The Haunted Lemp Mansion in St Louis Missouri

The Haunted Lemp Mansion - St Louis, MO

Legends of America Visits the Lemp Mansion

On Saturday, October 9, 2004, Kathy Weiser and Amy Stark visited the Lemp Mansion along with St. Louis historian Joe Gibbons. Joe has spent many years researching the Lemp Mansion and often gives tours of the inn with the permission and cooperation of the owners.

Meeting up with Joe at the bar, we settled in for a bit, pulling on a couple of lagers and chatting it up with Joe. After Joe very kindly introduced us to Patty Pointer, he began to show Amy and I around the mansion. As Joe described, in intricate detail, the history of the Lemp Mansion, the land on which the mansion stands, and the many strange occurrences in the haunted building, our tour took on new members. By the time we reached the attic, there must have been more than twenty of us.

Lemp Mansion Mural

Mural on the side of the Lemp Mansion,

October, 2004, Kathy Weiser

While we were on the tour, several strange events occurred. The first was when we were standing in the darkened attic. As Joe described the "Monkey Face Boy," I began snapping pictures in the darkened room. Soon, I was approached by a woman who had joined our "unofficial" tour. She wanted to know if my shadow would appear on the wall when I took a picture. To this, I responded, "no, because the flash is in front of me." Perplexed, she continued, that when I took one picture in the attic, that she saw the distinct shadow of a person against the wall. Hope against hope, I quickly scrolled back through my digital images to see if a shadow appeared, but there was nothing.

Even stranger, another member of the group reported hearing the very faint voice of a child saying over and over "help me, help me."

As we began to make our way back down the stairs and passed by William Lemp Sr's room, Amy pulled me aside because the door was standing wide open, with the key in the door. Not going in, we just wanted to peek. We continued our journey down the hall when an alarm was raised by the guests of the room. When they had arrived back from dinner, they found the door wide open and were looking for a manager. However, there was no key in the door when they arrived. A manager quickly responded -- it was "impossible" that there had been a key in the door, as there were only two keys to that room. One was in the hands of the guest, the other in the hands of the manager. So, who opened the door, and where was the key that we saw when we passed?

Later, several members of the group would describe having passed a man in the hallway, holding a key in his hand and described as acting irritated with the large group moving through the hallway. Described as pale, older, and wearing a white shirt and black pants, no one thought anything of it at the time, believing him to be a member of the staff. However, we would find that there was no such gentlemen working or staying at the mansion that night that met that description. Though no harm was done and nothing was disturbed in the guest room, the whole experience was very bizarre.

Next, everyone was congregated around the Charles Lemp room. The guests staying in the room kindly allowed us to enter to look around. Both Amy and I sensed a heaviness in the bedroom area, but this was not the room that Charles shot himself in, rather it was the parlor area.

One of the women who had joined our group told a story of how she had been married in the mansion a year earlier and had carefully laid her dress and other items on the bed. She then turned away for a moment, but when she turned back all of the items were scattered. Outside of Charles' room, one member of the group reported smelling cigar smoke.

On the first level of the mansion, the dining room to the left of the entryway once served as William Lemp II's office and this is where he killed himself. In the corner of the room was his desk, where he sat with his gun in his final moments. The temperature in this corner was considerably colder than the rest of the room. On the wall is the painted portrait of Lillian Lemp - "The Lavender Lady." One group member reported having smelled the distinct aroma of lavender while passing by her portrait.

Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, © October, 2004

The Charles Lemp Room. Look very closely at the mirror on the door. Do you see anything??? Click on the picture to see a larger version and you can also see several orbs in this room, October, 2004, Kathy Weiser.

It was in this corner that William Lemp's desk, where he

shot himself, once sat. Notice the streak across the top of

the mirror. Similar streaks showed up in many pictures that included mirrors. October, 2004, Kathy Weiser.

(Click picture to see an enlarged version)

It was in this room, that the woman said she saw a

distinct human shadow on the wall when this photograph

was taken. October, 2004, Kathy Weiser. (Click picture

to see an enlarged version)

Follow-Up Visit to the Lemp Mansion - November, 2007

This time, without a guide or any knowledge on the part of employees or guests, Legend of America once again visited the Lemp Mansion in November, 2007. This time, I took along a psychic friend. The two of us had dinner in the dining room and shared the Charles Lemp room. Though I had no experiences, nor came home with the "wild" pictures of my visit before, my psychic friend sensed both Charles and his dog sitting in the corner chair of the room virtually all night.

Though I have no great pics nor ghost stories to tell, my psychic friend tends to believe that it may have

been because of the activity going on at the mansion that night. It seems to us that the more people that are around, the less the "ghosts" come out.

In any event, we were a little disappointed in the stay. The place was very nice, but I think the timing was bad. We felt rushed from the time we arrived all the way through dinner. "Welcome - you have ten minutes to get down to dinner." We thought the cut off for dinner was 8:00 p.m. It was 7:15. We were at dinner at 7;30, but still got a "rushed" attitude." "Can I get your anything else? -- just a little too often?" After dinner, my psychic friend explored the "museum" while I enjoyed a drink and a smoke in the bar. No request for what I might want - I had to ask. Certainly, no request for a second beverage. Give up -- service sucks!!

Only later did we come upon the "Ahah" - there was an employee party going on that night. No, they weren't so loud that we weren't able to relax or sleep, but it certainly explained the "ok, hurry up, eat, and don't drink attitude."

Reader's Experiences at the Lemp Mansion

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I stayed at the Lemp Mansion a few years ago with a friend. In the evening we took the tour of the mansion and when it was complete, every one left, including the employees. We were all alone in the big rambling house as there were no other guests that night. My friend and I both got the creeps because we wanted to see something – SO bad, that we scared ourselves. It was kind of like when you get the feeling you’re being watched

I don't believe in ghosts one way or the other, really. But, still, it was fun going around and trying to scare each other. There was only one thing that happened that was kind of strange. We heard a cat meow in the top floor bedroom – the mustard yellow room. We could distinctly hear it coming from the other side of the bed, but when we looked, there was nothing.

The staff had given us a couple of bottles of wine and after drinking them, I got very brave in the middle of the night. I went up to the attic alone and saw some balloons that were left over from something that had gone on that day. One of them blew right past me, but I think it was the air coming from the heating system. It's an old mansion, it could have been anything, so I didn't freak. But I did go back downstairs.

While I was there I didn’t have any problems with my camera, but, though there were several photographs on the roll, the only ones with orbs in them were at the mansion. I thought it was watermarks or something. I looked at other people's orb pictures online and they all look alike. I'm sure there's an explanation because I don't think a ghost could show up on film. But, here are my photos from that moment with the balloon. These pictures are both from the attic. The one with the “orbs” was the ONLY photo on my entire role of film that had these on the picture.

Submitted by Robin, August, 2006

This photo shows the orbs in the attic that Robin is talking about.

The balloon that Robin saw blowing past her.

Having chosen a weeknight to spend our anniversary at the Lemp Mansion, we arrived at 3:00 p.m. and were given the Charles Lemp’s room. We had planned to eat dinner there that evening but for some reason the restaurant closed shortly after we arrived and we were amazed to find that we would be left to spend the night in the entire mansion alone!

When we first arrived and were wandering around on the second floor, my husband mentioned he noticed a sewer odor. I didn’t notice it, so I didn’t pay any attention.

What I have in common with some of the others who have related their experiences on this web site is that strange uneasy feeling that someone was watching you. Someone also mentioned a “creeped out” feeling. These were the exact words I used! I don’t know how many times I told my husband that night that “I keep getting this creeped out feeling.”

Another similarity I had was to that of USAF Duane’s experience with the missing dimes. When we got to our room I opened the suitcase and took out two packages of Fuji brand disposable film. I was struggling to open the packages, so I reached into a Ziploc bag containing cheese and sausage and took out the knife I included with these. I then used it cut the film packages open. Once I took out the knife we never saw it again! Let me add that this occurred in the very same room Duane (with the missing dimes) stayed in! The Charles Lemp room.

I had never unpacked our suitcase other than to take the plastic bag out and replace it. Since we were only spending one night I didn’t want to have to rush and pack the following morning.

Every time my husband and I returned to our room from roaming about the mansion, one or both of us would look for the knife. We checked and re-checked every surface, the floors, under the bed, sofa’s, drawers, etc. It was nowhere to be found! What was infuriating is the room was immaculate, yet it was nowhere and we didn’t leave the room with it. As the night progressed we both became more and more obsessed about the knife’s whereabouts.

As we roamed about the mansion we took photos and as the evening progressed, I too began to notice the odor of sewage. It grew stronger and more prevalent until it appeared to be everywhere, ultimately becoming most noticeable when decided to go sit in the bar.

While sitting at a table in the bar, I had my husband snap a photo of me at the bar and another by the Lemp mirror on the right side of the bar. I then took a picture the doorway near where the Lemp mirror hung.

When these photos came back (later) from developing we discovered some rather unusual images. Of the two rolls of film, with the exception of the photos taken outside, all the photos taken in the house had a greenish cast. The photo of the doorway had a strange foggy type smoke that spread from the bar to the doorway along the wall until it formed a full silhouette of a woman, I believe it to be the Lavender Lady.

This past October (2004) my husband and I attended Lemp Mansion's Halloween party where he took a picture of me standing in the bar’s doorway. As you may recall, I mentioned the woman’s silhouette previously occupied this very same spot. When we got the film back this photo contains a huge orb just off to the right of me.

My sentiment about staying at Lemp when we left was similar to that of the USAF retiree Duane’s sentiment. As we headed out the door and down the stairs toward the sidewalk to our car, I was relieved to be going home and swore I’d never return!

Needless to say, my husband and I frequently eat at the restaurant and have now decided to make it the place we go to celebrate Halloween. But as to whether I’ll spend another night there? Not unless another couple goes with us. Oh, and by the way, we never did find the knife!!!!

Submitted by Xenia Williams, July, 2005.

About the Author: I have all kinds of strange paranormal activity captured on film. Some of the more interesting is from this apartment that we’ve lived in for the past 5 years, the Lemp Mansion, and a storefront in Soulard. I have researched the area that we live in and now I understand why I have the type of phenomena I have had occurring. What I have found in the area is that historically, it has housed a poor house, an insane asylum, an amusement park, and a doctor that ran a medical college that brought “body snatching” not only to his medical students, but to St. Louis and literature. It makes sense now. Should you plan to be out here anytime in the near future, I would love

to show you my photos. I am currently working on documenting events that I have experienced, along with photographs and their relation, if any, to the history in this area. Some, so far, appears to be related. Upon request I can send you the 2 photos in JPG of the woman’s silhouette and the one of me in the same doorway with the large orb at Lemp Mansion. They would make a nice addition to your site.

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My husband, two teenage daughters, and I spent a night at the Lemp Mansion after having a camping trip rained out. It was so much better than camping!!!!! It was like being on an overnight ride at Disneyland!!!!!! First off, Patty Pointer and the staff were the most fun innkeepers we have ever met. They took great care of us. And.....the other "hosts" were fun too!!!! They didn't let us down. My oldest daughter had just finished dressing for dinner when she turned to put her things in her suitcase. Suddenly she heard a creaking noise and turned to find that the medicine cabinet had opened on its own. This was in the Charles Lemp Suite. The door of the cabinet had a latch that could not have fallen open.

While we were there, we had an overwhelming feeling of being watched. Though a little disconcerting, the feeling was not a bad one -- more almost like protective. The medicine cabinet incident struck us as funny because she was dressing for dinner and when the cabinet opened it was full of soap, as if someone was saying if you need soap there is some in here. We can't wait to go do this again and we would recommend it to anyone looking for something different to do.

Submitted by: Kat Robinson, July, 2005

About the Author: I am a yoga instructor and a bit of a ghost hunter. I have always been open-minded to the "other side." We have raised our children to know that ghosts are just part of the living and we should respect their space as if we would if we were visiting anyone alive.

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My name is Renee and I have family in St. Louis, Missouri, so when we visit, my husband and I, along with my brother and my cousin, make a trip to the Lemp Mansion when we're in the area. Our last visit was on March 24, 2003. We arrived at the mansion around 8:30 p.m. to find out that a show and dinner party was in effect; however, we were told that we could look around on the main floor and upstairs. Neither my husband or myself had ever been in the attic, so that's the first place we
headed. Already creeped out because of the dark and silence, our group soon reached the end of the long hall, where the "monkey boy" was kept. However, as we turned around to leave, all four of us got instant chills when we heard a little boy say: "come play with me." I told my brother to shut up, and he responded, "I didn't say anything." That's when the boy repeated himself again. I then turned to my husband, saying the same thing to him as I had my brother and he said "that wasn't me, its time to go." That was the first encounter in my ten years of visiting the Lemp Mansion, and I hope there will be more. I'm fascinated with ghosts! For Thanksgiving, 2004, we'll be making a trip to Missouri
again, and hopefully we'll bring back good stories. - Renee, October, 2004

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Continued Next Page

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Lemp Mansion Contact Information:

Lemp Mansion

3322 De Menil Place

St. Louis, Missouri, 63118

314-664-8024

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