Saturday, April 13, 2013

L is for Lemp Mansion

Welcome to the A-Z challenge, where we'll be blogging our way through the alphabet throughout the month of  April. My theme will be places--it may be a specific place, a state, or a country. It will be whatever I think is spooky, beautiful, or intriguing. I'll be rating each stop on the way with those factors, with 5 being the highest score, and 1 being the lowest score. I hope it will inspire any writers, or travelers out there in Bloggerland. So, thanks for stopping by, and enjoy!

L = Lemp Mansion
A house is never silent in darkness
to those who listen intently;
there is a whispering in distant chambers,
an unearthly hand presses the snib of the window,
the latch rises.
Ghosts were created when the first man
woke in the night.

--  James Matthew Barrie, "The Little Minister"



The Lemp Mansion is located in Benton Park, St. Louis, Missouri. The Lemp family (originally from Germany) moved into the house in 1876. The house had a renovation in 1911 to make room for offices for the Lemp Brewery (America's first lager beer brewers). In 1901 the heir to the family business, Fredererick, died under suspicious circumstances. Three years later William shot himself in the head. Soon after that Prohibition closed their plant. There were three more family suicides. William might have had an illegitimate son, Zeke aka "monkey face." The child was born with Down's Syndrome, and hidden away in the attic. No records exist to prove the child was real.

The stories of hauntings began when the last of the Lemp's died in the 1970's. The house then became a run- down boarding house. Today the mansion is now a restaurant and inn. CLICK HERE to book a room to see, if in fact, the Lemp Mansion is haunted.

This site has also been on the TV. MTV featured the tunnels below the house in a reality show called, Fear. In 2011 it was on a show called, Off Limits. In 2010 it was investigated and featured on Ghost Hunters. In 2009 it was investigated and featured on, Ghost Lab.

For a more in depth history CLICK HERE.

Spook factor 4 1/2
Intrigue factor: 3
Beauty factor: 3

Also, my book, DEADLY KISSES, is free this weekend. CLICK HERE to get it because a writer wants people to read their book more than anything else! Happy reading!

11 comments:

Kate said...

Chills! This house has some major spook factor!

Fairview said...

Great post. And congratulations on the book publication

Anonymous said...

Creepy. Ghost Labs is on Netflix and now I'm going to have to see if they have that episode and watch it.

Crystal Collier said...

Kind of reminds me of the house we lived in in upstate NY. It was built right around 1800 and had tonz of history. It could have been a totally freaky place if not for the calm about it--as a once church-owned building where nuns used to live. (Sat across the street from a church too. We heard church bells all the time!)

Fairview said...

Wow! Big time creepy!

Valerie said...

This one seems totally creepy!

Hugs!

Valerie Nunez and the Flying Platypi

Unknown said...

Creepy place... Would not want to go inside there.

Nick Wilford said...

Fascinating! Sad story if that child was real, too.

Kate said...

I know it's Sunday and you've got the day off from A-Z, but I nominated you for an award today over at my blog. http://katejarvikbirch.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-liebster-award.html

Silvia Writes said...

Big time creepy and fascinating all at once. Not sure I'd want to watch it on TV ... or maybe I would ... through parted fingers. :)
Silvia @ Silvia Writes

Heidi Mannan said...

Creepy! Great place to set a story, though. :)