Bissell Mansion

Hidden along Randall Place in north St. Louis, the Bissell Mansion is one of the city’s oldest surviving homes—and one of its most intriguing haunted locations. Built in 1823 by Captain Lewis Bissell, the Federal-style brick mansion stands on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and is considered by St. Louis preservation officials to be probably the oldest surviving house in the city.

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Captain Bissell was a veteran of the War of 1812 and an explorer who participated in the 1819 Yellowstone Expedition. He lived in the mansion until his death in 1868. The home remained in the Bissell family for generations before eventually facing an uncertain future. When plans for the Mark Twain Expressway threatened the historic property in the 1950s, preservationists fought to save it. Their efforts succeeded, and the Bissell Mansion was ultimately preserved as a St. Louis landmark.

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But saving the mansion may not have meant saving it from its former residents.

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According to long-standing Bissell Mansion ghost stories, the spirit of Captain Lewis Bissell has been seen outside the house, particularly in the parking area, apparently watching over the property. Inside, witnesses have reported seeing a mysterious woman dressed in a long white gown. She is said to appear primarily on the upper floors and may be the spirit of one of Bissell’s wives.

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Perhaps the strangest reports involve objects mysteriously disappearing and later returning. During renovations in the 1980s, wine glasses reportedly vanished from the mansion only to reappear days later. Even a more recent real-estate showing produced an unexplained incident involving a door that appeared to become mysteriously blocked.

Today, the Bissell Mansion remains a fascinating piece of haunted St. Louis history—a place where the stories of the living and the legends of the dead seem to share the same walls.