Midwest Road Trip
(Day One: Friday, May 23 - Page 03)

Lemp Mansion - St. Louis, MO:
From the Willard Library we headed North US-41 to Interstate 64 which took us to our night accommodations at the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, Missouri. The Lemp Mansion was owned by the Lemp family which settled in St. Louis as a grocery store owners. The grocery business opened up the Lemp family to a much larger market, brewing Beer. Being the largest brewery in the Area the Lemp family gained prosperity until the early twentieth century when the family experienced a couple of mysterious deaths, then a suicide, and that was just the beginning. All brewing operations halted at prohibition, and the family never recovered. Budweiser, whose campus is just across Interstate-55 took over the brewing market share and the rest is history.

The Lemp Mansion was listed as a haunted hotel and was definitely interesting. Guests can hold weddings, parties, or just stay in the family’s rooms upstairs. There is staff on duty during the day, but at night, all the staff leaves until breakfast is prepared in the morning. This to my knowledge was the first time I have stayed in a hotel where this procedure occurred. I was a little nervous staying in this location, as all of the buildings for blocks were abandoned and the streets were empty, which in the Atlanta Downtown area is not a good thing. My dad also spend a summer with relatives here and warned me of how ruff this part of town is. But it was amazingly peaceful and the staff did not have any stories of crime occurring in the area. As far as paranormal activity: the two of us did not experience anything out of the normal, but we both suddenly woke at 4:15 AM, not knowing why (most likely my sleep apnea). The couple staying across the hall reported that the pocket doors separating the two rooms opened and closed and the lights flickered on a off during the night….But they were with a wedding party downstairs and with enough liquor anything is possible. While several interesting events have happened while staying in these locations, I am still a skeptic, however love staying in these non traditional locations, as I will remember the charm of that hotel forever on that trip, where a Days Inn or Hampton Inn is roughly the same from place to place. This was definitely a great experience.

Lemp Mansion Website

Lemp Mansion Ghost Website

Paul J. Lossner