the last day of our trip, we visited the Jesse James Farm and Birthplace by Kearney, Missouri.

We got there, watched the short video they showed about the history of Jesse James, his family and the farm. Afterwards, we looked at the museum for a little bit and then went on our tour of the house.

Before I explain to you about the experience, I'm going to tell you some background information about Jesse James and this farm.

Jesse Woodson James was born on September 5, 1847 at Kearney, Missouri, the son of Rev. Robert James and Zerelda Elizabeth (Cole) James. His father died of Cholera at a Placerville, California gold camp. His mother remarried a neighboring farmer, Benjamin Simms and in 1854, he was killed in a horse accident. She then married her third husband, Dr. Reuben Samuel.

Throughout that time, she bore 8 children, from her first and last husbands. It was here that Jesse was whipped as a teenager by Union militia, who strung up his stepfather and burned nearby farms. It was also here where Pinkerton detectives bombed the house, killing Archie Samuel, the youngest son of Reuben and Zerelda, and where Zerelda lost her right hand or arm in the attack.

After Jesse was killed, he was buried here, where Zerelda could protect his grave from trespassers and souvenir hunters. Later on, his body was reinterred at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Kearney. The James family farm is said to have been haunted for over a century. It's supposedly home to a number of lingering spirits and lights are said to move both inside and outside the property buildings. Others report hearing the sounds of pounding hooves, muffled shots and cries that are reminiscent of the area history, dating back to the events of the Civil War.

Today wide arrays of mysterious happenings occur inside the house. Reports are frequent that lights are seen inside the building long after it has been locked up for the evening and movements are often seen which are never registered on a security monitoring system. Staff reports a feeling of a presence within the home. Others report that on foggy mornings, hushed voices and the sounds of restless horses can be heard from the nearby woods. However, when they follow up, there are no signs of a disturbance or tracks within the trees.

Now, to my experience.

I didn't sense anything odd inside or outside of the house, although the inside of the house felt a little chilly. While we were outside, I was taking pictures and overheard our tour guide telling my aunt and my grandma about Ghost Hunters coming out and investigating. Since I'm extremely interested in those things, I had to join the conversation to get more details. I believe she said the ghost hunters got several EVPs but I'm not sure what else occurred.

She told us that one day when she was getting ready to give a tour and there was nobody inside the house, she, along with the tourists, heard a loud crash inside. Somehow the phone seemed to have been thrown across the room, which I don't think would just happen on its own. She also told us about a man getting his picture taken on one side of the house, next to a window and apparently after developing the film, he saw what appeared to be two outlaw-looking men standing there with him. They weren't there when the picture was taken.

I decided to take a picture of my cousins next to that same window, along with taking more pictures. Later on, I was zooming in on the pictures to see if I had caught anything interesting and I saw the face of a man with a white beard in the window and he looked as if he could have been Zerelda's husband, Dr. Reuben Samuel, or possibly a Civil War soldier. I looked at picture of another window, zoomed in, and noticed I had caught another face. This one appears to be a man with a cowboy hat and a mustache.

I was very excited, and still am, because I had never caught images like these on film before.