The Lemp Mansion
By Linda Pettit

I had always wanted to visit the Lemp Mansion after seeing it on the various cable channels. It is listed as one of St. Louis’s most haunted places to stay. On June 24^th, 2006, my 14 year old niece Erin, her dad Joe and his girlfriend Tiffany set out for the Lemp Mansion.

John Adam Lemp arrived from Germany to St. Louis in 1838. He started out as a grocer but carried one product sold by none of his competitors. He was famous for his lager beer. In 1840 he gave up the grocery business and opened a brewery. John died a millionaire.

William J. Lemp succeeded his father and took over the business. The brewery grew and covered five city blocks. It was the largest brewery in St. Louis and the Lemp family symbolized the city’s wealth.

The family had a lot of tragedy and mystery. Frederick Lemp the son of William died in 1901 under mysterious circumstances. William J. Lemp shot himself in the head three years later in one of the bedrooms.

Because of prohibition the brewery closed in 1919 and the fortune declined. The brewery once valued at $7 million dollars and covered ten city blocks was sold for $588,500. After the sale of the brewery William J. Lemp Jr. shot himself in the head. His son William J. Lemp III died of a heart attack at the age of 43. William Jr.’s brother, Charles, lived in the mansion. He died of a self-inflected gunshot would to the head.

The last brother Edward Lemp died in 1970 at the age of 90.

The Lemp Mansion was built in the early 1860’s. William J. Lemp purchased it as his residence and brewery office. 

The Lemp Mansion contains 4 bedrooms. They are the Lavender Suite, William Lemp Suite, Charles Lemp Room and the Elsa Lemp Room. It has a wonderful dining area where they serve meals.

Upon our arrival at the Lemp Mansion we were a bit taken back. It is a beautiful old house but very exquisite. We arrived during the brunch and the food smelled wonderful.

Erin and I stayed in the William Lemp Suite. Joe and Tiffany stayed in the Elsa Lemp Room. 

I felt very comfortable in the mansion until we got to our room. The hairs on my neck stood up and I felt uneasy. After unpacking we went up to Joe and Tiffany’s room. They were in the attic and the view was great. We went to see the Arch and had dinner. Erin and I went to our room. The uneasy feeling I had, returned. Erin asks me what was wrong because I seemed nervous. I played it off not wanting to influence or scare her if something should happen. That night Tiffany came down and told us the door right across from theirs kept opening up. She said they would close it and it would open. They also hear pounding on their wall and foot steps outside the door. There is only one bedroom in the attic.

The owners leave the building around 8:00 p.m. and lock the doors. You have to go in and out through the back door. It is kept locked. You are not allowed to have visitors in your room. Remember there are only four bedrooms.

We turned on the television for awhile and decided to go to sleep. We keep hearing someone walking in the hallway. When we looked no one was to be found. There was a coffee pot, spoon, creamer and sugar in the hallway. We kept hearing the sound of a spoon stirring coffee. We checked and the coffee pot was cold. I decided to go to sleep.

Day two of our adventure was a little more exciting. We decided to go to one of the tourist attraction. Erin and I proceeded to meet Joe and Tiffany in the parking lot. I took my 2 way radios with me. Joe asks if I had remembered to bring it and I said no. He sent Erin back to retrieve it from our room. Several minutes later Erin came back white faced. She said she was never going in that room by her self again. I ask what happened. Our bed was king sized and had about 7 square decorative pillows on it. We had placed the pillows on our couch before going to bed. When she opened the door the pillows were on the floor lined up in a row in front of the couch. She said she picked them up and put them back on the couch. 

We resume our day adventure and returned to the Mansion later that evening. We proceeded to our room and when I opened the door I found the pillows lined up in front of the couch on the floor. Erin stepped out of the room and had a terrified look on her face. I told her I bet the maid forgot to put them on the bed.

I went to the office and found an employee. He came to the room. I ask if something like this ever happened and pointed to the pillows on the floor. He said poltergeist. Erin says I am not staying in the room. I ask him to call Lou the clean up guy. He talks to Lou and says he left them on the floor and forgot to put them on the bed. I now am beginning to wonder. Two times they appear on the floor. Why would you place pillows on the floor and line them up? Erin follows the guy back to the office area and hears him tell another employee something about not wanting to scare us. She is convinced that he is not telling us the truth. I had my doubts but did not want to jump to a conclusion.

That night we took a ghost tour of the Mansion with the Spirits of St. Louis. They are the group that works with and investigates the mansion. It was very informative and worth the $15.00 for the tour. At one point we were all in a room that was used as a safe. All the lights were turned out except for one in the hallway. It was very dim. One of the participants was standing in the doorway in front of the light. Suddenly she started to grow taller and them something moved out from the side. It was a shadow person. After it was over I ask Erin if she saw anything unusual. She explained she had seen a shadow person around the girl at the door. Erin has been on many tours of Waverly Hills and is familiar with shadow people.

Nothing out of the ordinary but sounds of footsteps occurred that night. They served a little continental breakfast outside of our room in the morning. Lou, the guy who cleans up also sets up the breakfast. I ask Lou if he left the pillows lying on the floor and lined up in front of the couch. He said they did not want to scare us last night but he had stacked the pillows on the chair across from the couch. I went back and told Erin. So that was pretty cool. 

Three of the Lemp family members killed themselves in the Mansion. William Lemp killed himself in our room and his wife died of cancer in the room. 

I hope you enjoyed our adventure. It is worth taking a few days to go and visit the Lemp Mansion. The rate was only $80 a night because we booked two days. We had to share a bathroom. There is one room with a bathroom that ran $115.00 a night. The phone number is 314-664-8024. By the way, I will be going back!