0:01

Some people just know the best rate for

0:03

you is a rate based on you with

0:06

Allstate. Not a rate based on

0:08

Terry who keeps... ...and

0:10

makes the car behind them. Oh

0:13

no, they're about to... Save

0:16

with DriveWise and the Allstate app and only

0:19

pay a rate based on you. Not

0:22

available in every state, subject to terms and conditions, rating factors and

0:24

savings vary, and in some states your rate could increase with high-risk

0:26

driving. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company

0:29

in affiliates Northbrook, Illinois. History

0:47

tells the story of the world

0:49

and of our lives. Sometimes

0:52

that history goes bump

0:54

in the night. Broadcasting

1:03

from the center of oddity

1:05

and the supernatural in Central

1:08

Florida. It's the

1:10

History Goes Bump Podcast.

1:12

History goes bump in

1:14

the night. I'm

1:43

looking forward to it as well. Are you ready

1:45

to go back? I'm ready. go

2:00

hand in hand. What started out

2:02

as a grocery business grew into a

2:04

beer empire in St. Louis, Missouri that

2:07

brought success and wealth to the Lemp

2:09

family. But what almost endures

2:11

more in regards to the Lemp family

2:13

are the tragic lives of its members.

2:16

The mansion they built witnessed sorrow

2:18

and death. Suicide seemed to

2:21

run in the family. This

2:23

unfortunate has led to rumors of

2:25

hauntings. Join us as we

2:27

explore the history and hauntings of the

2:30

Lemp mansion. I've

3:05

been inside the Lemp mansion three times.

3:07

The first time was a private tour

3:09

of the house with the woman who

3:11

hosted the public ghost tours and that's

3:13

Betsy Bellinger. She just happened to

3:15

be the mother-in-law of a friend and she still

3:17

leads the tours there. Very nice

3:20

lady, we sat down and had dinner with her

3:22

and then she took us around on the tour

3:24

and for those of you who listen I think

3:27

it was like one of the road trip episodes

3:29

that we threw up or something. Anyway, it was

3:31

a very difficult tour to do because about halfway

3:33

through it I kept feeling my cell phone going

3:35

off like crazy and I finally told her I

3:37

said you know what I'm gonna look at my

3:39

phone I don't want to be rude but I

3:41

really feel like somebody's trying to get a hold

3:44

of me and it was because we were having

3:46

an emergency situation with our friend who was watching

3:48

our dog and she ended up having

3:50

to go to the animal ER and

3:52

we were just freaked out for the rest of the

3:54

tour so I remember bits and

3:57

pieces of it but it was definitely very

3:59

emotional for us. grocery

6:00

store was the only one selling beer in

6:02

the area. Adam brewed vinegar

6:04

as well. The beer and

6:06

vinegar sales were good and Adam decided that

6:09

perhaps he should put his focus on those

6:11

two items. The Western Brewing

6:13

Company was established officially sometime between 1840

6:15

and 1842. Records

6:19

disagree with each other on the actual year.

6:22

Adam moved to a larger complex at 112 South

6:24

Second Street between Walnut and Elm

6:26

Streets. And the plant continued

6:29

to manufacture vinegar and beer. But

6:31

just don't mix the two. Oh God, no.

6:33

Please no. Ew. A

6:35

pub was built onto the factory and this is

6:37

where Adam sold his beer. By

6:40

1845, Adam was brewing only beer

6:42

at his brewery. Some

6:44

claim that Adam was the first to brew lager

6:47

beer, having brought the yeast over with him from

6:49

Germany. We will let beer

6:51

historians argue on that point. But suffice it

6:53

to say, Adam Lemp had a unique commodity

6:55

and people were buying it up and he

6:57

was the first to bring brewing to St.

7:00

Louis. Lager beer was unique

7:02

in that it did not have to be refrigerated

7:04

or drunk quickly before it would go bad. Its

7:07

yeast is bottom fermenting, which most

7:09

ales have a top fermenting yeast.

7:12

That is why you should

7:14

refrigerate your IPAs. Gotcha.

7:16

Don't really want to leave your IPAs to get

7:18

warm on the shelf. You want to put it

7:21

in a refrigerator. The success

7:23

of the Lemp Brewing Company led to a

7:25

big issue. The factory was too small to

7:27

store all the beer during the lager process.

7:30

Adam came up with an ingenious solution. A

7:33

natural limestone cave had been discovered on the

7:35

outskirts of town and Lemp found that if

7:37

they used ice from the Mississippi River to

7:39

keep the cave cold, he could use it

7:41

to store his beer during the lager process.

7:44

The cave held 20 to 30 barrels of beer and by

7:46

the end of 1845, 3,000 barrels of beer had

7:51

been stored in the cave. Oh my gosh.

7:54

I think it's great that he came up with that idea.

7:57

It is ingenious. Absolutely. to

8:00

grow and by 1850 it was producing 40,000 barrels

8:03

of beer annually worth $24,000. In

8:07

1858, Adam's beer captured first

8:09

place at the St. Louis Fair. Adam

8:11

Lemp died in 1862 and while he

8:14

was not a millionaire, he was very

8:16

wealthy and had become known as the

8:18

father of beer in St. Louis. Which

8:21

does tend to get kind of lost because

8:23

you've got the Anheuser-Bushes there and they get

8:25

a lot more attention. His

8:27

funeral procession had 30 horse-drawn

8:30

carriages. Well, that seems similar

8:32

to what I'll probably have for mine. Um,

8:34

okay. Better pull out

8:36

some more life insurance or

8:39

something because that won't be

8:41

expensive. Adam

8:44

left the brewery to both his son,

8:46

William Jacob Lemp and grandson, Charles Bronnick.

8:49

The will stipulated that if either contested the

8:51

will, then the other man would

8:53

receive the full inheritance. That's

8:55

one way to get them to cooperate with each other.

8:58

Yeah, I thought that was great. I think that's a

9:00

good thing to put in if you've got kids that

9:02

you think are going to be fighting after you pass

9:04

away. I think it's

9:06

good regardless because you never know.

9:08

Sometimes after somebody passes, all

9:11

these crazy arguments come out of the woodwork.

9:13

You hire a lawyer, you lose it all.

9:16

The two formed a partnership and changed the

9:18

name to William J. Lemp and Company. The

9:21

partnership only lasted two years and William

9:23

bought out Charles. William

9:25

had been born in Germany in 1835 and came to America when he was 12. Now

9:31

if you look at those dates, I said that Adam

9:33

had come over here in 1836. So

9:37

his son didn't come until he was 12. They

9:40

left William back in Europe, back

9:42

there in Germany. Well, sometimes

9:44

people would immigrate over

9:46

to build their company, their establish themselves,

9:48

things of that nature. So it's not

9:50

that unusual for the time. That's why

9:52

I have you, Kelly, because you're like

9:54

my voice of reason and hey, take

9:57

a step back. You know, he was

9:59

trying to build a life. before he got his

10:01

family all involved in everything. William

10:03

worked in brewing at his father's Western Brewery,

10:05

but decided to join the army in 1861

10:09

and fight on the side of the Union. That

10:11

same year, William married Julia Feichert

10:14

and they had nine children, an

10:16

infant son who died at birth, William

10:19

Jr., Louis, Anna,

10:22

Charles, Frederick, Hilda,

10:24

Edwin, and Elsa. William

10:26

had mustered out of the army fairly soon

10:29

after he joined, so he was ready to

10:31

take over the brewery when his father passed.

10:33

His experience helped him to make the Lemp

10:36

Brewery twice as successful as it had been

10:38

under his father. William

10:40

built a new factory over the limestone

10:42

storage cave. The Lemp

10:44

Mansion was built in 1868 by

10:47

William's father-in-law, Jacob Feichert. The

10:49

architecture was Italianate and when William purchased the

10:51

home in 1876, he

10:54

expanded the house to 33 rooms and

10:56

added Victorian decor. He also

10:58

had three huge vaults built where the

11:00

family would store all their valuables, including

11:02

artwork when they left town. A

11:05

tunnel was built between the house and

11:07

the brewery and a portion of the

11:09

limestone cave was converted to a ballroom,

11:11

auditorium, and swimming pool. Nice!

11:15

These were accessed via another tunnel that no

11:17

longer is open. In 1884,

11:19

a radiator system was installed. Radiant

11:22

heat had been patented five years

11:24

earlier. An open-air elevator

11:26

was installed where the grand staircase had

11:28

been several years later. Today,

11:31

only a portion of the lift still exists. The

11:34

parlor ceiling was hand-painted and the

11:36

fireplace mantles were made from intricately

11:38

carved African mahogany. An

11:41

atrium was located behind the parlor and exotic

11:43

plants and birds were kept here. A

11:45

unique feature of the main bathroom was

11:48

a glass-enclosed, freestanding shower that William had

11:50

discovered at an Italian hotel and brought

11:52

back to St. Louis. Goodness!

11:55

And ladies today, that is in

11:57

the ladies' room at the mansion.

14:00

side of his head. Doctors came

14:02

and verified the inevitable. William

14:04

was going to die and he did

14:07

at 10.15 a.m. This was

14:09

only the first of several suicides to take

14:11

place in the Limp family. Forty

14:18

carriages made a procession to Bell Fountain

14:21

Cemetery where the Limp family had a

14:23

large mausoleum. William Limp Jr.

14:25

or Billy as everyone called him had gone

14:27

to the same university as his father and

14:29

he'd studied brewing of beer as well. He

14:32

married Lillian Hadlen in 1899. She was

14:35

known as the Lavender Lady because it was

14:37

her favorite color. I love that. I don't

14:40

know Kelly this might be a

14:42

little bit much. Says you. Says

14:44

you. I kind of know the

14:46

story. She painted her carriages in

14:48

that color and most of her wardrobe consisted

14:50

of that color. Billy took over

14:52

operations at the brewery after his father's suicide

14:55

and he continued the success his father had

14:57

with the brewery. He also moved

14:59

into the Limp mansion. Unbeknownst to

15:01

the Limp family and beer and liquor

15:03

makers across America, Temperance was gaining

15:05

a foothold and prohibition was on its

15:07

way. The cave swimming pool

15:10

that we had described earlier became a

15:12

place for true decadence. Billy

15:14

hosted lavish parties where he supplied his

15:16

wealthy friends with prostitutes and liquor. It

15:19

was during this time that it is rumored

15:21

that Billy fathered an illegitimate son who

15:23

was born with Down syndrome. The

15:26

boy was reportedly hidden in the attic during

15:28

his lifetime. Now I don't know

15:30

if that's true if it's just a legend but it

15:32

is something that they say about the family and it

15:34

does seem to be backed up with some of the

15:36

haunting activity we'll be talking about a little bit. In

15:39

1908, Lilly filed for divorce from

15:41

Billy claiming abandonment and cruelty. She

15:43

got custody of their child, William

15:46

the third. Problems would

15:48

continue for Billy finally culminating in

15:50

the brewery shutting down in 1919

15:52

because of prohibition. Falstaff

15:55

was the name the Limp family had given

15:57

their beer and the trademark was sold off

15:59

and the brewery that,

22:00

but how great would it be if you had

22:02

their actual artwork and heirlooms still in this house

22:04

that used to be theirs? The

22:07

Lemp Mansion had earlier fallen into decline

22:09

and in 1949 was sold out of

22:11

the Lemp family. It became

22:13

a boarding house. In the 1960s,

22:16

construction on the Ozark Expressway caused the

22:18

mansion to lose much of its grounds

22:20

and two carriage houses. It

22:23

fell into further disrepair until 1975 when

22:26

the Pointer family bought the property and restored

22:28

it. The building is now the

22:30

Lemp Mansion restaurant and inn. The

22:33

inn has four suites, each named for a

22:35

member of the Lemp family. Special

22:37

events are held regularly and the

22:39

Lemp Experience and Haunted Tours are

22:41

hosted. It did have

22:44

six suites before, so

22:46

I don't know if they're like

22:48

doing some refurbishing or remodeling or

22:50

what happened that now it's only

22:52

four. Or did they expand a

22:55

couple of them to take over the other space?

22:58

That could be the case because the rooms are pretty spacious,

23:01

but when I went there, there were

23:03

six suites. Okay. Well, if anybody knows, if any

23:05

listeners know, reach out to us and let us

23:07

know. As of 2023 on

23:09

their website, it says that there's four suites that you

23:11

can rent. And that expressway

23:14

that took away part of their land, the

23:16

Lemp Mansion sits right on it. So

23:18

when you're driving down the highway, you can see the Lemp Mansion. I

23:21

mean, that's kind of cool, but

23:23

unfortunate for traffic sounds and so

23:25

forth, but... That is true. When

23:27

people stay there, they do complain a bit on the traffic

23:29

sounds. Tragedy and hauntings go

23:32

hand in hand and the Lemp Mansion is

23:34

no exception. The home is considered

23:36

to be one of the most haunted locations in

23:38

America. Boarding house residents

23:40

were the first to complain about hearing disembodied

23:43

footsteps. During renovations of

23:45

the mansion, workers experienced slamming doors,

23:47

an oppressive feeling throughout the mansion

23:49

and other strange noises. A

23:52

painter had been working on restoring the painted

23:54

ceiling, quit because he could not handle the

23:56

oppressiveness of the house any longer. Another

23:59

painter ran down stairs. and told the Pointers that

24:01

he heard horse hooves on the

24:03

cobblestone street outside. And

24:05

Richard Pointer looked outside and said, there were

24:07

no horses, and there certainly was no longer cobblestone

24:10

lining the street. Oh, my.

24:12

Interesting story, though. They didn't even realize

24:14

that there had been cobblestone connected to

24:16

the Lent mansion. The driveway that

24:19

went up to it had been cobblestone. They

24:21

had to do some kind of irrigation repair or something when they

24:23

dug down, they found the cobblestones under

24:25

the grass. Wow. Restaurant

24:28

employees have reported disembodied footsteps, strange

24:30

noises, seeing apparitions appear and

24:32

disappear, and glasses have gone

24:34

flying off the bar all by themselves. Billy's

24:37

illegitimate son had been nicknamed cruelly,

24:40

Monkey Face Boy. He

24:42

died in the mansion during the time that Charles lived there

24:44

when he was in his 30s. People

24:47

reportedly see the face of a young boy with

24:49

Down Syndrome peeking out of the attic windows.

24:52

Paranormal investigators have brought toys into the

24:55

attic and drawn circles around them, only

24:57

to find them moved later. EVPs

25:00

of young boys saying, "'Come play with

25:02

me,' have been recorded, and even

25:04

guests claim to hear the same thing audibly." Betsy

25:07

told Diane a chilling story about this

25:09

spirit. One night,

25:11

she was taking paranormal researcher and

25:13

medium, Chris Fleming, through the house. They

25:16

got to the stairs leading up to the attic, and

25:18

there had been a teddy bear sitting on the stairs

25:20

as a trigger object. They opened

25:23

the door to the stairs, which were fairly

25:25

narrow, and before they climbed the stairs, the

25:27

teddy was picked up into the air and

25:29

twirled upside down, and then back

25:32

to right side up and sat down. Now,

25:35

if I'd read that story, I'd be like, that

25:37

sounds like a lot of BS to me.

25:39

Mm-hmm. But having Betsy tell me that

25:41

story herself, and that she

25:44

watched it with Chris Fleming, she

25:47

said he, I mean, Chris Fleming has seen some stuff.

25:49

Right. And she's like, we both, our

25:51

jaws just hit the floor and we're like, what

25:54

just happened? I would imagine. I think I

25:57

would react the same. Yeah. of

32:00

Charles Lemp's suicide, it was joined at the house

32:02

by friends who also had an interest in the

32:04

haunts. On this particular night we had

32:06

brought along a Ouija board in the tradition of the

32:09

haunt hunters and took it up to the attic to

32:11

try it out. At that time the

32:13

attic of the house was unfinished and had not

32:15

yet been renovated into guest rooms. The

32:17

five of us placed the Ouija board on a small

32:19

table and gathered around it in wooden chairs. As

32:22

mentioned the attic was unfinished then and quite a

32:24

mess. There were pieces of wood

32:26

and old doors stacked around and the air

32:28

was thick with years of dust and grime.

32:30

Previous visitors to the attic had left things

32:33

behind including several small candles. Our

32:35

Ouija board session began with two of us

32:37

trying it at a time and this went

32:39

on for a half hour or so. Nothing

32:41

happened. Two of the group's members made an

32:43

especially valiant effort and then gave up in

32:45

frustration. One of my friends let out

32:47

a sigh and suggested that someone else give the board

32:49

a try. As soon as he spoke

32:52

we all heard the sound of something sliding across

32:54

the floor. Even though no one

32:56

had been near it one of the candles that had

32:58

been left in the room slid across the floor on

33:00

its own. It moved about 10 feet

33:03

from one side of the room

33:05

to the other passing directly under

33:07

our chairs. Very strange.

33:10

Another favorite encounter took place a few years later

33:12

when I was at the house with my friend

33:14

John Winterbauer. The rest of our party had left

33:16

for the night around 4 30 a.m and

33:18

John and I walked through the house straightening chairs

33:20

and making sure that we left everything in order.

33:23

We had just finished in the front dining room,

33:25

Billy Lemp's former office. We heard the sounds of

33:27

glass shattering in the atrium at the back of

33:29

the house. Fearing that a glass had been left

33:31

too close to the edge of the table the

33:33

restaurant staff usually set up the tables before they

33:35

left each night we went back to take a

33:37

look. I turned on the lights

33:39

prepared to clean up broken glass but there

33:41

was nothing to see. There was no broken

33:43

glass. Nothing had moved and all was exactly

33:45

as it was supposed to be. We

33:48

had no idea where the sound could have come

33:50

from but wherever a glass had shattered it had

33:52

not been in our world. Wow Legends

33:55

of America toured the mansion and they reported

33:57

on their website. So basically