Walnut Street Inn

A Victorian bed and breakfast built in the 1890s by Charles McMann, consisting of three buildings with 12 bedrooms. The inn has been called one of the most haunted places you will ever sleep, with the Rosen Room considered the most active.

The Walnut Street Inn at 900 East Walnut Street in Springfield, Missouri, occupies a Queen Anne Victorian home built during the mid-1890s by Charles McCann, a man who loved entertaining and filled his elegant home with the laughter and conversation of Springfield society. McCann and his wife Katherine presided over countless gatherings in the high-ceilinged rooms, establishing the house as one of the premier social venues in the Ozarks. When the home was converted into a bed and breakfast in 1988 by Gary and Nancy Brown, the spirit of that hospitality continued -- but so did the spirit of Katherine McCann herself.

The Rosen Room has earned a reputation as the most haunted room in the inn, and the ghost that presides over it is widely believed to be Katherine McCann, the original lady of the house. Her manifestations are remarkably vivid and interactive, going far beyond the typical cold spots and creaking floorboards that characterize most haunted hotels.

One guest reported being awakened in the middle of the night by the sensation of someone pulling the blanket down from the bed. Looking up, she saw a woman in a Victorian-era dress sitting on the edge of the mattress, gazing at her with an expression that combined curiosity and displeasure. The spectral woman then spoke the words "get out of my room" before dissolving into nothing. Multiple guests over the years have reported the same demand, always in the Rosen Room, suggesting that Katherine McCann is not entirely pleased with strangers sleeping in her house.

Other encounters are more subtle but equally unsettling. Guests have seen Katherine's reflection in mirrors, her figure standing behind them, only to turn and find the room empty. An elderly woman's ghost has been spotted moving through the hallways, walking with the purposeful stride of someone who knows exactly where she is going. Lights throughout the inn turn on by themselves, and the sound of footsteps in empty hallways is a regular occurrence, particularly late at night when the house should be still.

The Walnut Street Inn continues to operate as a successful bed and breakfast, its Victorian charm and award-winning hospitality attracting guests from across the country. Many visitors specifically request the Rosen Room, hoping for an encounter with Katherine McCann. Those who get their wish often report a mixture of fascination and genuine fear -- the realization that they are sharing a bedroom with someone who has been dead for over a century, and who is not entirely welcoming of their presence.