Pythian Castle

A castle built in 1913 by the Knights of Pythias as a home for orphans, widows, and aging members of the fraternal order. During WWII, the U.S. military commandeered the facility for rehabilitating injured troops, and German and Italian prisoners of war were held here. Featured on Ghost Adventures.

Pythian Castle in Springfield, Missouri, is a fortress of stone and mystery that has served as an orphanage, an old folks' home, a military hospital, a prisoner-of-war camp, and now a paranormal attraction -- each chapter of its history adding new layers of spiritual energy to a building that some believe houses a dozen or more ghosts. The castle was built in 1913 by the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization founded in 1864 by Justus H. Rathbone, who was inspired by the classical story of Damon and Pythias and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for one another.

The Knights constructed the castle as the Pythian Home of Missouri, a facility designed to care for the widows, orphans, and aged members of their fraternity. For decades, the building sheltered children who had lost their parents and elderly members who had no family to care for them. Many residents died within the castle's walls, particularly among the aged population, and their deaths -- while natural -- seem to have left permanent impressions on the building.

In 1942, the United States government expropriated the castle and converted it into a military facility. O'Reilly General Hospital treated injured servicemen returning from the battlefields of World War II, and portions of the castle were used to house captured German, Italian, and Japanese prisoners of war. The suffering of wounded soldiers and the desperation of imprisoned enemies of the state introduced a darker energy to a building that had already absorbed decades of orphan grief and elderly death.

The current owner reports that approximately a dozen ghosts haunt the castle. Disembodied voices echo through the corridors, carrying on conversations in languages that include English and what some investigators believe to be German -- a possible remnant of the POW era. Lights turn on and off without any human intervention, and visitors consistently report that batteries in cameras and electronic devices drain at an accelerated rate, as if the spirits are drawing energy from modern technology.

Cold spots materialize throughout the castle without warning, moving through rooms as if carried by invisible presences. Heavy furnishings have been found repositioned overnight, moved by a force that leaves no trace. The tunnel and dungeon areas beneath the castle harbor a shadowy figure that has been both seen and heard by staff and visitors, a dark presence that moves through the underground passages with apparent purpose.

Pythian Castle now offers ghost investigations, history tours, escape rooms, and murder mysteries, embracing its supernatural reputation as a commercial enterprise. Ghost Adventures featured the castle in a memorable episode, and regional paranormal groups consider it one of the most consistently active locations in the Midwest. The spirits of orphans, elderly residents, wounded soldiers, and prisoners of war coexist in a building that has served as a refuge for the vulnerable and the defeated for over a century.