OZARK, Mo. — A small home in Ozark with a dark past is about to open its doors to the public once again and visitors will have the chance to spend the night there … if you dare.

History of the Weaver House

The Weaver House can be found at 602 N. Third Street in Ozark, Missouri. Owners Scott and Ann Kaufman said it was built in 1855, making it here before the Civil War.

“The Battle of Ozark, I think it was August of 1862, just down the street from us where the current Ozark Park is, took place and supposedly the Weaver House acted as a temporary hospital for the wounded,” said Kaufman. “According to [a] legend from the old timers, the Union and Confederate troops would break at noon and actually come up to the Weaver house and share dinner together before they took their arms back up and went back to the battle.”

According to Kaufman, he believes John Weaver, the builder of the house and the owner of the Ozark Mill at the time, built the home to be close to the mill.

The home is said to have housed members of the vigilante group, the Bald Knobbers.

Kaufman said they met upstairs and supposedly during one of their last meetings they burned an image of their mask into the floor.

In 1939, now-famous architect Don Russell rebuilt the Weaver House, adding his signature spiral staircases.

“Don, much to his credit, really could be said to be the one who actually spared the Weaver House … that’s the reason we still have it today,” said Kaufman.

Post-Russell, the home was used by the city for the Parks and Recreation Department, became an antique store, and then sat vacant for about 12 years.

The Kaufmans purchased the home in 2018. They have spent the last few years renovating and restoring the house to become an Airbnb location.

Is the Weaver House haunted?

“There have been several ghost-hunting groups here and some have said, yes, they believe it is haunted. We have had a couple of experiences here, but I don’t get any vibes when I’m here, really, except maybe late at night. You know, it … can be a little scary, but yeah I think it could be,” said Kaufman.

Ann Kaufman told OzarksFirst about her first experience dealing with paranormal activity in the house.

“Scott had gone to work one morning and I was still in bed and I was kind of dozing and all of a sudden there’s a little hallway upstairs and the plastic ripped down violently,” said Kaufman. “And I sat up and I said, ‘Scott?’ And I was like, ‘He’s gone.’ And so I got up and I looked and sure enough, that hole … I mean I had it taped really well to keep dust out, it was ripped down.”

Kaufman said supposedly a little girl died from an illness in one of the rooms. There are also stains on the floor that he believes could be blood near the Bald Knobber burn mark.

“You’re just going on about your own business and then all of a sudden you can just feel a presence there. It’s like … someone’s watching you,” said Kaufman.

Scott said one night he noticed a light was on upstairs. When he opened the door to the room with the light he immediately felt a foreboding feeling coming over him that he needed to leave.

“I opened the door and just closed it back, didn’t come in,” said Kaufman.

OzarksFirst teamed up with the Southwest Ghost Finders to investigate the Weaver House, which you can see in the video above.

Investigators Kim Luney and Lori McConnell conducted several Electronic Voice Phenomenon sessions in each room resulting in several positive reactions from their Electro-Magnetic Field detectors (especially when mentioning the Bald Knobbers) and one motion detector going off for an hour straight. One tool that takes energy in the air to create a ‘voice’ for the spirits mentioned Kim by name.

“This house has been around a long time and it’s got a lot of history, some of it not all good. It’s not all bad, but it’s been a home where there’s tragic events have happened … this place does have that,” says Luney. “We come in with all of our equipment and hope for maybe one or two good stuff … Tonight, it’s just been very constant, on the ball, reaction, reaction. And it’s reactions we cannot cause. So to me, that’s validation that what we’re experiencing is paranormal phenomenon.”

“If there’s anything here, it doesn’t seem to be antagonistic or anything like that. Like I said, I lived in another house that we did have the very same, seemingly antagonistic experiences. But this house does not give me the same feeling as that one. And so, yeah … I think we can coexist!” said Kaufman.