New Thing #33 - I Ain't Afraid of No Ghost

Tonight I went to the Lemp Mansion with my friend Matt to go ghost hunting. The Lemp Mansion was rated by Life Magazine as one of the 10 most haunted houses in America. Freaky. And once or twice a month, the group Supernatural Investigations is available to give tours of the house using infrared cameras in the dark. If you're lucky, you might see or hear something out of the ordinary, or catch an "orb" on camera. Whether or not you believe in the supernatural or paranormal, it's still fun, and I'm not going to lie....it was a bit creepy as well.

Doesn't it just look creepy from the front?

I should start by giving a brief history of the Mansion, so you know why it's so haunted. In the mid 19th century, the first Lemp came to St. Louis from Germany and eventually started brewing lager beer, a process he learned from his father in Germany. The natural cave system underneath St. Louis provided the perfect temperature for aging beer. He was so successful that he died a millionaire. His son, William Lemp Sr. (now known as Senior) succeeded his father and grew the brewery until it covered over five city blocks. In 1870, it was the largest brewery in St. Louis, and the family was considerably wealthy up until the time of Prohibition. The family tragedies started to happen when "Senior's" favorite son died under mysterious circumstances in 1901. Three years later, Senior shot himself in the head in his bedroom at the mansion, apparently due to his grief. His son, William Jr. (known as Junior) took over as president. Nearly 20 years later, when Prohibition caused the brewery to close, Junior's sister Elsa, considered to be the wealthiest heiress in St. Louis, also committed suicide. Nearly everything was sold when the company went under, all except the mansion. After the brewery was sold, Junior first shot his beloved dog, then went upstairs in the mansion to shoot himself. William Lemp III, Junior's son, eventually died of a heart attack. Junior's brother, Charles became a recluse after his brother's death and eventually killed hisself as well. In 1970, Edwin Lemp, Charles and Junior's brother died of natural causes at the age of ninety. (All this info is in the brochure.) What the brochure didn't mention was the two small children who also died in the mansion. According to our guides, there was a little girl who mysteriously died on the 2nd floor of the mansion, and Zeke, a little boy who died on the 3rd floor. Their identities and lineages are not exactly known.

So, needless to say, this mansion had a lot of creepy stuff going on at the beginning of the 20th century. And this explains all the hoopla surrounding it with the paranormal community. The even creepier thing is that it's now a bed and breakfast. Oh yeah, you can spend the night there! There are 6 different rooms available for reservation, including the rooms Senior, Junior and Elsa all killed themselves in. Whether there are ghosts or not, the thought of sleeping in the room some guy shot himself in nearly a hundred years ago gives me the heebie jeebies. I was talking to one lady who said that if you do spend the night, there are no staff members there over night. Around midnight everyone leaves, except those spending the night. You're free to go anywhere in the mansion except the bar and kitchen areas. I would never get any sleep, and I'd probably have to bring a few extra pairs of undies! They also serve lunch and dinner every day, as well as host a Murder Mystery Dinner Theater. I have to admit the dinner theater would be fun to go to.

So, back to the tour. Matt and I arrived a half hour before our scheduled tour, just as we were advised. Our $20 ticket included the tour, two alcoholic beverages of our choice and a buffet of appetizers. We were able to take a quick peek up in the 2nd and 3rd floors where our tours would be while all the lights were still on. The rooms were gorgeous. They had the old wordworking and windows and charm, etc, but they had all been updated with modern plumbing and amenities. Just walking up there, I got creeped out. I know it was all just in my head, but I've never been good with scary/paranormal things. Hell, I can't even watch a scary movie without freaking out every five seconds. Once we finished looking around upstairs, we headed back down to the bar for our beers and into the parlor for some snacks. They included toasted ravioli (we are in St. Louis after all!), crab rangoon, cheese, crackers and sausage tray, and a vegetable tray. Also in the parlor was a casket symbolizing where Senior was laid out for his funeral. I'm not sure if it was just a casket, or a replica of his actual casket, but it was relatively short. I felt like a giant standing next to it. They must have been small people! Our guide said that the casket was brought back for the anniversary of his death, as well as the Friday, the 13th celebration to unveil a new Lemp beer.

A photo of Elsa Lemp's bedroom on the 3rd floor, considered to be the most haunted of the bed & breakfast rooms.

A marble tub in one of the suite bathrooms. The bathroom was huge and had it's own fireplace, along with a marble table in the middle.

One of the third floor bedrooms. This room connects to a mirror image room through a giant wooden door. You can rent one room or the suite of rooms. Each has it's own bathroom.

This sink, an Original Working Hand Sink of the Lemp servants, is in a hallway on the first floor.

Look at the gorgeous carvings on this mantel in the parlor.

The "casket" in the parlor.

This marble tub/shower was directly in the center of the first floor public women's restroom. To the right are two "stalls" and to the left is the sink. The bathrooms are huge in this place!

Following our snacks, we headed back to the museum and gift shop, which was originally one of the family vaults. It used to house the Lemp family art collection, jewels and money since they didn't trust banks. I almost bought a pair of Lemp Mansion undies that said "Something scared the pants off me!" I resisted temptation though. We had to watch a short video explaining the history of the museum, how to use the cameras, and what we could expect to see on our tour. They explained the difference between dust, bugs and orbs, the latter of which we hoped to see. Orbs are circles of energy that float around in the room, not to be confused with dust that sinks to the ground. Matt and I were totally bummed we didn't think about making proton packs and wearing them. (That's a Ghostbusters reference.) I'm thinking we may have been kicked out if we tried that. One of the guides then explained about Zeke, or "Monkey Boy", who was the little boy who died at the mansion. Apparently he was misfigured in some way and wasn't allowed to leave the third floor of the mansion. He used to sit in the windows and watch the other kids play on the street. Due to the distortion of the glass, he looked like a monkey from below. Apparently, we were not to call him Monkey Boy while we were upstairs or he'd get pissed. No one said what would happen if we said it out loud. If they didn't want anyone saying it, they should never have mentioned the nickname. Silly tour guides. Matt and I started cracking jokes about putting a banana on a string and dragging it around the third floor. Again, probably not a good idea.

Due to technical difficulties, or paranormal disturbances, all the cameras weren't working properly, so we had to wait longer than expected before our tour began. Like, over an hour. Our tour was scheduled for 7 and it was after 8 before we went. No big deal though, we learned a lot about the history of the mansion while we waited. Once it was our turn to finally go, it ended up just being me, Matt and our guide, and we had one camera with us. Basically, the camera is just a standard handheld video camera with a memory card, but it is attached to an infrared gun that allows you to record video in the dark. It doesn't capture audio though. Key note: don't point the infrared end directly at someone's eyes.

The camera apparatus looks a bit like a gun!

After Amanda, our guide, pressed record on the camera, we headed down into the basement. The basement included the kitchen, more dining space, and the original entrances to the underground cave system. Unfortunately, all the cave entrances have been sealed and no longer allow people to enter them. I have to admit, as freaky as it would be, it would be hella cool to go down into the caves. Once we were in the basement, I looked through the camera lens and I caught what I first thought was just dust, but I'm thinking it was more than that. Amanda told us to stand on the cave entrance and talk to the ghosts. Uh, what do you say to a ghost? Sorry you killed yourself? Bummer. Matt went first while I filmed, and then I stood there and tried talking. Amanda said just to say "Thank you for letting us visit you at your home. Please make your presence known." I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty ridiculous standing in the dark conversing with ghosts. I mean, seriously, what do you say? We spent around 6 or 7 minutes in the basement, which is where I saw the most "stuff" floating past the lens. No clue if it was dust or orbs, but it felt pretty creepy.

Next, we headed up to the second floor to look around. Amanda warned me not to try to walk up the stairs using the viewfinder of the camera. People walk into walls that way. Which I thought was funny because the stairs were lit. Who would be so stupid to use the viewfinder of the camera when you can just use your EYES to watch where you're going? The second floor houses the rooms of both Junior and Senior, so that was where all the mayhem went down. These were also the nicest of the rooms/suites. We didn't see as much activity here as we did in the basement. But then again, maybe they clean the second floor more often. ;-) Amanda suggested I take some photos and try to capture something. I took a bunch of photos, but nothing supernatural happened in them. We finally headed up to the third floor which Amanda said was her favorite floor. Apparently lots of stuff happens up there because of Zeke. And apparently he was taking the night off, because nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. It was a bit anticlimactic. According to Amanda, she took a ball up with her once, and it vibrated slightly on the floor. Whatever. Like I said, you can choose to believe or not. Matt and I tried "talking" to Zeke, but nothing happened, so our ghost hunting adventure came to an end after a little over a half an hour.

I took this photo in the dark using my flash. I think it's Junior's room, I can't remember.

Again, taken in the dark, this is the second floor hallway.

Some random door. Amanda said you can see a face in it sometimes. Suuuure.

I wonder if the Snack Time and soda machines are original to the house. ;-) Maybe they're just in case Zeke has a midnight craving for a snack or needs a sugar rush.

I purchased our video, so I would have a fun memory of it. The group of investigators looks through each video taken and inspects them for supernatural happenings. If they find something, it goes up on their website. Also, if we find something, we can e-mail them our photo or whatever and they'll post it as well.

Below are some still shots I captured from the video. Dust or orbs? You be the judge! Some of them I captured two or three shots so you could see the progression in the "object". I didn't include all of the progressions though, just a few to see how it moves.

Here's the Lemp Mansion sign in the basement that covers the sealed off entrance into the caves.

This first progression was taken in the basement.

More from the basement.

Ahhhh!!! Evil ghost with crazy eyes!!! Oh no, wait, that's just Matt looking at the camera like he's not supposed to. ;-)

These three were from the 2nd floor...I think we were in Senior's suite at the time.

These were from the 3rd floor...maybe it's the infamous Zeke.

I had a fun time, and even though we didn't see any fans turn on, or objects fly across the room, it was pretty cool. Matt and I had a great time, and we recommend it to anyone who wants to try it.

Side note: I had some Creepy (yeah, that's creepy with a capital C) dreams after the ghost hunting. In my dreams, I was half sleeping, but I could feel a presence or a weight on top of me even though I couldn't see anything. I tried to call out, but I didn't have enough air, so I just mumbled and moaned as loudly as I could. I felt like I was trying to warn someone of something. Needless to say when I woke up at 2 in the morning, I was seriously freaked out! The dream felt so real!