Missouri has its fair share of hauntings. To name only a few, Jesse James’ Farm in Kearney, Thespian Hall in Boonville and the Epperson House in Kansas City are creepy enough to keep you awake at night. But the story behind the the most haunted restaurant in Missouri is both heartbreaking and disturbing.
The story of the Lemp Mansion Restaurant and Inn really began long before the house even belonged to a Lemp family member.
Flickr/Moose Winans In 1838, the patriarch of the Lemp family immigrated from Germany to St. Louis where he set up a mercantile business that included making and selling vinegar and beer.
Before long his beer would gain notoriety all over St Louis and would become the first beers to gain coast-to-coast distribution.
Flickr/Kimberly Brown-Azzarello The popularity of the Lemp Brewery beers would bring Johann Lemp’s family much fame and even more fortune.
But all the fame and fortune in the world wasn’t enough to stop this family’s downward spiral.
Flickr/Garret Voight Johann passed away and passed the baton to his eldest son, William. Then, at the height of their good fortune Williams’ eldest son, who was only 28, died unexpectedly of what was believed to be heart failure.
By this time, the family was living in the Lemp Masion. After the eldest son’s death, William was reportedly so overcome with grief that he started to lose his sanity.
Facebook/The History and Haunting of Lemp Mansion He shot himself in an upstairs bedroom in the Lemp Mansion. His son, Will, Jr., inherited the business and eventually ran it into the ground, selling off the assets just before the onset of prohibition.
Completely unrelated to the troubles of the brewery, in 1920 his sister followed in their father’s footsteps and committed suicide at about the same time as the brewery went under.
Yelp/Sarah R Another Lemp was gone and this family’s legacy grew even closer to demise.
As if two Lemp suicides weren’t enough, Will Jr. fell into a depression over the end of the Lemp brewing dynasty and he took his own life in the Lemp Mansion in 1922.
Facebook/The History and Haunting of Lemp Mansion Five Lemps were dead now; three of them from suicide at the Lemp mansion.
By the end of the 1920s only two Lemp brothers remained from the original family tree. And then, there was only one.
Yelp/Kelly B Nearly 20 years after Will Jr. committed suicide in his office at the Lemp Mansion, his brother Charles took his own life. By then he’d retired, withdrawling completely from society and living entirely within the walls of the Lemp Mansion.
Six Lemp family members gone; four of their own will inside Lemp Mansion.
Flickr/janet lackey Is it any wonder this building is the most haunted restaurant in all of Missouri?
Over the years since the Lemps’ passing, this grand old mansion in St. Louis has been repurposed a few times.
Flickr/Chris Yunker It was once a boarding house, but the owners had a difficult time keeping boarders because of the reputation the place had for regular ghostly hauntings.
In the 1970s it changed hands again and was repurposed into an inn and restaurant, as it serves today.
Yelp/Sheryl S Visitors report seeing apparitions and hearing strange knocks all over the public rooms.
Disembodied voices are heard in the stairwell.
Facebook/The History and Haunting of Lemp Mansion The Mansion’s Wikipedia entry mentions signtings of a boy who is thought to be the spirit of the disabled brother of William Lemp.
Guests dining in the Mansion’s restaurant have reported seeing items lift off the table for no apparent reason.
Yelp/Jolena S.
The everyday hauntings at Lemp Mansion Restaurant and Inn in St Louis make this the creepiest restaurant in all of Missouri.
Flickr/Chris Yunker You can go for dinner, attend a dinner theatre event, take a tour, take a haunted tour or just go take a history tour at this haunted restaurant in Missouri.
Do you believe in ghosts?
Flickr/Chris Yunker And would you have dinner in this haunted restaurant?
We’d love to know your answers in our comments. Also, if you’ve had a paranormal experience at Lemp Mansion Restaurant and Inn please share!
Flickr/Moose Winans
In 1838, the patriarch of the Lemp family immigrated from Germany to St. Louis where he set up a mercantile business that included making and selling vinegar and beer.
Flickr/Kimberly Brown-Azzarello
The popularity of the Lemp Brewery beers would bring Johann Lemp’s family much fame and even more fortune.
Flickr/Garret Voight
Johann passed away and passed the baton to his eldest son, William. Then, at the height of their good fortune Williams’ eldest son, who was only 28, died unexpectedly of what was believed to be heart failure.
Facebook/The History and Haunting of Lemp Mansion
He shot himself in an upstairs bedroom in the Lemp Mansion. His son, Will, Jr., inherited the business and eventually ran it into the ground, selling off the assets just before the onset of prohibition.
Yelp/Sarah R
Another Lemp was gone and this family’s legacy grew even closer to demise.
Five Lemps were dead now; three of them from suicide at the Lemp mansion.
Yelp/Kelly B
Nearly 20 years after Will Jr. committed suicide in his office at the Lemp Mansion, his brother Charles took his own life. By then he’d retired, withdrawling completely from society and living entirely within the walls of the Lemp Mansion.
Flickr/janet lackey
Is it any wonder this building is the most haunted restaurant in all of Missouri?
Flickr/Chris Yunker
It was once a boarding house, but the owners had a difficult time keeping boarders because of the reputation the place had for regular ghostly hauntings.
Yelp/Sheryl S
Visitors report seeing apparitions and hearing strange knocks all over the public rooms.
The Mansion’s Wikipedia entry mentions signtings of a boy who is thought to be the spirit of the disabled brother of William Lemp.
Yelp/Jolena S.
You can go for dinner, attend a dinner theatre event, take a tour, take a haunted tour or just go take a history tour at this haunted restaurant in Missouri.
And would you have dinner in this haunted restaurant?
If you like haunted places, you’ll enjoy my previous post: This Haunted Winery in Missouri is the Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of!
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