Ghosts and Gangsters~KC Style

As I took this last weekend to catch up on blog posts, more importantly to get pictures loaded to the blog...here we go with the catch up :)

A few Saturdays ago (June 18) the Carter boys and girls finally got to use a groupon that we bought a while back for a bogo free for the KC Ghost and Gangsters tour.  The girls thought this would be an outing that the boys would enjoy because there was talk of gangsters!  Even though it took a while for us to get it on our calendars (with 8 kids it's hard to get all of Jimmy's older brothers in one place at one time) and Bobby and Hillary weren't able to make it - we were excited to all go out and hang out!  It's always fun to get together with just adults and catch up!

We started the night at Harry's Country Club in the River Market for some happy hour specials, which included some delicious sangria!  Then we headed to the West Bottoms of KC to where the haunted houses are in full swing in the fall.  Once we saw this bus, we knew we were in the right place.  However, we were a little sad to see there was no air conditioning because summer was in full swing.  We managed to survive.

We got there around 5 minutes early and the guys realized that there wasn't alcohol.  So after a quick run to the convenient store with a grocery sack full of beer snuck to the back of the bus, we were off on the tour.  3 hours long, so we figured there would be lots to see.

Started off with telling us some scary ghost stories about another haunted house downtown where there have been 2 deaths from falling down the elevator shafts, then off to the Hotel Savoy where we learned about some scary stories about when it was a hotel and the people that haunted the halls....

Next was a church downtown that I drove by almost every day when I lived downtown and had no idea the scary stories that surrounded it.  I was hoping that the picture I took was going to have an orb because I guess lots of people get them.  Huh, maybe next time.  And the picture on the right is of our tour guide who was supposed to be a ghost.

Next up, it was time for a bathroom break at Union Station.  This was when they started talking about the gangsters in Kansas City.  The picture below is Jimmy pointing to a real life bullet hole that still remains there.

While we were stopped there - we got a good group picture...with the tour guide of course :)

There were lots of stops after that, including Union Cemetery, which is part of the Union Hill area and right by my work!  With stories about people living in the nearby condos hearing the sounds of crying babies....that were ghosts....yeah, very happy that I didn't ever live in those!!  And then there was another historic cemetery that houses souls that were disturbed when they put in Truman Road - yep, they literally dug them up and moved them.  Eek....

We then went over to the Kansas side to KCK to see the Sauer Castle, which I had never even heard of! Check out the link above to learn more about it.  Pretty crazy and there is a house next door where someone lives and watches the house.  The fence completely surrounds the house and apparently there are super scary guard dogs too!!

The picture on the left was of the house right across the street from the castle.  Interesting choice of porch decor :) 

At this stop, we had Jimmy jump out and take some pictures of the castle....while the rest of us sat in the back of the bus.  I did have one beer, dropped the can and it rolled all the way to the front of the bus and yep, the tour guide picked it up.  Oops.  So I stopped after that.  But here are both sides of the bus!

And the final group picture, minus the photographer, Jimmy.  

Overall, it was a fun trip.  Don't think I would have paid full price for the tickets, so happy it was a bogo free and we didn't!  But it was cool to hear about all the different parts of Kansas City and the scary stories.  After it was over, we had some more time left before the baby sitters (aka Jimmy parents) were going to leave, so we headed to the Peanut for some late night drinks and bar food.  Yum, loving those BLTs and wings!

Glad we have these Carter "culture" nights!  Can't wait for the next one!!