Amazing Hauntings in Missouri

The Lemp Mansion Inn and Restaurant is located in Kansas City, Missouri in a formerly well-to-do residential area. It sits on a small hill providing a lovely view of St. Louis and the Mississippi River.

The Lemp Mansion is a 33 room Victorian mansion built in the 1860s. It has three floors, an attic room, which has been made into two bedrooms and a basement. In the attic the Downs Syndrome son of William Lemp, Jr. was kept hidden away from view. Else’s room and the servants quarters were on the third floor. The Elsa Lemp Room has a great view of the city of St. Louis and the Mississippi River. It features a working fireplace.

On the 2nd floor were most of the family bedrooms. Now the Lemp Mansion Bed and Breakfast has made nice suites advertising "Spend the Night Where Beer Barons Slept!" The Lavender Suite is in honor of Lillian Hadlen Lemp "The Lavender Lady". It is a 3 room suite which includes a breakfast sitting room, a bedroom and a bathroom. The William Lemp Suite consists of a sitting room and a bedroom. This suite offers a view of the massive Lemp Brewery. From the sitting room one can see beautiful terraced courtyard, garden area and gazebo where outdoor weddings are held. One can also see the old coach house where the family kept their champion horses. The Charles Lemp Room is a combination of art deco and post-depression periods. The walls are done in plum-burgundy.

A glorious wooden staircase which begins in the first floor entry connects all three floors. The room to the left of the staircase is the bar. The first floor living room has become one of the many dining rooms found in the mansion. To the left of the first floor main entrance one can find Lemp Jr.’s old office and William Lemp’s study which is now called the Lavender Lady Dining Room. On the wall are paintings of the Lavender Lady. To the right of the main hall is the parlor with a hand-painted ceiling and next to it is the atrium, which once held exotic plants and birds and is now used for private social events.

William Lemp Sr. added three room sized walk-in vaults measuring 13 feet high, 15 feet wide, and 25 feet deep at the rear of the mansion. Here the Lemp family stored their vast collection of art, which was disposed of when the last remaining Lemp died, which was Edwin, at his request.

In the basement were the wine and beer cellars, the laundry room and the kitchen, which has now been modernized for the restaurant cooking. In the basement area a large dining room has been set up to handle large dinners for events and weddings. William Lemp, Sr. dug an underground tunnel which ran from the limestone caves to the house. When at last refrigeration was available for beer making the caves were converted for other purposes, such as a natural auditorium and a theater. Later there was a large, concrete swimming pool, heated with hot water piped in from the brewery-boiling house and a bowling alley. Today the tunnel has been sealed up.

In 1838 Johann Adam Lemp immigrated to America from Eschwege, Germany settling in St. Louis. He opened a mercantile store where he sold his own homemade, lager beer. Such was the interest in his beer that he started serving in out of a pub attached to his plant. By 1845 his light, golden beer had grown in popularity and he closed up his mercantile business and opened a brewery. This was the start of the Lemp’s Western Brewing Co. Johann also discovered limestone caves where the lager process could take its course.

He died in 1862 leaving his fortune and business to his son, William J. Lemp, Sr. By 1870 William controlled the beer market in St. Louis and had national distribution. The Lemp Mansion was built by William’s father-in-law Jacob Feickert in 1868 at a location close to the brewery and encompassed 5 blocks. In 1876 William bought the mansion. In 1892 the brewery was incorporated into the William J. Lemp Brewing Co. reflecting the business empire built by William J. Lemp, Sr. and existed until the 1919 Prohibition. William Lemp, Jr. wasn’t much of a businessman and business started falling off. In 1922 William Lemp, Jr. sold everything involved with the brewery. After the death of William Lemp, Jr. his brother Charles transformed the mansion once again into a family dwelling and lived there with two servants and the Downs Syndrome boy known as the "Monkey-faced boy" hidden away in the attic, who was the illegitimate son of his brother, William Lemp, Jr.. Charles traveled extensively throughout Europe buying art works. As he got older he showed signs of having an obsessive/compulsive disorder and exhibited some really odd behavior. The Downs Syndrome boy died at the age of 30 in the 40s and Charles followed in 1949.

At this time the mansion was sold and became a boarding house. It became hard to get tenants as the haunting started during this time. By the 1960s the Lemp Mansion had turned into a flop house and destined for the wrecking ball. It was saved by the Pointer Family who bought it in 1975 and turned it into an upscale bed and breakfast.

Willam Lemp, Sr. lost his favorite son Frederick in 1901 due to a health problem. He wanted him to take over the brewery business. After this tragedy William lost all interest in his business, became depressed and finally on February 13, 1904 he shot himself in the head in his upstairs bedroom. His wife died of cancer in what is now the William Lemp suite. William Lemp, Jr. the spoiled rotten son of the family became President of the William J. Lemp Brewing Co. He and his wife spent money left and right. They had one son, William Lemp, but not much is said about him. In 1922 being depressed about having to sell off the brewery and the death of his sister, Elsa, who on March 20, 1920, while suffering from insomnia shot herself in the heart at her own house. Finally on December 29, 1922 William Lemp, Jr. shot himself in the heart in his first floor office. His wife Lillian Hadlen Lemp loved the color lavender and the smell, so that she became known as the "Lavender Lady". Her marriage to William wasn’t a happy one, since William was a womanizer and ran around and slept with other women. In 1908 when Lillian filed for a divorce William Lemp, Jr. started a nasty, scandalous divorce including a custody fight for their son. Lillian eventually won custody of their son. In 1939 William J. Lemp, III the only son of William Lemp, Jr., who died in 1943 of a heart attack at the age of 42, licensed the Lemp name to Central Breweries of East St. Louis and Central Breweries renamed itself the William J. Lemp Brewing Company gaining phenomenal results with the new Lemp beer. Their contract was terminated by Ems Brewing, which bought out Lemp in 1945. Charles Lemp the third son of William, Sr. was the final Lemp to live in the mansion from 1929. He had left the brewery in 1917 to go into banking and finance. He lived alone in the mansion with two servants, a married couple and the "Monkey-faced boy". After the boy had died on May 10, 1949 Charles shot his dog in the basement, although the dog’s body was found halfway up the back stairway, then shot himself in the head in his 2nd floor room, leaving behind a note that said "In case I am found dead, blame it on no one but me." This is the only known suicide note in the family history. After Charles’ death the youngest and only surviving son of William, Sr. was Edwin Lemp. He had worked at the brewery until 1913 and then retired to the estate he had built overlooking the Meramac "Cragwold" in western Kirkwood. There he had an observation tower, two servant houses and a collection of birds, antelope, sheep, yak, buffalo and other animals. He died in 1970 at the age of 90. His final order to his caretaker was to destroy his art collection and the family heirlooms.

Today the Lemp Mansion is considered the most haunted place in St. Louis. People who stay here complain about hearing footfalls all over the mansion, knocking on walls and doors. From 1975 – 1977 while the mansion was being renovated workmen reported paranormal occurrences. Workers were harassed by slamming doors, ghostly noise, experienced uncomfortable feelings and the sensation of staring eyes. The entity of the "Monkey-faced boy" haunts the third floor, attic hallway and storage room. Guests and staff have heard him say, "Come play with me." People on the street have seen his face peek out from the tiny window of the attic. Paranormal investigators have left toys in the attic bedroom and they are always found in different parts of the room. Another investigator felt something tugging on his hair in the attic hallway, just outside the boy’s room.

Guests have heard fast running footsteps on the main stairway and the sounds of someone kicking in a door. Videos of orbs going up and down the stairs have been taken. It is common to feel that someone is watching you from the stairway. On the back stairway one can hear the panting of a dog, its nails clicking and the dragging of a chain.

On the 2nd floor in the William Lemp Suite an apparition is seen of an older gentleman with a two inch beard in the sitting room by the window. A presence has been felt near the mirror on the clothes closet. In the Lavender Lady Suite a strong scent of lavender had been noticed. A shadow is seen slipping through the crack in the bathroom door. On several occasions when the room has been locked the door has been found wide open.

When the mansion is still someone loves to play the piano on the first floor especially rag-time. In the bar drinks have been known to stir themselves and glasses move and break by themselves. In the Lavender Lady Dining Room which was originally William Lemp Jr.’s office and William Lemp’s study an investigator from Missouri Ghost Hunters Society was pushed out the door roughly by a male presence. The paintings of people hung on the walls in this dining room seen to follow you around as you move.

On the dining area that was once the former living room guests have been touched by a presence which is unseen. A lifelike apparition of a man has appeared sitting at a table before the restaurant opens. When any of the staff have asked him what he’s doing there he disappears.

In the downstairs women’s bathroom which is just left of this dining area many women have reported the solid apparition of a man peeking over the stall at them. This room was once William Lemp Jr.’s private bathroom.

The area of the basement is haunted by one or two fussy, angry entities. The area around the sealed off tunnel is thought to be haunted. The staff call this tunnel area the "Gates of Hell". Psychics sense an angry, silent shadowy figure which intensely paces back and forth in front of the sealed tunnel. One investigator out of the corner of his eye spotted a white, misty apparition floating up by the archway. A quick picture taken at that moment shows an orb. Table cloths in the basement dining room have been torn off tables and tables have been moved or disrupted. The living at times feel a presence looking over their shoulders. Photos and videos of orbs have been and EVP’s (electronic voice phenomenon) have been recorded.

Come and have a visit with the Lemp family. You’re invited.