Lemp Mansion

The Lemp Mansion is one of St. Louis’ most famous haunted locations—and its terrifying reputation is rooted in a very real family history of wealth, tragedy and death.

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Built in the 1860s, the 33-room mansion became the home of William J. Lemp, one of St. Louis’ most powerful beer barons. The nearby Lemp Brewery eventually became one of the largest breweries in the city, with the family fortune transforming the mansion into an elaborate Victorian showplace.

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The family’s fortunes began to collapse in the early 1900s. In 1901, William Lemp’s favorite son, Frederick, died unexpectedly from heart failure at age 28. Three years later, William Lemp Sr. died by suicide inside the mansion. His son, William Lemp Jr., later took control of the brewery, but Prohibition devastated the family business. In 1922, after the brewery was sold at auction, William Jr. also died by suicide inside the mansion. Charles Lemp, another family member who later lived in the house, died by suicide in 1949.

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It is those tragedies that helped give the Lemp Mansion its haunted reputation. Visitors and paranormal investigators have reported unexplained footsteps, voices, apparitions, cold spots and other strange activity throughout the historic house. Some stories claim that spirits of the Lemp family still wander the rooms where they lived and died. The mansion itself acknowledges its paranormal reputation and hosts haunted-history and ghost-hunting experiences.

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Today, the Lemp Mansion remains a legendary piece of haunted St. Louis history. Whether the strange activity is truly paranormal or simply the atmosphere of a house marked by tragedy, few places in Missouri have a darker—and more fascinating—past.