The Suicidal Curse of the Lemp Mansion

Alright ladies and gents, listen up about one of the most haunted places in America. Allow me to divulge the blood-soaked deets of the Lemp Mansion haunts.

The residence, built in the early 1860s in St. Louis, Missouri, has quite the grisly past. Yet the Lemp family story starts out as a positive one. Johann Lemp immigrated to America in the 1830s from Germany and brought with him the traditional light lager associated with his homeland. Back then, the only beer available in the States was the stronger English ales. So, as you might imagine, Lemp’s brewery was quite the successful booze business.

But that’s not what you’re here to read about, right? You’re here to learn about the Lemp mansion hauntings! As you’ll soon learn, the Lemp family history is riddled with suicide.

The Tragic Lives (and Deaths) of the Lemp Descendants

The tragedies of the Lemp mansion start two generations after Johann Lemp built his historic mansion. At the young age of 28, Johann’s grandson Frederick died suddenly of heart failure. Already on edge from the loss of his son, William was pushed to the brink when a few years later his best friend Frederick Pabst (yes, that Pabst) died.

William shot himself in the head, ending his suffering. With the patriarch of the family business gone, William’s other son Billy took over the family booze biz. But when the U.S. government enacted Prohibition in 1920, Billy couldn’t handle the pressure and he ended his own life. Then, Billy’s sister Elsa also committed suicide—she suffered a strained marriage for years and shot herself in the heart. And yet another of William’s children, Charles, killed himself as well. Needless to say, suicide ran rampant in the Lemp lineage.

The Lemp Mansion Architecture

The mansion itself is grand but ordinary from an architectural standpoint, so no staircases to nowhere, secret rooms or labyrinthine layout. However, practically every single room in the mansion has a story to tell. As you supernatural enthusiasts are well aware, with pain and suffering comes ghosts galore.

Lemp Mansion Hauntings

Visitors to the mansion will see random small items float around in Charles’ room. The putrid smell of raw sewage is prevalent at times in another bedroom. Pianos play randomly and doors will lock and unlock on their own. The living spot spirits all over the mansion, from a child in the hallway to the man that periodically sits at the dining room table. There’s even a ghostly figure that lurks in the basement. Small faces are seen from the windows when there are no children in the residence. The attic is haunted by an illegitimate child of one of the Lemp men. The child was born with Down Syndrome and sadly confined to the attic for his entire life. Women have even reported a spectral peeping tom in the downstairs bathroom.

Eventually, the Lemp family line was extinguished and the mansion was sold and turned into a boarding house. In 1975, the mansion was once again sold and renovated into an inn and restaurant and still functions as such today. You can book a private event or even a wedding at the location. If you’re in the mood for a spookier experience, they provide ghost tours and mystery dinners. If you aren’t able to visit in person, have no fear! Simply go to their website and purchase the Haunted Lemp Mansion board game which can be yours for the price of $51 (including tax and shipping). Just be warned, if you pull both the “revolver” and “bullet” cards and land on the “suicide” space, well, the game is over.

Visit the Lemp Mansion’s official site at https://www.lempmansion.com/