HGB Ep. 436 - Belvoir Winery

Moment in Oddity - The Armageddon Highway

Inside the Angeles National Forest, in the San Gabriel Mountains above the city of Azusa in California, one will find the Shoemaker Canyon Road. Sounds like an inocuous road until you hear its nickname: The Armageddon Road. This is a road that was never finished. Construction began during the early part of the Cold War in the 1950s and was meant to give the citizens of Los Angeles an escape route if there was ever a nuclear attack. What has been left behind are two abandoned long tunnels that measure less than 4.5 miles long. The project was left undone when funds just ran out. People can still drive the first 1.8 miles of Armageddon Highway and then walk or mountain-bike the remaining graded-dirt section that ends at the pair of tunnels. The tunnels are very dark so be careful if you visit. An incomplete highway built through a mountain that was meant to escape a nuclear Armageddon, certainly is odd!

This Month in History - Battle of the Coral Sea

In the month of May, on the 3rd, in 1942, the Battle of the Coral Sea begins. The four-day battle between American and Japanese forces was the first air-naval battle in history. Allied forces had intercepted a message that revealed that the Japanese were planning to invade Port Moresby in southeast New Guinea. This would give Japan control of the Coral Sea. The Japanese were surprised by an attack of American planes from aircraft carriers when they entered the area. Both sides would suffer losses with the Japanese losing 70 warplanes and America lost 66, but the victory went to the Allies because the Japanese were left without enough planes to carry out the invasion on Port Morseby. This strategic victory would also help the Allies in the future Battle of Midway. That battle would end Japan's advance and lead to the final surrender of Japan. The greatest lost for the Allied side was the USS Lexington. Two hundred sixteen crewman died when the aircraft carrier was destroyed. We covered the USS Lexington in Ep. 114.

Belvoir Winery (Suggested by: Seth Ackerley)

There are three historic buildings that still stand on the property that is now home to the Belvoir Winery in Liberty, Missouri. The buildings were originally built as the Odd Fellows Home and served as an orphanage, a nursing home, a hospital and now the winery. Claims of unexplained activity started in the 1950s and the paranormal activity has only ramped up over the years. Join us as we explore the history and hauntings of the Belvoir Winery!

Liberty, Missouri is the second oldest incorporated town west of the Mississippi and the name was inspired by one of the unalienable rights in the US Constitution. Settlers started arriving in the early 1800s and the town was officially incorporated in 1829. Liberty was considered the jumping off point for people wanting to head into the frontier. Westward expansion would launch from here and Liberty Landing became an important dock. Fun fact: Steamboats fired a cannon before they arrived at the dock to give the town a head's up. Joseph Smith was in jail here during the winter of 1839 after the Mormon War.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, IOOF, is one of the oldest and largest fraternal orders in America. They are also a secret society and have there own set of rituals. The group was formed in the United States in 1819, but originally got started in Europe in the 18th century. They commit themselves to elevating the character of the person and embracing diversity. The command of IOOF is to "visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead and educate the orphan" and they dedicated themselves to helping those less fortunate. They built various homes around the country for orphans, widows and the elderly and one of these places was Liberty, Missouri. The IOOF got started in 1835 and by the end of the century they had built their Odd Fellows Home on a plot of 240 acres. The process got started in 1883 with the first petition to establish a state Odd Fellows Home. Bids would be taken starting in 1894 to locate a site and Liberty was selected on the 4th ballot. It probably helped that Liberty offered $17,000 in money and the Liberty School Board offered free tuition to Liberty High School for children who would be living at the orphanage. 

The IOOF were basically going to upgrade the almshouse, which had been popular in the country previous to this time. These buildings would be more modern and have heating and plumbing. The first structure built here didn't last long. The pipes had frozen one winter and in an attempt to unthaw the pipes, the entire building was burned down. The order put out a call to architects who could design fireproof buildings. One of these architects was William B. Ittner who specialized in the Jacobethan Revival architectural style. This is a unique style that mixes Renaissance Revival with Elizabethan and features high chimneys, cusped Tudor arches, steep roof gables  and terra-cotta brickwork. For those of you who have watched Downton Abbey, Highclere Castle is an example of this style. Something else that Ittner specialized in was designing schools. His firm had designed hundreds of schools in 25 states. He designed the main Administration Building. J.H. Felt & Co. of Kansas City designed the School Building in 1904 in the same style as Ittner's building. That was eventually torn down in the early 1950s. Architect E.C. Eckle built the Old Folks Pavilion in 1907. The Old Hospital was designed by Samuel M. Hitt of Kansas City and built in 1923. Both of these buildings also had similar styling to the Jacobethan Revival style.

So there were four buildings on the property by the 1920s: the main building -which served as the orphanage - an old folks home, a hospital and the school building. A bunker would be added that served as a storm shelter and was one of the favorite places for the kids to play. There was also a farm on the property and a cemetery. The farm produced really well and as an example, in 1901 it produced 838 bushels of oats, 2,000 bushels of corn, 500 bushels of Irish potatoes, 3 tons of hay, 7,863 gallons of milk, 1,714 Ibs. of butter, and 325 dozen eggs. Most of the food was kept on site for feeding the residents. For the order, these types of homes provided a type of health and life insurance. There was a promise of care for yourself and your loved ones. The Old Hospital was built in 1923 on the north side of the property. Unbelievably, at that time, this was the only hospital in Liberty. And even more unbelievably, this only choice for a hospital was pretty much outdated from the moment it opened with narrow doors and hallways. Equipment and patient beds couldn't be moved through them.

The property started out as kid heavy, but as the years progressed there were more adults and by 1951, there were no more children. But when the kids were there, they would often perform plays and give recitals for their elderly neighbors. The nursing home was built in 1955. As part of the complete care at the Odd Fellows Complex, burial was provided, along with a headstone. Most of the elderly had no other arrangements, so they were buried at the cemetery on the property. Any current IOOF members could be buried in this cemetery as well. They didn't have to live on the property for that. In total, 10,000 people died on the property, but only 600 people are buried here. Just outside the cemetery gate sits a memorial dedicated to Liberty IOOF members who were killed in World War II.

Jesse Leimkuehler's family bought the property, which only has 36 acres now, in the late 1990s. They started with refurbishing the main building and making the first floor their winery. Today, the Belvoir Winery is an inn and a preeminent wedding venue. They are open seven days a week for wine tastings and tours. They host lots of special events, including paranormal investigations and there is enough unexplained stuff going on here to attract Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures and Kindred Spirits to investigate the property on their shows. The inn opened in 2017 with eight rooms and one large bridal suite. In the following two years, sixteen rooms were vacated in the middle of the night due to unexplained activity. Jesse has been here for more than 25 years and in that time he has heard voices, had doors open and close by themselves and seen three apparitions. One of those was a young boy wearing clothes dating to decades ago. He told KMBC, "I looked down at my arm and it had, like, big goose bumps. When they say, like, your hair stands on end, I mean, it's like a comb. It stands directly on end."

Many guests and staff have experienced stuff on the property. A guest named Danny was in the bunker with a group and a woman suggested that they sing "Ring Around the Rosie" and see if they got any interaction. Right after the first line was sung, the group distinctly heard a child's voice sing, "A pocket full of posies." The sound even echoed. A man in black has been seen looking out of the windows of the nursing home building. The inn keeps a log where guests can enter their experiences. Ruthie W. wrote in August of 2018, "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!" So we put this song on my phone last night, turned off the lights and began to record. Little white orbs danced around the room. They really loved that song. Thanksfully we recorded it so we can share it with friends. This place is magical and we really love coming here. The wine and appetizers are wonderful too!"

Ghost Hunters visited in 2013 and Jesse told the crew that he himself had experienced the sound of children playing on the third floor. He also brought his daughter with him one day and while he was in the ballroom, she wandered down the hall and he heard her say, "Mommy, mommy" and then he heard a female voice say, "Well, hello little one." Jesse went into the hallway to see who his daughter was talking to and there was no one else in the building. A photographer named Brian told Jason that he had left his camera bag in a room on the first floor, which he locked, before he went up to the third floor to look around. When he came back down, he found the door ajar and the stuff in his camera bag had been rearranged as if someone had been going through it. He was the only one in the building at the time. The hair on the back of his neck stood up. 

A woman told the crew that she had a chilling experience in the nursing home. She felt something pressing down on her and she suddenly couldn't move her arms. She could feel them, just wasn't able to move them. She felt that it was something dark and negative. Piano music is heard in the ballroom when no one is in there playing. Amy and Adam were with the Ghost Hunters in 2013 and they heard music playing. Adam sat at the piano and played a few keys and then they heard the piano again, but coming from somewhere else. They did find another piano. Two other people on the team asked the spirits if the upcoming demolition that was coming for the nursing home would result in the dark energies in that building moving to the other buildings. The REM Pod indicated at two different times that this would be the case.

Ghost Adventures visited the winery in 2015. The guys had interference with their equipment and heard disembodied singing of children and a growl. The Ovilus said, "NICK", "SEND", "NICK", "PAULA", "OUT" and "FUNERAL." They also heard knocking and saw a misty apparition. The Spirit Box said, "You take it", "How ya doin", "I murder", "I'm back" and "Several." Zak felt something grab his wrist at one point. Billy conducted an EVP session by himself for two hours and supposedly slipped into a catatonic state while doing that.

Kindred Spirits visited in 2019. At this point, the Nursing Home was still standing and the activity in here had increased, especially in the Morgue. The energy on the whole property seemed to be getting meaner. Women were getting their hair pulled and people were being pushed and pinched. Jesse said that he was in the Old Folks Home with another person and they both saw something down one of the hallways. It looked like somebody had reached out from a room and put their arm around the door frame. And then the spirit peeked out. This was Room 37. They set up cameras in the Nursing Home and totally caught a creepy shadow figure, so they rushed over there to see what was going on. The batteries in their recorder were immediately drained and so they replaced them and Amy took the recorder down to where the shadow figure had been and she left the recorder. They heard an audible voice behind them as they started an EVP session. They also saw a figure climbing along the ceiling in the way a human would not move. Very chilling!

Chip Coffey and John E.L. Tenney joined Adam and Amy. As they all investigated together in the Old Folks Home, Amy was touched on the back. An EVP led them to check out Room 19. They had found out through their research that there was a violent man who had committed suicide in the Old Folks Home and they believed they were speaking with this apparition. They had several names and an EVP verified that this was Fred. And another EVP verified the last name as Lietze. But nothing about this spirit was negative, so they believed that something else was causing the negative experiences guests were having. The group then went to the Nursing Home and the negative activity started manifesting. There was an audible child's voice. Amy and Adam had heard the same voice the night before and they believed it was trying to lead them out of the Nursing Home. Chip felt the entity was low level demonic and after the kids and they captured that weird ceiling crawling thing on the SLS camera.  Amy and Adam got Jesse and his family and employees to help banish this negative thing with positive energy. 

For people who don't know, a skeleton was very much a part of the ODD Fellows rituals. The first one was a member named George and he donated his skeleton to the lodge. Now every skeleton inside an ODD Fellow building is named George. The George that was at Belvoir Winery is still there in a case.

The Belvoir Winery is a beautiful property. This was home for a variety of people through the years. Have the spirits of some of those previous residents decided to stay here? Is Belvoir Winery haunted? That is for you to decide!