The Plant Avenue house, also known as the old Gehm House, located in the three hundred block of Plant Avenue, is in Webster Groves area of Saint Louis, Missouri. This is a private residence. Tours are not given.

The privacy of the current residents should be respected. Locals may wish to speak with you about the odd house. Discreet photography or videography of the exterior of the house, from a distance, is probably okay.

Webster Groves area of Saint Louis, Missouri, is a somewhat upscale community that is close to St. Louis. A two-story wood and brick house looks unremarkable on the outside. What has happened on the inside, however, have given the home quite an odd reputation.

IN THE BEGINNING:

The home was built near the turn of the last century, in the 1890's. Its builder and resident,German immigrant Mr. Gehm, worked with circuses. He didn't interact much with the neighbors. He ultimately passed away in the Plant Avenue home in the early 1950's.

Mr. and Mrs. S. L. Furry, and their two daughters, acquired the home and moved in, in 1956.

GHOSTLY SIGHTINGS AND OCCURRENCES:

1) Shortly after moving in, strange events began happening. Mrs. Furry claimed that she woke up night after night, at 2 A.M., with the feeling someone or something had shaken her awake. On another occasion, she was awakened by the sound of a hammer loudly hitting the headboard. Upon turning on the light, she could find no sign, on the wood, of the heavy blow she had distinctly heard She also heard the sound of phantom footsteps, day and night, going up and down the stairs. She also heard odd noises, sounding like big birds were hitting the windows.

Although she was the first in the family to hear anything odd, her husband, eventually, began to hear strange things as well. Although he first thought the sounds were just the expansion and contraction of an old house, he eventually changed his mind. One night he awakened to see an opaque, white shape go through the door into the hall and then into his youngest daughter's room. Alarmed, he raced to her room, only to find absolutely nothing.

The husband and wife weren't the only family members who had ghostly encounters. One morning their three year old daughter, during breakfast, stunned her parents by saying, "Who is the lady dressed in black who comes into my room at night?" The other daughter also shared that this lady dressed in black would hit her with a broom, but it never hurt her.

Within a few weeks, the whole family started to see the lady dressed in black, sometimes surrounded by a mysterious white cloud. The family lived with this harmless ghost for nine years, and then sold the house to move into a bigger house.

2) Later residents also had their share of ghostly encounters. A subsequent resident, Mrs. Walsh, had heard repeated phantom noises in the home. She explained to a neighbor, in 1966, "It's always at 4 A.M. and upstairs."

Mrs. Walsh and her family not only met the lady in the black dress, but also two other apparitions. Mr. and Mrs. Walsh and their two girls began to see the little apparition of a blond-haired girl playing in the attic.

On March 1, 1966, Mrs. Walsh was honored by the appearance of the apparition of Henry Gehm himself, who felt compelled to show her the hidden doorway in the attic. Behind the door was a unknown, empty secret chamber.

Having had enough contact with their ghostly housemates, the Walsh family moved out into a new home with no ghosts.

Still Haunted?

That question would require a big yes!

Something about that secret chamber isn't letting Gehm rest, and the other two ghosts are still restless as well.