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In 1980, Life Magazine called the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis "one of the ten most haunted places in America". Who were the Lemps and why might their old family home be haunted? To know these answers, we have to go back to the 1800s.
In 1838, John Adam Lemp came to America from Germany. He settled in St. Louis and became a grocer, and his store soon became very popular, not for its groceries, but for its beer. Lemp brewed a full-bodied lager beer, a new taste sensation for the American palate. This light golden beer was very different from the English Ales that had been popular. Soon Lemp left the grocery business to devote himself to the brewing of Lemp beer and John Adam Lemp became a millionaire.
William J. Lemp took over as head of the brewery after his father’s passing and built the business even more. He built a brewery that eventually covered five city blocks; by 1970 Lemp was the largest brewery in St. Louis – by far. Using cooled railroad cars to transport the beer, Lemp beer soon became more than a regional favorite – it became a national favorite and was even marketed overseas.
In 1876, William J. Lemp purchased a magnificent Italianate mansion built by his father-in-law. The huge mansion was both family home and auxiliary brewing office. Already huge, Lemp expanded the mansion until it became a 33-room Victorian wonder. Underground tunnels connected the house and brewery. The house even contained three huge vaults for storing valuables when the family went out of town. Eventually, William Lemp, Jr. would use the tunnels as more than dark connecting routes, he had constructed a ballroom, auditorium, and swimming pool – all underground.
Lemp beer was one of the great financial success stories in America. William Lemp, Sr. taught the business to his favorite son, Frederick, and envisioned the day when he would take over the reigns of the brewing empire. Unfortunately, the long, hard work hours proved too much for Frederick Lemp and he died from heart failure in 1901 at the age of 28. His father was heart-broken and never truly recovered from his loss. He became a recluse, rarely appearing in public and even using the tunnels for his daily trips from the mansion to the brewery. Just three years later, William J. Lemp, Sr. shot himself in his bedroom at the mansion. These deaths seemed to signal the end of the good times for the Lemp family.
William J. Lemp, Jr. took over the company after the death of his father, but much of the joy had gone out of the family. However, during the last financially good years before prohibition, William and his wife, Lillian Handlan Lemp, spent lavishly. Then, in 1919, prohibition came and the Lemp family saw the end of their brewing empire. In 1920, William’s sister Elsa, the wealthiest heiress in St. Louis, shot herself in her St. Louis home. The Lemp brewery was sold at auction on June 28, 1922. The International Shoe Co. purchased it for $588,500. Most of the company’s assets were liquidated but the family retained the mansion. Shortly after presiding over the sale of the brewery, William Lemp, Jr. killed himself in the office of the mansion.
Even with the brewery gone, tragedy continued to haunt the Lemp family. In 1943, William Lemp III died of a heart attack at the age of 42. His uncle, Charles Lemp continued to live at the mansion. He chose the life of a recluse with a morbid fear of germs. Then in 1949, he killed, first, his dog, and then himself in the basement of the mansion. His brother Edwin Lemp discovered his body. After Charles’ suicide, the mansion was sold for a boarding house and Charles' brother Edwin lived a long quiet life away from the mansion, dying at the age of 90 from natural causes.
The Lemp Mansion went into decline after leaving the family’s hands. Then in 1975, Dick Pointer and his family purchased the mansion. The Pointers intended to remodel and renovate the mansion, turning it into a restaurant and inn. During the renovations, workers reported strange sounds, vanishing tools and uneasy feelings. Some of the workers actually walked off the job because of these “hauntings.” Odd experiences continue to be reported in the restaurant and inn today. Staff members have reported moving objects, unexplained sounds and even glimpses of apparitions. Customers and visitors add reports of doors that lock and unlock themselves, a piano that plays by itself and even sightings of the ghost of Lillian Handlan – the lavender lady.
The current owner feels ghosts are just another part of the mansion. After all, in an inn where you can dine in the very room where William Lemp Jr committed suicide, people come expecting weird things to happen. Owner Paul Pointer adds, “Fortunately for us, they are rarely disappointed.”
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