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The Lemp Mansion Experience

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There is no place in St. Louis with a reputation as ghostly as the Lemp Mansion. Built in the late 1860s, it has served as many things over the years, but it has never lost the claim to being the most haunted place in the city. In fact, in 1980, Life magazine called the Lemp Mansion: “One of the ten most haunted places in America.”

Find out why Lemp Mansion is famous from ghost to ghost. Haunted Tours, a Mystery Dinner Theatre and other supernatural themed events are scheduled. See the website for details, schedules and reservations.

In addition, the Lemp is home to a full service restaurant and lounge, six overnight guest-rooms, and a museum.

Tours: $20.

Information

Additional information.

seeAghost.com

Lemp legacy, "st. louis' most haunted ghost tour", next tour:  tuesday,   february 13 th 7-8:30pm.

This is indeed “St. Louis’ Most Haunted Ghost Tour.”  Join Dr. Mark Farley and his investigative team as you tour the Lemp Mansion, ranked as the Fourth Most Haunted House in the United States.  You will be presented with photographic evidence gathered over a decade of research conducted by The St. Louis Paranormal Research Society, and you will be able draw your own conclusion about the Haunting of the Lemp Mansion, St. Louis’ Most Haunted House.

Then you will be taken to the basement of the Lemp Brewery Bottle Works, where a gruesome serial killer in the 1990's imprisoned his victims.  Some of his victims were held captive in the basement for months at a time.  Look down into the infamous “Pit” where these women were forced to spend the last terrifying months of their lives.  Then hear the experiences of paranormal investigators gained during their investigations of one of the creepiest basements in St. Louis.

Lemp Legacy, “St. Louis’ Most Haunted Ghost Tour” is held on Tuesday Nights, with tours starting at 7PM.  The Cost of the tour is $35 per/person.  

Due to the limited size of the tours, cancellations and reschedules will not be permitted.

Tours Meet At:

Lemp Mansion

3322 DeMenil Place

St. Louis, MO 63118

This is what it's like to take a ghost tour of the Lemp Mansion with a psychic during Halloween season

The tour includes a bit of Lemp history, a dowsing rods demonstration, and something rather eerie in the attic.

by Chris Naffziger

October 29, 2019

Courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society

The Lemp Mansion

It might surprise readers, but until last Wednesday, I had never gone on a tour of the Lemp Mansion. I had ducked inside on occasion during a thunderstorm when lightning struck too close. I had been treated to their famous chicken lunch one Sunday afternoon, as well as dinner one time several years ago. But I had never gotten the full Lemp Ghost Experience, hosted by famous psychic and Lemp expert Betsy Belanger. It seemed, as Halloween approached, that now was the time to change that.

At the Lemp Mansion on DeMenil Place—just a stone’s throw north of the Brewery on Cherokee Street—we settled into a bedroom filled with around 20 chairs on the second floor. The house was originally owned by the in-laws of William J. Lemp Sr., Jacob and Elizabeth Feickert, across the street from the Lemp Cave property. Jacob Feickert was a successful saloon owner, but most likely his son-in-law William helped pay for the house’s construction. William and his new wife, Julia, lived there with her parents and their children, and while it is a very large house, I still think it must have been crowded.

It was definitely crowded the night I was there; apparently there was some sort of corporate team-building event happening on the first floor and in the basement, so we were not able to tour those portions of the house. The ticket for the ghost tour with Belanger comes with one complementary drink from the bar, so I logically grabbed a Budweiser and sat down. The tour on Wednesday was completely full, and the room was very “cozy” when we all filled the chairs. (The free toasted ravioli bar was a nice added touch.)

Belanger introduced us to the Lemp Family, and I have to say, overall, I was very impressed with her knowledge of the brewery and the house. In particular, she correctly stated several facts that are not well known about the family and brewery’s history. For example, Belanger explained to us that the International Shoe Company did not buy the Lemp Brewery in one parcel; rather, as contemporary newspaper accounts at the time prove, the property was auctioned off in pieces.

We then saw Belanger demonstrate dowsing rods. I did a little research afterward about the science behind these ancient instruments, and they function mostly along the same lines as a Ouija Board. Google “Ideomotor phenomenon” if you want my opinion of dowsing rods. Billy Lemp, the son of William Lemp Sr., did move the dowsing rods, though. He's a ladies' man, according to Belanger, and likes to flirt. But he did not hit on any of the young women in the group.

After that little bit of fun, we all got up and proceeded to William Lemp Sr.’s bedroom, which was connected to his wife Julia’s bedroom by large pocket doors. Wealthy couples such as William and Julia would have separate bedrooms as a sign of their high social status. William’s bedroom was the site of his suicide, but the beer baron has passed over to the Other Side, Belanger explained.

William Lemp Sr. doesn't even haunt the house? But he was who I wanted to talk to the most. I need to know where his mother Justina Baum is buried in Germany,  I thought to myself. What a letdown. Then, Belanger stopped, and reported that she felt somebody trying to contact her.

Ooh, is that Justina Baum trying to contact me?  I wondered. But unfortunately, the spirit never followed up. We proceeded through another bedroom, and then, due to the size of our group, Belanger split us into two groups for the finale of our tour, when the ghosts of Charles Lemp and his dog Cerva would contact us in the attic. I waited in the second group to go up to the attic.

As Belanger led the second group up the stairs to the attic, we bumped into two drunk people from the party downstairs, who had wandered upstairs.

“You’re not supposed to be up. Sorry. We have tours up here,” Belanger firmly told the man and woman. I glared at them as I walked by, and at that moment, perhaps due to a Lemp ghost, had a premonition: Those two are going to screw everything up in about 15 minutes. But for the time being, we were treated to the story of the forgotten Lemp son, Zeke, who lived in the attic.

“This is where Zeke is and was. They would keep him up here for his own protection,” Belanger explained, and then turning to me, apropos to nothing, told me, “You remind me of my brother.”

Continuing, Belanger wove her tale of Zeke: “He hides on the staircase up to the roof. Listen for little taps. The more that you can relax, the more you will be rewarded.”

That is actually really good advice for life in general , I thought to myself.

Turning off all the lights, our group sat in the dark, as Belanger sought to bring us the ghost of the final Lemp occupant of the house, Charles and his dog, Cerva.

“Charles, will you let her come in? Come here, come on baby, that’s a good baby.”

Then, as we stood there, Belanger exclaimed, “See her? She looks like a little ball of grayness,” describing Charles’s dog Cerva, “and she’s moving toward me. She’s standing right in front of me. If you can see my fingers…”

Then the drunk people walked in with two of their friends.

“You cannot be up there, Belanger admonished. “We are having a private tour. Please go back downstairs.”

I groaned. Now the ghosts will never come out.

“That was just ignorant, sorry,” Belanger exhaled.

“Well, Cerva is not going to be coming back anymore tonight, which probably means Charles is gone,” Belanger explained, “And the people coming up has made him angry.”

I don’t blame him. Drunk people always seem to show up at the wrong time and ruin everything. Belanger then allowed us to look around the rest of the attic, and also told us that a month or so ago some drunk woman had left the water running in a bathtub, and the water had leaked down through the ceiling, ruining the historic plasterwork on the floors below. By then, the murder mystery people had left, and we could wander the first floor. It’s a nice house, with a very nice staff, and then I stepped out in the night of South St. Louis, looking at the steam pouring out of the smokestacks of the Lemps’ old competitors, Anheuser-Busch.

Two years ago, photographer Jason Gray and I were given complete access to the lagering cellars underneath the Lemp Brewery, and I remember thinking, If there was ever a time for ghosts to contact us, here was their chance. Sixty feet below the surface of the streets of St. Louis, deeper than Adam Lemp’s lagering cave, we spent hours in the pitch darkness of the malt house’s subcellars. I remember thinking to myself, OK, guys, if you want to contact me, now’s the time to do it.

Alas, none of the Lemps chose to reach out from the Other Side while I explored their old brewery. I had also learned through old newspaper articles that several workers died during the expansion of the malt kilns when a crane collapsed, dropping a steel beam on a group of men below. Surely their ghosts would contact Jason or me, perhaps still angry at the Lemps’ callous negligence? Again, we were disappointed, the only sound disturbing our subterranean work was the rushing of water when sump pumps turned on. Are there secrets still waiting to be revealed in the tunnels and caves under Cherokee Street? Only the ghosts know.

P.O. BOX 191606 St. Louis, MO 63119 314-918-3000

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Lemp Mansion: Facts & Photos of This Famous Haunted House in St. Louis, Missouri

Updated on April 19, 2021

It seems as though no matter what time of year, haunted houses and are all the rage these days. So, as an homage to the mysterious holiday, we’ve decided to bring you another article featuring one of the most infamous haunted houses in America — the Lemp Mansion.

The Lemp Mansion

Lemp mansion st louis mo.

The Lemp Mansion was originally built in 1868 by a man named Jacob Feikert who also just so happened to be the father-in-law of William Lemp Sr. (the patriarch of the family). The hugely impressive and expansive home contained thirty-three rooms at the time it was constructed, however, upon purchasing the property, Lemp made the decision to renovate it quite extensively. Among many things he also constructed a tunnel from the basement through the caves to the brewery he ran. Eventually, once mechanical refrigeration became a thing, parts of these caves were later converted into a natural auditorium and a theater. He also further constructed a large swimming pool and a bowling alley for entertainment.

Although much of the original mansion has been replaced, there are still a handful of features which guests can admire in the haunted Lemp Mansion which still exists today. These include the decorative iron gates, the open-air elevator and the Italian marble mantle located in the dining room which was previously used as an office for one of the Lemp family members. There are also three vaults located at the rear of the home which were used to house the family’s artwork.

Lemp Mansion Tours

Interested parties will be happy to know that there are haunted history tours hosted at the Lemp haunted house, which also include the option for guests to spend the night. The tours are held every other Thursday from December to August including a handful of additional days from September to November. Times vary, but the tours generally begin between the hours of 5:30 PM and 8:30 PM local time.

The $35 ticket price will get you drinks, light appetizers and the use of an infrared camera to record your experience through the various floors of the home. Wanna learn more? Check out their website for further details.

Lemp Mansion Haunted House

Haunted house st louis.

It has been reported that the L emp Mansion haunted individuals over the years and the paranormal activity has garnered the haunted mansion in Missouri a significant amount of attention. In 1980 Life Magazine named it one of the nine most haunted houses and in 2009 the home was featured on Discovery Channel’s Ghost Lab series.

In 2010 it was the subject of an investigation on the TV show Ghost Hunters and in 2013 it was featured on the Travel Channel series titled Most Terrifying Places in America 2 . The channel also later featured it on the tenth season of its popular show Ghost Adventures . In 2016 it was further featured on the Syfy channel series Paranormal Witness and at one point, CNNTravel included it on their list of the “10 Spookiest Buildings in the World”.

So, is the Lemp Mansion haunted? I think it’s safe to say, yes!

Lemp Mansion Halloween

There are several events hosted at the Lemp Mansion available to the public, however perhaps one of the most entertaining of these is the annual Halloween Bash . Tickets for the event cost $70 per person when booked in advance and $80 at the door. With their tickets guests gain access to a 4 ½ hour open bar, live bands, food and a costume contest with cash prizes. 

Lemp Mansion Hotel

Over the years the home was converted into everything from offices to a boarding house. Eventually, the L emp Mansion Restaurant and Inn came about. The hotel is currently up and running and hosts a number of events including weddings, private events, a now-infamous Lemp Mansion mystery dinner, hotel tours as well as annual events such as their popular Halloween bash. If you’re interested in visiting, you can check out the Lemp Mansion menu o n their website.

Lemp Brewery

The Le mp Brewery haunted house originally began as nothing more than your average old brewery run by William J. Lemp Sr. The brewery was wildly successful largely in part due to the fact that it was one of the first ones in the United States to introduce German lager to the menu. Under the control of William J. Lemp Sr.’s son, the brewery became even more popular and eventually became the first to establish the distribution of beer nationwide.

MTV featured the brewery and its tunnels as a location on their once-popular reality television show FEAR and in 2011 the site was also featured on the television show Off Limits.

The brewery is now used as a filming location for TV and movies. Location images give quite a peek inside. The facility has clearly been cleaned up abut also left somewhat rundown. They shed light on just how large the place was – an incredible accomplishment this business would be even today, much less in the 19th century.

Lemp Family History

The Lemp Mansion history is quite complicated and tragic. While the Lemp Family was extremely successful, the truth of the matter is that they were also plagued by tragedy due to the fact that three of the family members all committed suicide by shooting. 

Johann “Adam” Lemp

Johann “Adam” Lemp was the original patriarch of the family. He was a German immigrant who relocated to St. Louis in 1838. Upon relocating to America, Lemp set up a grocery store where he sold numerous items including his own vinegar and beer. Eventually, by 1840 he transitioned into focusing solely on crafting beer and founded Western Brewery. It was wildly successful due to the fact that it was one of the first breweries to produce German lager in the United States.

William J. Lemp Sr.

William J. Lemp Sr. was was the son who eventually took over Western Brewery after his father passed. Under his control, the brewery grew to be the largest in St. Louis as well as the largest one operating outside of New York with a single owner. However, Lemp suffered two significant tragedies in his life which eventually led to his death. These were the death of his youngest son Frederick as well as the passing of his dearest friend Frederick Pabst (of Pabst beer). Believe it or not, Lemp helped Pabst, Anheuser, and Busch start their businesses. Shaken from the deaths of his son and his closest friends, William was never the same. He tragically took his own life, committing suicide with a shotgun on February 13, 1904.

William “Billy” J. Lemp Jr

William “Billy” J. Lemp Jr. was William Sr.’s oldest son who also followed in the same steps as his father. In 1876 Billy moved into the mansion with his wife and changed the company name to the William J. Lemp Brewing Company in 1892. After his father committed suicide he took over the company. However, he too was plagued with difficulties in life, perhaps most significantly a divorce in which his wife retained full custody of their child. The company eventually began to fall into a downward spiral after prohibition and was ultimately placed for auction and sold for just a fraction of its original value. On December 29, 1922, Billy Lemp shot himself in his office, which is now used as the dining room of the home.

Frederick Lemp

Frederick Lemp was another son of William Sr. and actually the one he had planned on grooming to take over the business. However, Frederick had health issues his entire life and eventually died of heart failure in 1901 at the age of 28.

Charles Lemp

Charles Lemp was the third son of William Sr. who moved into the mansion in 1929. However, he was plagued by depression as well and in 1941 he sent a letter to a St. Louis funeral home given them instructions on what to do with his remains in the event of his death. On May 10, 1949, Charles shot his dog and then himself in the head. He left a suicide note which read “St. Louis Mo/May 9, 1949, In case I am found dead blame it on no one but me. Ch. A. Lemp”.

Elsa Lemp Wright

Elsa Lemp was the youngest child of William Lemp Sr. who also committed suicide by shooting herself in her bed shortly after she reconciled her marriage with her husband in March of 1920.

Edwin Lemp was left as the only surviving son of William Sr. He worked at the brewery until 1913 and then eventually retired to an estate he built in western Kirkwood named “Cragwold”. After his retirement, he became dedicated to charitable causes and eventually died at the age of 90.

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• United States

The Lemp Mansion

Good for special occasions

• Neighborhood gem

Make a reservation

Order delivery or takeout, additional information.

• Dining style Casual Elegant
• Price $30 and under
• Cuisines American
• Hours of operation Lunch Mon–Fri 11:00 am–2:30 pm Dinner Thu–Sat 5:30 pm–10:00 pm Sun 11:30 am–8:00 pm
• Phone number (314) 664-8024
• Website http://www.lempmansion.com/
• Payment options AMEX, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
• Dress code Casual Dress
• Catering We are available for catering.
• Private party facilities Whether you are a small or large group, we have a room for you! The Lemp Mansion has private rooms for 20 to 50. We also have banquet spaces available from 100 to 300.
• Location 3322 Demenil Pl, St. Louis, MO 63118
• Neighborhood St. Louis
• Cross street Utah & Cherokee
• Parking details We have a small private lot next to the building. There is also street parking in front.
• Additional Beer, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Full Bar, Gluten-free Options, Outdoor Smoking Area, Private Room, Takeout, Wine

Popular dishes

Mashed potatoes, pan fried chicken, cheddar garlic mashed potatoes, chicken tenders $7.95, house-made toasted ravioli $8.95, lemp mansion sweet & spicy wings $9.95, steak fries $2.75, french onion soup $5.75, soup of the day, chili with cheddar cheese & onion $5.75, dinner salad $4.95.

Choice of Dressings: St. Louis Classic Mayfair, French, Italian, Ranch, Bleu Cheese, Thousand Island, Balsamic Vinaigrette

Entree Salad $8.95

Romaine tossed with Provel cheese, red onion & croutons

• Add Grilled or Crispy Chicken $10.95
• Add Shrimp $12.95

Buffalo Chicken Salad $10.95

Grilled or crispy chicken tossed in Lemp Mansion wing sauce with romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, red onion, tomato and egg tossed in house-made ranch or bleu cheese dressing

Chef Salad $10.95

Ham, smoked turkey, cheddar cheese, black olive, egg and tomato

Gourmet Salad $12.95

Shrimp, bacon, Provel cheese, artichoke hearts, mushroom and tomato

Chicken Salad $10.95

White meat chicken with mayonnaise, chunk pineapple and fresh fruit

Southwest Chicken Salad $10.95

BBQ white meat chicken, black beans, white corn, Provel cheese, diced tomato, red onion, jicama in a tortilla shell tossed with ranch dressing

Taco Salad $10.95

Lemp Mansion chili, black olive, red onion, jalapeno, cheddar cheese, sour cream served in a tortilla shell

Specials served with vegetable and potato and your choice of soup or salad

8 oz. Prime Rib $14.95

House-made meatloaf $12.95, broiled cod $13.95, grilled chicken $13.95, sandwiches and more.

All sandwiches served with steak fries

Chicken Breast $9.95

Grilled, crispy, BBQ or Buffalo style with your choice of cheese served on a Kaiser roll

Burger $9.50

Lettuce, tomato and onion served on a Kaiser roll

Prosperity $9.95

Our version of the classic Kentucky Hot Brown, open face sandwich on top of toasted wheat with ham, turkey, bacon, topped with a rich blended cheese sauce

Turkey, Bacon and Swiss $9.95

Served on whole wheat with an avocado creme spread

St. Louis' Finest Club $10.95

Generous portions of turkey, ham and bacon with lettuce, tomato and mayo served on tri-layered wheat

Fried Cod $10.95

Golden fried cod served on a Kaiser roll with Swiss cheese and tartar sauce on the side

Hot Ham & Swiss $9.95

Ham stacked on a Kaiser roll with melted Swiss cheese

Shaved Prime Rib $11.95

Thin shaved prime rib with Swiss cheese on a hoagie served with a side of horseradish mousse and au jus

Black Bean and Cheddar Cheese Enchiladas $9.95

Two enchiladas with diced lettuce and tomato, sour cream and salsa

Quesadilla $8.95

Cheddar cheese and jalapeno served with diced lettuce and tomato, sour cream and salsa

House-Made Meatloaf Sandwich

served with steak fries

Cuban Style $10.95

Swiss cheese, ham, mustard and pickle served on a hoagie

Italian Style $10.95

Marinara, Provel and Parmesan cheese served on a hoagie

German Style $10.95

Brown gravy and Swiss cheese with sauteed mushroom and onion served on a hoagie

Chicken Alfredo $12.50

Grilled white meat chicken tossed in a classic Alfredo cream sauce

Penne con Pesce $13.50

Shrimp, crabmeat and sliced mushroom in a curry cream sauce finished with Provel cheese

Penne con Broccoli $11.25

Chopped broccoli, sliced mushroom, garlic and fresh tomato, finished with Provel cheese and cream

Szechwan Penne $11.25

Fresh broccoli, garlic, Provel and Parmesan cheese in a cayenne pepper cream sauce

• Add Chicken $12.25
• Add Shrimp $13.25

Tomato Basil Pasta $10.25

Fresh tomato and basil with garlic and mushroom tossed in olive oil

Ask your server for seasonal selections

Michelob Ultra

Wine & champagne.

Ask your server for our complete wine list

Other Beverages

Iced or Hot

Orange Juice

Cranberry juice.

Ask your server for additional dessert selections

Bananas Foster for Two $16.95

Cherries jubilee for two $16.95, flaming coffee napoleon.

• per person $11.00

What 1,073 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews.

Reviews can only be made by diners who have eaten at this restaurant

• 4.7 Service
• 4.7 Ambience

Noise • Moderate

Great for brunch

Good for groups

Great for scenic views

Dined on August 16, 2024

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Does The Lemp Mansion offer delivery through OpenTable or takeout?

The Lemp Mansion offers takeout which you can order by calling the restaurant at (314) 664-8024.

How is The Lemp Mansion restaurant rated?

The Lemp Mansion is rated 4.6 stars by 1073 OpenTable diners.

Is The Lemp Mansion currently accepting reservations?

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

3322 Demenil Pl, St. Louis, MO 63118

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“Fear is the path to the dark side.”

Lemp mansion now offers virtual 3d tour.

I came across this article from KMOV.com in St. Louis, Missouri: “Ready to explore the Lemp Mansion without leaving your home? Check out this 3D tour.”

It will not only make this week’s Haunted Headlines post, but was so intriguing I had to write about it.

Terrified to explore the Lemp Mansion in person? The Lemp Mansion website is now offering a virtual 3D tour that you can watch from the comfort of your home.

It seems like when I first started Haunt Jaunts back in 2009, the Lemp Mansion and its alleged hauntings used to crop up all the time. In fact, it was in the news and on social media so much, it was high on my list of haunted places to jaunt to.

In 2010, my husband and I spent a 4th of July weekend with some friends who had moved to a suburb of St. Louis. We made a detour on the way home to check out the Lemp Mansion . But all I was able to see was the outside, because it was closed for a private party.

But now thanks to their 3D tour videos, I can virtually explore to my heart’s content! And so can you.

Lemp Mansion 3D Tours

Here’s the four 3D spaces you can check out:

• The Mansion
• Lemp Mansion Patio, Gazebo & Coach Haus
• Lemp’s Loft
• Lemp Grand Hall

All you have to do is click their Video Gallery tab and choose your destination.

That’s right. No charge or anything.

So if the cost to get there or to book a room was prohibitive, but you’ve always been curious about exploring inside, they’ve made it possible to still enjoy it! Thanks, Lemp Mansion!

Lemp Mansion Ghost Tours

I was also happy to see they’re still doing ghost tours.

They happen most Monday nights. Tickets are $25. Reservations are required.

To learn more, see the Ghost Tours section on their site.

Paranormal Investigation at the Lemp Mansion

Something else you’ll find under the Ghost Tour section of their site is something called “The Lemp Mansion Experience: The Hunt for Paranormal Activity. The New Generation of Ghost Hunting.”

There’s a “Get Details” link that takes you to the Lemp Experience page, which gives you more details.

But in a nutshell, you get to use an infrared camera to “record your journey through three floors of the darkened Lemp Mansion.”

Tickets are $35 and include a soft drink or cocktail and light appetizers.

Lemp Experiences only happen on select dates only. The remaining dates for 2018 are:

July 26 August 9, 23 September 6, 13, 20, 27 October 4, 11, 18, 25 November 1, 8, 15, 29 December 13, 27

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, as well as obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of healing, to learn how she channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story .

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The Fascinating History of the Haunted Lemp Mansion

In the 19th century, the Lemp family was practically royalty in St. Louis, Missouri. John Adam Lemp had introduced lager beer to St. Louis in 1838 with the opening of his brewery in what is now Benton Park, and although his more famous rival, Anheuser-Busch, would eventually overtake Lemp beer in nationwide sales in the 1880s, Lemp outsold A-B in St. Louis. The family bought a beautiful mansion near the Brewery, at 3322 South 13th Street (now DeMenil Place). The family married well, particularly William Lemp Jr., who married Lillian Handlan, a railroad supply heiress called the “Lavender Lady” because of her preference for that color; her horses’ harnesses were even adorned in that particular shade. Their divorce 10 years after they were married was the talk of the town and scandal of the decade. But all was not well in the family—even though their business was thriving and they were treated like kings and queens everywhere they went in the city. In 1901, William Lemp Sr. lost his son Frederick who had a heart problem, and three years later, he shot himself with a .38-caliber revolver in his bedroom in the Lemp Mansion .

After his father’s death, William Jr. turned the mansion into the company’s headquarters upon assuming the reigns of the company, and all was well for a spell. But then Prohibition hit the United States, which spelled doom for the Lemp family. On March 20, 1920, Elsa Lemp Wright (a daughter of William Lemp Sr.) shot herself in her home on tony Hortense Place (“This is the Lemp family for you,” William Jr. is reported to have said when he arrived at the scene.) In 1922, William Jr. announced he would sell the property, and on December 29th of that year, he dismissed his secretary from his office and shot himself in the heart.

The family did not sell the property and instead restored it as a residence even as their reign as a beer empire ended due to Prohibition. But the tragedies in the house did not end there. In 1949, Charles Lemp (William Jr.’s brother) shot himself in the same room as his brother had. “In case I am found dead, blame it on no one but me,” he wrote cryptically in his suicide note . After Charles’ death, the mansion was sold and turned into a boarding house. It was not well maintained, but this wasn’t the only reason it was difficult to keep tenants. The building also had a reputation for being haunted, with phantom footsteps and knocks being heard not uncommon.

But St. Louisan Dick Pointer saw this slight issue of the building being haunted as an opportunity, and in 1975, he purchased the building to turn it into a restaurant and inn. It was difficult to keep staff sometimes because they would report seeing apparitions and odd sounds, and would sometimes feel as though they were being watched. Those who work in the restaurant have heard the piano playing itself, and doors locking and unlocking themselves. The mansion is a magnet for ghost hunters and curious tourists and locals alike. So, next time you’re in St. Louis , book a tour and see for yourself—if you dare.

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Legends of America

Traveling through american history, destinations & legends since 2003., the haunted lemp mansion in st. louis.

The Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, Missouri, by Kathy Alexander.

A house is never silent in darkness to those who listen intently; there is a whispering in distant chambers, an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window, and the latch rises. Ghosts were created when the first man woke in the night . —  James Matthew Barrie, “The Little Minister”

Said to be one of the ten most haunted places in America, the Lemp Mansion in  St. Louis ,  Missouri , continues to play host to the tragic Lemp family. Over the years, the mansion was transformed from the stately home of millionaires to office space, decaying into a run-down boarding house. It was finally restored to its current state as a fine dinner theatre, restaurant, and bed and breakfast.

The Lemp Family began with Johann Adam Lemp, who arrived in St Louis from Eschwege, Germany, in 1838. Building a small grocery store at what is now Delmar and 6th Streets, he sold everyday household items, groceries, and homemade beer. The light golden lager was a welcome change from the darker beers that were sold at the time. The recipe, handed down by his father, was so popular that just two years later, he gave up the grocery store and built a small brewery in 1840 at a point close to where the Gateway Arch stands today.

Lemp Beer Label, 1892

Lemp first sold his beer in a pub attached to the brewery, introducing St. Louis to its first lager. Before long, Lemp found that the brewery was too small to handle production and storage and found a limestone cave south of the city limits. The cave, located at the present-day corner of Cherokee and De Menil Place, could be kept cool by chopping ice from the nearby Mississippi River and depositing it inside, providing perfect conditions for the lagering process to run its course. Lemp’s Western Brewing Co. continued to prosper and, by the 1850s, was one of the largest in the city. In 1858, the beer captured first place at the annual St. Louis fair.

A millionaire by the time of his death, Adam Lemp died on August 25, 1862, and his son, William, began a significant expansion of the brewery. He purchased a five-block area around the storage house on Cherokee, above the lagering caves. In 1864, a new plant was completed at Cherokee Street and Carondolet Avenue. The brewery eventually covered five city blocks by continually expanding to meet the product demand.

By the 1870s, the Lemp family symbolized wealth and power, as the Lemp Brewery controlled the St. Louis beer market, a position it maintained until prohibition.

Lemp Mansion 1892.

In 1868, Jacob Feickert, William Lemp’s father-in-law, built a house a short distance from the Lemp Brewery. In 1876, William Lemp purchased it for his family, utilizing it as a residence and an auxiliary office. While the home was impressive, Lemp immediately began renovating and expanding the 33-room house into a Victorian showplace.

From the mansion, a tunnel was built from the basement through the caves to the brewery. When mechanical refrigeration became available, parts of the cave were converted for other purposes, including a natural auditorium and a theatre. This underground oasis would later spawn a large concrete swimming pool, with hot water piped in from the brewery boiling house and a bowling alley. At one time, the theatre was accessible through a spiral staircase from Cherokee Street.

By the middle 1890s, the Lemp Brewery gained a national presence after introducing the popular “Falstaff” beer, which another company still brews today. The Lemp Western Brewery was the first brewer to establish coast-to-coast distribution of its beer. At the same time, he was building his own business empire; William Sr. also helped Pabst, Anheuser, and Busche get started.

William Lemp

Amid this success, the Lemp family experienced the first of many tragedies when Frederick Lemp, William Sr’s favorite son and heir apparent, died in 1901 at the age of 28. Frederick, who had never been in excellent health, died of heart failure. The devastated William Lemp was never the same, beginning a slow withdrawal; he was rarely seen publicly after his son’s death. On January 1, 1904, William’s closest friend, Frederick Pabst, also died, leaving William indifferent to the details of running the brewery. Though he arrived at the office daily, he was nervous and unsettled. His physical and mental health began to decline, and on February 13, 1904, he shot himself in the head with a .38 caliber Smith & Wesson.

In November 1904, William Lemp Jr. took over as the new president of the William J. Lemp Brewing Company. Inheriting the family business and a vast fortune, he and his wife, Lillian, began to spend the inheritance. Filling the house with servants, the pair spent vast amounts on carriages, clothing, and art.

Lillian was a beautiful woman who came from a wealthy family herself. She and William Lemp, Jr. had married in 1899, and William J. Lemp, III was born on September 26, 1900. Before long, Lillian became known as the “Lavender Lady” because of her fondness for the color. In addition to her lavender attire and accessories, she went so far as to have her carriage horse harnesses dyed lavender. Initially, Will enjoyed showing off his “trophy wife,” but Will was a “player.” Born with a “silver spoon in his mouth,” he was used to doing and acting as he pleased.

William Lemp II

When William began to tire of his beautiful wife, he demanded she spend her time shopping. Allotting her $1,000 a day, he gave her an ultimatum that she would get no more if she didn’t spend it.

In the meantime, Will was busy running the brewery during the day and pursuing all manner of decadent activities during the night. Holding lavish parties in the caves below the mansion, he would bring in numerous prostitutes for the “entertainment” of his friends. Enjoying the swimming pool, the bowling alley, and the free-flowing beer, his friends who attended these lavish events were known to enjoy a high time in the earth below.

Will’s shenanigans caught up with him when he sired a son with a woman other than his wife. Today, there is no official documentation that this boy existed. However, the rumors that this boy was hidden in the mansion attic for his entire life have been prevalent over the years. According to St. Louis historian Joe Gibbons, when he interviewed a former nanny and a chauffeur who worked at the mansion long ago, they verified that the boy existed and was housed in the attic quarters that also housed the servant’s rooms. Spawned from Will’s philandering with either one of the many prostitutes or a mansion servant, the boy was born with Down’s Syndrome. A total embarrassment to the family, the boy was hidden away from the world to cloak the Lemp’s “shame.” Known today as the “Monkey Face Boy,” this unfortunate soul continues to show his presence at the Lemp Mansion.

Lillian Handlen Lemp

Finally, William Jr. tired of his “trophy wife” and filed for divorce in 1908. Why she didn’t take this step with all of his goings-on could be nothing more than a sign of the times. The court proceedings surrounding the divorce became a major St. Louis scandal, with all four St. Louis newspapers devoting extensive front-page coverage to the messy affair. The trial opened in February 1909 to crowds that flocked to the courthouse each day to witness the drama of tales of violence, drunkenness, atheism, and cruelty.

Virtually ignoring William’s decadent activities, Lillian almost lost custody of William Lemp, III because of a photograph presented at the trial that showed her smoking a cigarette. Ultimately, she retained custody of their son but soon retired from the public eye. The only time she was ever seen wearing anything other than lavender was on the final day of her divorce proceedings when she appeared entirely in black before the judge.

With the divorce, Will’s troubles had only just begun. In 1906, nine large breweries in the St. Louis area combined to form the Independent Breweries Company, creating fierce competition that the Lemp Brewery had never faced. In the same year, Will’s mother died of cancer on April 16.

Though the brewery’s fortunes were continually declining, the Lemp Mansion was entirely remodeled in 1911 and partially converted into offices for the brewery. At this same time, William allowed the company’s equipment to deteriorate without keeping abreast of industry innovations. By World War I , the brewery was barely limping along.

William soon built a country home on the Meramec River, to which he increasingly retreated. In 1915, he married for a second time to Ellie Limberg, the widowed daughter of the late St. Louis brewer Casper Koehler.

Lemp Brewery in St. Louis

Then Prohibition came along in 1919. The individual family members were already wealthy, so there was little incentive to keep the brewery afloat. For a time, Will hoped that Congress would repeal Prohibition, but finally gave up and closed the Lemp plant down without notice. When they came to work one day, the workers learned of the closing and found the doors shut and the gates locked.

On March 20, 1920, Elsa Lemp Wright, William’s sister, the wealthiest heiress in St Louis, shot herself just like her father had years before. Elsa was said to have been despondent over her rocky marriage.

Liquidating the plant’s assets and auctioning the buildings, William Jr. sold the famous Lemp “Falstaff” logo to brewer Joseph Griesedieck for $25,000 in 1922. The brewery buildings were sold to the International Shoe Co. for $588,000, a fraction of its estimated worth of $7 million in the years before Prohibition.

Lemp Brewery Tower

After the end of the Lemp’s brewing dynasty, William Jr. slipped into a depression. Acting much like his father, he became increasingly nervous and erratic, shunning public life and often complaining of ill health. On December 29, 1922, William shot himself in the heart with a .38 caliber revolver in the very same building where his father had died eighteen years before. William II took his life on the main level of the mansion, just inside the entrance to the left. At the time of his death, this room served as his office. He was interred in the family mausoleum at Bellefontaine Cemetery, in the crypt just above his sister Elsa.

William’s brothers, Charles and Edwin, had long ago left the family business, so with William Jr. gone, it seemed that the Lemp empire had finally ended. Edwin had entered into a life of seclusion at his estate in Kirkwood, Missouri, in 1911. Charles had never been involved in the brewery and had chosen to work in the banking and real estate fields instead.

In 1943, yet another tragedy occurred when William Lemp III died of a heart attack at the age of forty-two.

Brother Charles eventually remodeled the mansion back into a residence and lived in the house along with two servants and the illegitimate child of his brother William. Charles, too, became an odd figure as he grew older. Developing a morbid fear of germs, his obsessive-compulsive behavior included always wearing gloves to avoid bacteria and constantly washing his hands. During this time, William’s illegitimate child, now in his 30s, died at the mansion. He was buried on the Lemp Cemetery plot with only a small flat marker with the word “Lemp.”

Shortly after the “Monkey Face Boy’s” death, Charles became the fourth member of the Lemp family to commit suicide. First, he shot his beloved Doberman Pinscher in the mansion’s basement. Then, climbing the staircase to his room on the second floor, he shot himself. Charles was discovered on May 10, 1949, by one of his staff, still holding a .38 caliber Army Colt revolver in his right hand. Though the dog was shot in the basement, he was found halfway up the stairs.

Lemp Family Burial Site, Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri, by Amy Stark.

Of the Lemps, only Edwin Lemp, who had long avoided the life that had turned so tragic for the rest of his family, remained. He was known as a quiet, reclusive man who had walked away from the Lemp Brewery in 1913 to live peacefully on a secluded estate in Kirkwood, Missouri . Edwin passed away quietly from natural causes at age 90 in 1970. According to Edwin’s last wishes, his butler burned all of the paintings that the Lemps had collected throughout his life and priceless Lemp family documents and artifacts. These irreplaceable pieces of history vanished in the smoke of a blazing bonfire.

The Lemp family line died out with him, and the family’s resting place can now be found in beautiful Bellefontaine Cemetery.

After the death of Charles Lemp, the mansion was sold and turned into a boarding house. The building began to deteriorate along with the nearby neighborhood, and the haunting tales began. Residents complained of ghostly knocks and phantom footsteps being heard throughout the house. As these stories spread, tenants were hard to find for the boarding house, and it continued to decline to a near-flophouse status.

However, in 1975, the old mansion was saved when Dick Pointer and his family purchased it. Immediately, they renovated the building, turning it into a restaurant and inn. Workers within the house often told stories of apparitions, strange sounds, vanishing tools, and a feeling of being watched. Frightened by the hauntings, many would leave the job site never to return.

Lemp Family Burial Site, Bellefontaine Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri. Amy Stark,

Since the restaurant opened, staff members have reported several strange experiences. Again, apparitions appear and then quickly vanish, voices and sounds come from nowhere, and glasses will often lift off the bar, flying through the air by themselves. On other occasions, doors are said to lock and unlock by themselves, lights inexplicably turn on and off of their own free will, and the piano bar often plays when no one is near.

Said to be haunted by several members of the Lemp family, there are three areas of the old mansion that have the most activity — the stairway, the attic, and what the staff refers to as the “Gates of Hell” in the basement. This area of the basement used to be the entrance to the caves running below the mansion and the brewery.

The attic is said to be haunted by William Jr.’s illegitimate son, referred to only as the “Monkey Face Boy.” This poor soul, born with Down’s Syndrome, spent his entire life locked in the attic of the Lemp Mansion. Strange occurrences are often witnessed on this third-floor level of the mansion. The face of the boy has regularly been seen from the street, peeking from the small windows of the mansion. Ghost investigators have often left toys in the middle of his room, drawing a circle around them to see if the objects have been moved. When they return the next day, the toys are consistently found in another location.

The Women’s Restroom on the main floor of the Lemp Mansion was once the personal domain of William Lemp, Jr. By Kathy Alexander.

Many women have reported a man peeking over the stall in the downstairs women’s bathroom, which was once William Jr.’s personal domain and held the first free-standing shower in St. Louis . On one such occasion, a woman emerged from the bathroom, returned to the bar, and told the two men she was there with: “I hope you got an eyeful!”  However, the two men quickly denied ever leaving the bar, which the bartender verified. This ghost is said to be that of the womanizing William Jr.

In William Lemp, Sr’s room, guests have often reported hearing someone running up the stairs and kicking at the door. When William killed himself, William Jr. was known to have run up the stairs to his father’s room and, finding it locked, began to kick the door in to get to his father.

Several years ago, a part-time tour guide reported hearing the sounds of horses outside the room where William Lemp, Sr had kept his office. However, nothing was there when the tour guide looked through the window. This area, north of the mansion and now used as a parking lot, was once utilized as a tethering lot for horses.

The mansion has been featured in several magazine articles and newspapers and now attracts ghost hunters from around the country. Today, it features a bed and breakfast with rooms restored in period style, a restaurant featuring fine dining, and a mystery dinner theater. Tours are also available at the mansion.

The Lemp Mansion is located at 3322 De Menil Place, a short distance from the Mississippi River. To get there, Take Broadway from Interstate 55 and follow that to Cherokee Street. Go west on Cherokee and turn right onto De Menil Place .

Contact Information:

Lemp Mansion 3322 De Menil Place St. Louis, Missouri, 63118 314-664-8024

Legends of America Visits the Lemp Mansion

On Saturday, October 9, 2004, Kathy Alexander and Amy Stark visited the Lemp Mansion along with St. Louis historian Joe Gibbons. Joe has spent many years researching the Lemp Mansion and often gives tours of the inn with the permission and cooperation of the owners.

Meeting up with Joe at the bar, we settled in for a bit, pulling on a couple of lagers and chatting it up with Joe. After Joe kindly introduced us to Patty Pointer, he showed Amy and me around the mansion. As Joe described, in intricate detail, the history of the Lemp Mansion, the land on which the mansion stands, and the many strange occurrences in the haunted building, our tour took on new members. By the time we reached the attic, more than 20 of us must have been there.

While we were on the tour, several strange events occurred. The first was when we were standing in the darkened attic. As Joe described the “Monkey Face Boy,” I began snapping pictures in the darkened room. Soon, I was approached by a woman who had joined our “unofficial” tour. She wanted to know if my shadow would appear on the wall when I took a picture.

I responded, “No, because the flash is in front of me.” Perplexed, she continued that when I took one picture in the attic, she saw a person’s distinct shadow against the wall. Hope against hope, I quickly scrolled back through my digital images to see if a shadow appeared, but there was nothing.

Even stranger, another group member reported hearing the very faint voice of a child saying repeatedly, “Help me, help me.”

In this room, the woman said she saw a distinct human shadow on the wall when Kathy Alexander took this photograph.

As we made our way back down the stairs and passed by William Lemp Sr’s room, Amy pulled me aside because the door was wide open, with the key in the door. We’re not going in; we just wanted to peek. We continued our journey down the hall when the guests of the room raised an alarm. When they returned from dinner, they found the door wide open and were looking for a manager. However, there was no key in the door when they arrived. A manager quickly responded — it was “impossible” that there had been a key in the door, as there were only two keys to that room. One was in the hands of the guest, the other in the hands of the manager. So, who opened the door, and where did we see the key when we passed?

Later, several group members would describe having passed a man in the hallway, holding a key in his hand and acting irritated with the large group moving through the hallway. He was described as pale, older, and wearing a white shirt and black pants; no one thought anything of it at the time, believing him to be a member of the staff. However, we would find that no such gentlemen was working or staying at the mansion that night that met that description. Though no harm was done, and nothing was disturbed in the guest room, the experience was very bizarre.

The Charles Lemp Room. Look very closely at the mirror on the door. Do you see anything??? Click on the picture to see a larger version, and you can also see several orbs in this room by Kathy Alexander.

Next, everyone was assembled around the Charles Lemp room. The guests staying in the room kindly allowed us to enter to look around. Amy and I sensed a heaviness in the bedroom area, but this was not the room that Charles shot himself in; instead, it was the parlor area.

Painting of Lillian in the Lemp Mansion

One of the women who had joined our group told how she had been married in the mansion a year earlier and had carefully laid her dress and other items on the bed. She then turned away for a moment, but when she turned back, all the items were scattered. One group member reported smelling cigar smoke outside of Charles’ room.

On the first level of the mansion, the dining room to the left of the entryway once served as William Lemp II’s office, where he killed himself. In the corner of the room was his desk, where he sat with his gun in his final moments. The temperature in this corner was considerably colder than the rest of the room. On the wall is the painted portrait of Lillian Lemp – “The Lavender Lady.” One group member reported having smelled the distinct aroma of lavender while passing by her portrait.

Reader’s Experiences at the Lemp Mansion

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I were a part of a large group that dined at that mansion. We were seated straight back from the entrance in a rear dining room. In the past, I have had a number of experiences with spirits (from as early back as age 6) and have come to the conclusion that I am far more ‘open’ to them than most people. We arrived late, so we were quickly whisked back to our table, and throughout our dinner, I did not sense anything; however, when leaving, we had an opportunity to linger in the entryway/entrance to the dining room that is on the first left of the entrance. I felt something immediately… I can’t say that it was negative, but more so nosey and cranky, and I got the strong sense that it was male/masculine. I almost got the sense that he was seeking my attention, and I was drawn to the corner of the room that was diagonal from the entrance to the room. I felt a shiver, immediately developed goosebumps, and told my husband, “there is something/someone in that room. I’m getting major heebies. We left just after I said that, so I did not get more opportunity to explore.

Just today, I decided to google the mansion, and low and behold, that was William Lemp II’s office and where he took his own life. I do want to note that I did not have any sense of the Lavender Lady; however, I did not approach her painting.

Thanks for listening to my experience!

Submitted by Deanna Cole, August 2014

Reader Submission – 2006

I stayed at the Lemp Mansion a few years ago with a friend. In the evening, we took the tour of the mansion, and when it was complete, everyone left, including the employees. We were all alone in the big, rambling house as there were no other guests that night. My friend and I both got the creeps because we wanted to see something – SO bad that we scared ourselves. It was kind of like when you get the feeling you’re being watched.

I don’t believe in ghosts one way or the other, really. But, still, it was fun going around and trying to scare each other. There was only one thing that happened that was kind of strange. We heard a cat meow in the top floor bedroom – the mustard yellow room. We could distinctly hear it coming from the other side of the bed, but when we looked, there was nothing.

The staff had given us a couple of bottles of wine, and after drinking them, I got very brave in the middle of the night. I went up to the attic alone and saw some balloons that were left over from something that had gone on that day. One blew right past me, but I think it was the air coming from the heating system. It’s an old mansion; it could have been anything, so I didn’t freak. But I did go back downstairs.

While I was there, I didn’t have any problems with my camera, but though there were several photographs on the roll, the only ones with orbs in them were at the mansion. I thought it was watermarks or something. I looked at other people’s orb pictures online, and they all look alike. I’m sure there’s an explanation because I don’t think a ghost could show up on film. But here are my photos from that moment with the balloon. These pictures are both from the attic. The one with the “orbs” was the ONLY photo on my entire role of film that had these on the picture.

Submitted by Robin, August, 2006

This photo shows the orbs in the attic that Robin is talking about.

The balloon that Robin saw blowing past her.

Reader Submission – 2005

It was in this corner that William Lemp’s desk, where he shot himself, once sat. Notice the streak across the top of the mirror. Similar streaks showed up in many pictures that included mirrors. By Kathy Weiser-Alexander.

Having chosen a weeknight to spend our anniversary at the Lemp Mansion, we arrived at 3:00 p.m. and were given Charles Lemp’s room. We had planned to eat dinner there that evening, but for some reason, the restaurant closed shortly after we arrived, and we were amazed to find that we would be left to spend the night in the entire mansion alone!

When we first arrived and were wandering around on the second floor, my husband mentioned he noticed a sewer odor. I didn’t notice it, so I didn’t pay any attention.

What I have in common with some of the others who have related their experiences on this website is that strange, uneasy feeling that someone was watching you. Someone also mentioned a “creeped out” feeling. These were the exact words I used! I don’t know how many times I told my husband that night that “I keep getting this creeped out feeling.”

Another similarity I had was to that of USAF Duane’s experience with the missing dimes. When we got to our room, I opened the suitcase and took out two packages of Fuji brand disposable film. I was struggling to open the packages, so I reached into a Ziploc bag containing cheese and sausage and took out the knife I included with these. I then used it to cut the film packages open. Once I took out the knife, we never saw it again! Let me add that this occurred in the very same room Duane (with the missing dimes) stayed in! The Charles Lemp room.

I had never unpacked our suitcase other than to take the plastic bag out and replace it. Since we were only spending one night, I didn’t want to have to rush and pack the following morning.

Every time my husband and I returned to our room from roaming about the mansion, one or both of us would look for the knife. We checked and re-checked every surface, the floors, under the bed, sofas, drawers, etc. It was nowhere to be found! What was infuriating was that the room was immaculate, yet it was nowhere, and we didn’t leave the room with it. As the night progressed, we both became more and more obsessed about the knife’s whereabouts.

As we roamed about the mansion, we took photos, and as the evening progressed, I, too, began to notice the odor of sewage. It grew stronger and more prevalent until it appeared to be everywhere, ultimately becoming most noticeable when I decided to sit in the bar.

While sitting at a table in the bar, I had my husband snap a photo of me at the bar and another by the Lemp mirror on the right side of the bar. I then took a picture of the doorway near where the Lemp mirror hung.

Side view of the Lemp Mansion.

When these photos came back (later) from developing, we discovered some rather unusual images. Of the two rolls of film, with the exception of the photos taken outside, all the photos taken in the house had a greenish cast. The photo of the doorway had a strange foggy type of smoke that spread from the bar to the doorway along the wall until it formed a full silhouette of a woman; I believe it to be the Lavender Lady.

This past October (2004), my husband and I attended Lemp Mansion’s Halloween party, where he took a picture of me standing in the bar’s doorway. As you may recall, I mentioned the woman’s silhouette previously occupied this very same spot. When we got the film back, this photo contained a huge orb just off to the right of me.

My sentiment about staying at Lemp when we left was similar to that of the USAF retiree Duane’s sentiment. As we headed out the door and down the stairs toward the sidewalk to our car, I was relieved to be going home and swore I’d never return!

Needless to say, my husband and I frequently eat at the restaurant and have now decided to make it the place we go to celebrate Halloween. But as to whether I’ll spend another night there? Not unless another couple goes with us. Oh, and by the way, we never did find the knife!!!!

Submitted by Xenia Williams, July 2005.

About the Author:  I have all kinds of strange paranormal activity captured on film. Some of the more interesting are from this apartment that we’ve lived in for the past five years, the  Lemp Mansion, and a storefront in Soulard. I have researched the area that we live in, and now I understand why I have the type of phenomena I have had occurring. What I have found in the area is that historically, it has housed a poor house, an insane asylum, an amusement park, and a doctor who ran a medical college that brought “body snatching” not only to his medical students but to St. Louis and literature. It makes sense now.

Read Submission – 2005

My husband, two teenage daughters, and I spent a night at the Lemp Mansion after having a camping trip rained out. It was so much better than camping!!!!! It was like being on an overnight ride at Disneyland!!!!!! First off, Patty Pointer and the staff were the most fun innkeepers we have ever met. They took great care of us. And… the other “hosts” were fun too!!!! They didn’t let us down. My oldest daughter had just finished dressing for dinner when she turned to put her things in her suitcase. Suddenly, she heard a creaking noise and turned to find that the medicine cabinet had opened on its own. This was in the Charles Lemp Suite. The door of the cabinet had a latch that could not have fallen open.

While we were there, we had an overwhelming feeling of being watched. Though a little disconcerting, the feeling was not a bad one — more almost like protective. The medicine cabinet incident struck us as funny because she was dressing for dinner, and when the cabinet opened, it was full of soap, as if someone was saying if you need soap, there is some in here. We can’t wait to do this again, and we would recommend it to anyone looking for something different to do.

Submitted by:  Kat Robinson, July, 2005

About the Author: I am a yoga instructor and a bit of a ghost hunter. I have always been open-minded to the “other side.”  We have raised our children to know that ghosts are just part of the living, and we should respect their space as if we would if we were visiting anyone alive.

Reader Submission, 2004

Under the eaves in the attic. It is here that the Monkey Face Boy often played. Notice the large orb at the back. By Kathy Alexander.

My name is Renee, and I have family in St. Louis ,  Missouri , so when we visit, my husband and I, along with my brother and my cousin, make a trip to the Lemp Mansion when we’re in the area. Our last visit was on March 24, 2003. We arrived at the mansion around 8:30 p.m. to find out that a show and dinner party was in effect; however, we were told that we could look around on the main floor and upstairs. Neither my husband nor myself had ever been in the attic, so that’s the first place we headed. Already creeped out because of the darkness and silence, our group soon reached the end of the long hall, where the “monkey boy” was kept. However, as we turned around to leave, all four of us got instant chills when we heard a little boy say: “come play with me.” I told my brother to shut up, and he responded, “I didn’t say anything.” That’s when the boy repeated himself again. I then turned to my husband, saying the same thing to him as I had my brother, and he said, “That wasn’t me; it’s time to go.” That was the first encounter in my ten years of visiting the Lemp Mansion, and I hope there will be more. I’m fascinated with ghosts! For Thanksgiving 2004, we’ll be making a trip to Missouri again, and hopefully, we’ll bring back good stories.

Submitted by Renee, October, 2004

Reader submission 2006

I visited the Lemp Mansion in January 2003 with my aunt. We arrived early and had lunch at the Lemp Mansion before checking out the sights of St. Louis . We, too, were shocked that we were given a key and told we’d be all alone that night in the mansion. We were the only ones staying there that night, mind you, but we didn’t know this then. I assumed someone lived there, and they meant alone, as in no other guests.

The hallway outside Charles Lemp’s room. Notice the large orb on his doorway. By Kathy Alexander.

I felt uneasy right away the second I got to the top of the stairs. My aunt seemed okay and wanted to explore, but I felt this heaviness. The hallway off to the left of the stairs was the worst. My body just would physically not go in that hallway! We had reservations at a comedy club that night, so we decided to take a nap. An hour into my nap, I awoke to the sound of a baby crying and a woman talking. I got a little irritated because it was right outside our room (we were in the big suite – the Lavender Lady’s room), and how rude it was of this woman to just stand up there and make all that noise!

But then it stopped, and I went back to sleep. When we got up, we found two women downstairs taking down the Christmas decorations, and we got to talking to them. That was when we learned we were the only ones there that night, and I asked the women to leave the light on in the dining room so it wouldn’t be pitch dark when we got in that night from the comedy club. The women told us their experiences, and we laughed. Off-handed, I asked if they were the ones with the baby. I heard the crying at 5 pm and was told promptly there was no one else there but them after 3 pm and definitely no baby. I felt silly for even thinking I had heard such a thing and was convinced these women were trying to scare us.

That night, when we got back, we were alone. My aunt wanted to explore, but that uneasy feeling overwhelmed me. We went into the other bedrooms and walked around. The bedroom across from the suite was so heavy feeling. My aunt went towards the “hallway” and went to look into the other rooms, but I could NOT get my body into that hallway! I stopped halfway in and watched my aunt peeking into the rooms. She got to the end of the hallway and bent over to peer into the staircase, and a shadow went past me – but I was looking right at my aunt’s shadow! Well, I freaked out and demanded we call it a night.

The uneasy feeling never left me, and when we went to bed, I was too scared to sleep. The final straw came when the piano began to play. I was done! My aunt gave me a Valium to help me sleep (yes, now I find these events very funny, but at the time, not so funny!). After that, I was out – head under the covers and asleep. My aunt says that during the night, she awoke to someone “petting” her hair. She thought I was messing with her and turned over to find me completely out and turned the other way. She turned back over and said a few minutes later, it happened again. She said she never felt scared and that it felt comforting to her. Mind you, this is a 55-year-old psychiatrist!

Another Dining Room. Notice the mirror has the strange streaking that tended to show up in every picture that was taken that had a mirror in it. By Kathy Alexander.

When I got home, I searched my suitcase for my phone, but it wasn’t there. I called the Lemp Mansion, and they sent someone up to look, but it wasn’t there. I called the rental car company, and they couldn’t find it in the car. I ended up having my phone turned off, convinced someone had it. When the bill came in later, we realized ALL the phone calls had come exactly 38 minutes after the hour and ALL to my husband’s phone. Now I don’t get that, but I do know that it was creepy! People say that the people at the mansion probably did it on purpose. Whatever the case, I still find the situation disturbing! But will I go back again someday? You bet! But I will make sure my cell phone stays on my person this time! –

Julie Meyer, January 2006

The Lemp Mansion at Night, by Kathy Alexander.

My name is Kristen, and I met Kathy Weiser of  Legends of America on October 9 at the Lemp Mansion. My husband and I were staying in the William Lemp Suite and joined the tour of the Lemp Mansion. Other than not being able to sleep until after 3 a.m. (I was unbelievably hot, probably from adrenaline.) not too much happened. We took a tour of the house by ourselves after the staff left. There was definitely a feeling of being watched, although a big, old house like that, late at night – I guess it’s to be expected. I did, however, have four orbs show up in my photos. 1) On the grand staircase, 2) in The basement bar, right below the stored wine bottles, 3) Our room – in the curtain (window overlooks main street), and 4) In Charles Lemp’s room-top right corner of the armoire. I was extremely skeptical about “orbs.” Taking the suggestion from a website, I looked through all of my personal photos from the past to see if maybe there were orbs that I had not noticed before. I found none. Now I have four on one roll of film.

Kristen, October 13, 2004.

We recently visited the mystery play/Dinner and Bed & Breakfast at the Lemp Mansion. I am a 50-year-old male USAF Retired with a Master’s Degree in I.S. (Simply for credibility purposes). We enjoyed the play and the f od. However, will never go back for a nights stay. First of all, the breakfast had much to be desi ed. Second, we could not sleep due to an uneasy feeling of being watched. I had a bad dream and woke up several times during the night. My wife could not sleep either. We strongly believe we had a door to our room unlocked after we locked it when we came back from the shared bathroom down the hill. We also dropped two coins in a 10 X 10 open area, and when we knelt down to pick them up, they were one. We looked throughout the entire area and under furniture that was several feet away and still could not find the coins. This was in William Lemp’s Bedroom. It is an interesting stay that we do not intend on repeating.

Duane, June 22, 2004

The staircase at the Lemp Mansion is said to be one of the three areas of ghostly activity. When you click on the picture to view an enlarged version, you can clearly see several orbs at the top. Even more creepy, see the little boy peeking through the banisters on the right side of the photograph. There were NO children with us that night. Moreover, that landing is more than 15  feet high!! By Kathy Alexander.

Its this window in the attic that people in the street office see the Monkey Face Boy peeking out of. By Kathy Alexander.

Reader’s Comments:

I was looking at the pictures of the mansion, and there is one in particular that stands out. It’s the one of the Lemp Mansion at night, October 2004. Is there supposed to be someone standing in front of the museum? Because if I am looking at this picture correctly, there is a man standing to the right of the staircase just behind the cement pillar. All I can see is his face and possibly a cane. – Carrie, St. Louis, September 2008

Editor’s  Note: What is actually in the photo is a parking meter and a tree in the background. There is no man. We can’t explain what looks like a face.

In your picture of the Lemp Mansion staircase, right under the boy’s chin is another child. Once I saw the boy in the picture, I heard the other boy’s voice saying, “me too, I’m here.” I just wanted to let you know. Once again, thank you. – Luz, July, 2006

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The Lemp Mansion, St. Louis, MO

3322 Demenil Pl, St. Louis, MO 63118, United States

The interesting and charming historic mansion in St. Louis Missouri, The Lemp Mansion, was once famous for producing the best beer in the country. The house, built in 1868, has undergone various renovations and has lost much of its ornate charm. It is thought to be still inhabited by dead Lemp family members, many of whom committed suicide in the residence.

Local legend says that the mansion is haunted by the people who used to live there. It has been included in Life Magazine’s most haunted hotels in America . It is said that one of William’s (previous owner) son, Zeke, who was born with Down Syndrome and was hidden from the public in the attic, is still seen in the house until today. He was cruelly dubbed the “Monkey-faced Boy.”

Various residents of the mansion have complained about hearing ghostly knocks and phantom footsteps. Because of these stories, it was very hard to find tenants when the mansion was turned into a boarding house. Whilst contractors were working on the mansion’s renovation, workers complained about strange sounds, apparitions, their tools disappearing and strange feelings of constantly being watched by unseen eyes.

See also: The Haunted Places Along Route 66

A lot of workers were frightened by their experiences and they left abruptly without finishing their work.

Current employees of the Lemp Mansion have reported strange experiences, including voices and apparitions. Glasses in the bar were also reported to fly off from the shelves by themselves. Doors lock and unlock by themselves, and lights turn on and off.

The Lemp family history is long and tragic. The family’s patriarch was Johann Lemp, also called Adam. He was born in 1778 in Germany and became naturalized in 1841. He eventually settled in St. Louis. Aside from selling groceries, Lemp also sold beer and vinegar. He then started focusing solely on manufacturing and selling beer. He was among the first persons in the United States to produce German lager.

When Johann Lemp died, his son William returned from the army to take over the family brewery. Under his supervision, the brewery became the largest in the country. He had four sons. Frederick, one of his sons, had significant health problems and he died of heart failure. After the death of his son, William Sr.’s mental health declined, shortly after his best friend Frederick Pabst died, leading William further off the rails. Shortly after his best friends’ death, William put a gun to his head and ended his emotional torment.

After his father’s death, William Jr. took over the business. His wife, Lillian, was called the “Lavender Lady’ because of her fondness of the color. They had a turbulent marriage which ended in divorce. During Prohibition, the brewery service was severely affected and it was sold to the International Shoe Company. On the 29th of December 1922, William Jr. shot himself in his office. Elsa Lemp, William Jr.’s daughter, she shot herself in the head while in bed at 13 Horten’s Place.

Charles Lemp was the last Lemp to live in the mansion. He lived in the mansion with a married couple who were also his servants. On May 10, 1949, he shot his dog and then shot himself in the head.

The mansion has five classic and opulently designed suites that are named after five of the mansion’s previous occupants.

The Lavender Suite was named after William Jr.’s wife, Lillian. It is a three-room suite that comes with a bathroom, bedroom and breakfast sitting room. The William Lemp suite has all the splendor of America’s Gilded Age. The Charles Lemp suite has some of the most beautiful furnishings which come from the post-depression periods, as well as the art deco period. The Elsa Lemp suite has a great view of the Mississippi River and the St. Louis skyline and it can be found on the mansion’s top floor. Lastly, the Frederick and Louis suites were once servants’ quarters. They have been remodeled and they are now mirror images of each other.

The Lemp Mansion’s Grand Hall is a banquet hall that still has the original hard Maple floors. It is located on the corner of Cherokee Street and Lemp Avenue. It would make a great place for various events. The beautiful patio and gazebo would make an ideal place for an outdoor wedding. Both facilities can hold as few as 20 people or as much as 300 guests. Lemp Mansion has many wedding packages to choose from.

The mansion is also now offering the Loft for private parties. It can easily seat a maximum of 150 people. The loft was once used for the breweries’ Percheron horses.

• Air-conditioning
• Balcony/Patio
• Internet access

Things to Do

If you are staying in the Lemp Mansion, there are various things in the surrounding area which are worth trying and visiting. Soulard Farmer’s Market has some of the most amazing produce and spices. They have everything, from fresh game to exotic meats. Soulard’s is one of the oldest and most diverse farmer’s markets in the United States.

People who would like to gamble should check the Lumiere Place Casino. This award-winning casino has 55 tables, 2,000 slots and 13-table poker room. The Lumiere has a live theatre, several gift shops, and six restaurants. The Fox Theatre, dubbed as “The Fabulous Fox”, was built in 1929. It was once a movie palace that has now become a center for performing arts. The architecture of the building is amazing and it has hosted countless concerts, Broadway shows, and other special events.

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