Lemp Mansion

Missouri · United States · Manor

Four members of the Lemp brewing family took their own lives, three of them inside these walls.

Lemp Mansion on DeMenil Place in Benton Park, St. Louis, Missouri, was built in 1890 and is counted among the most haunted buildings in the city. Behind the ghost stories lies one of the most tragic brewing dynasties in America.

John Adam Lemp came to St. Louis from Eschwege in Germany in 1838 and built a modest brewery in 1840. The William J. Lemp Brewing Co. grew into a dominant force in the American beer market before Prohibition, particularly known for the Falstaff brand.

But the family was struck by a series of suicides. Between 1904 and 1949 four members of the Lemp family took their own lives, three of them within the walls of the house. The first was on 13 February 1904, when William shot himself in the head with a revolver in his bedroom. In 1920 his daughter Elsa, considered the wealthiest heiress in St. Louis, took her own life. William J. Lemp Jr. shot himself in the same building where his father had died eighteen years earlier, and his brother Charles, who still lived in the house, also died by his own hand.

Ever since, the mansion has been said to be haunted by the spirits of the Lemp family. Visitors and staff describe footsteps, voices and shadows in the old rooms. Today Lemp Mansion is a restaurant with rooms for the night, where guests can share the darkness with the revenants of that ill fated family.

Source: English Wikipedia "Lemp Mansion" + ghostcitytours.com + Atlas Obscura + lempmansion.com

FAQ

Where is Lemp Mansion located?

Lemp Mansion is in Missouri, United States.

Image: Paul Sableman · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons