To read more http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/54518/the-gasp-menagerie-the-vaile-mansion/

The original mistress committed suicide.

Rumor is that her husband buried her in the front yard under a glass cover; so that he could always "see" her. Within 5 years, he also died.

After his death,
the mansion was eventually turned into a insane asylum
where lobotomies, human abuse, & deaths were commonplace.
Mentally ill people were said to be kept in cages in the basement and attic where they were abused, & even tortured.
Over a ten year period, there were a large quantity of premature deaths among the asylum "patients".

Eventually the city of Independence stepped in & closed the asylum down based on various city violations.

After that, Vaile Mansion was turned into a nursing home where hundreds of people continued to die.
Back in those days, nursing home care also was not always the most humane.
The high numbers of people to die in residence required the building to have its own functioning morgue to handle the volume.

After 70 years, the City again stepped in to close the place down; supposedly because city violations.

The building then sat vacant and decaying until a couple finally bought it in the 1960's. When that couple passed away in the '80's, the mansion was willed to the City of Independence who now owns it.

It is now a tourist attraction.

However, the third floor and the basement remain closed
with rumor that this may be because of all the spirits from the past not being at rest.

I've visited this mansion many times in the past,
but this December was the first time that I've ever "felt" a sense of its eerie history.
Perhaps that was because it was the overcast day.

Being shown a piece of the original stone flooring in the gift shop didn't help my mind set either.

Supposedly, the room that is now the gift shop was the room was where lobotomy operations were performed
Having the stone flooring was easier to wash down afterwards.
The gift shop floor today is wood.

Rumor is that the reason that there are wooden shuttered on the second floor - both inside & out - is to try to prevent the ghost of Sophia Vaile from frightening tourist as she looks out of the windows.

This is a side view of the sprawling mansion and a most difficult shot to achieve photography-wise.
The mansion is so huge.

If you're not in a ghost mood, it's really a lovely, historic building to visit.

Nevertheless, the house has seen so much tragedy. Such tragedies are the foundation of ghost stories.