Lemp Mansion
William Lemp Suite
St. Louis, Missouri
August 11-12, 2013
Website
Spending our second anniversary at Lemp Mansion was definitely an interesting one. We spent the previous day at Six Flags, so it wasn't too far of a drive to our destination. After checking in with the staff, we are showed to our room on the second floor, the William Lemp Sr. Suite. This is where William Lemp Sr. ended his life with a gunshot to the head. We arrived on a Sunday which is when the Lemp Mansion serves their Sunday Chicken Dinner with all the fixins. The place was packed, every table in the different dining areas was full. Once evening set in and all the people not staying started to leave, the place took on a completely different vibe. Not in an "oooo, I'm a sensitive and I feel spirits around every corner" vibe, just a cool vibe. I knew that staff left at night, so I asked one of them how many guests were staying that night. He said they only had the wife and I staying. Are you fucking kidding?! The two of us have run of the whole place after they lock up? That is the coolest thing ever. He reminded us that after staff closes up, they lock the front door so if we need to go outside, be sure to use the back door in the atrium dining room. There are spiral black metal stairs leading down to a sitting area near the gazebo.
The first night, we are all over the building just exploring and generally checking the place out. About halfway through the night we took a break and stepped outside for a bit. While we're talking I see a light turn on in the basement. A few minutes later the light turns off. That was weird. We head back up from the patio area, go up the spiral stairs, and enter back in through the atrium dining room. That is when we hear voices coming from the front of the house. We were the only ones staying there overnight, so what were the voices? It wasn't ghosts. The owner, Dick Pointer brought a couple friends over, and made us a couple drinks at the bar. Mystery solved. We talked about an hour or so and then they took off leaving just the wife and I alone in the house. Nothing eventful really happened that night. While doing EVP in the bar, which is where Charles Lemp shot himself (after shooting his dog), we heard something sliding on the bar itself. It was faint but we both heard it. Later in the Dining Hall, I heard clinking glasses in the bar. Obviously there are glasses and bottles in the bar, but they shouldn't be clinking.
On night number two, we went on the Haunted History Tour hosted by Betsy Belanger (hmmm, any relation to Jeff or Michelle??). It began in one of the downstairs dining areas and consisted of maybe 45 minutes of the history of the Lemp family. Included were portfolio layouts of family photos, newspaper articles, and various Lemp associated items. From there we went to Billy Lemp's office, now a small dining area, where Billy Lemp shot himself. From there, the tour proceeded to the second floor to go in the William Lemp Sr. Suite (our room), the Lavender Suite, and the Charles Lemp Suite. Upstairs concluded the tour with the Elsa Lemp Suite, and the Frederick and Louis Lemp Suites. While in the Louis Lemp Suite, that is where Betsy said she felt Charles Lemp was with us and did her psychic thing. Not sure how much of that I believe but it was interesting. At the end of the tour, Betsy said that she would leave some of the rooms unlocked that were not being occupied by guests that night so we could poke around afterwards. That was nice. We were not the only people staying the night. A couple were staying in the Lavender Suite right across the hall from our room. They got a voucher from a friend, and they really had no interest in investigating the place. For them it was just a place to spend the night and leave the next day. In other words we did not have to worry about other people interfering with us on our investigation.
So for whatever reason, the second night of our staying and investigating we had some memorable experiences. Earlier in the evening on the tour, Betsy Belanger mentioned a ghost people called Mr. Stinky or Mr. Smelly. She thought it was disrespectful so she referred to him as another name, which I forget. Anyway, while people are milling around at the end of the tour, someone said the area behind the main staircase had a bad smell. We have been there for a day already and never smelled anything funky. The only thing in that area were staff coats. My wife called me over to see if I smelled anything. Nope. Nothing. Everyone around the area smelled it just before I got there. Great, I show up and Mr Stinkyghost skedaddles. Later in the morning while in our room (yes were still up), I hear some commotion outside. I open the curtains and it appeared to be someone dropping off supplies. Probably the early morning crew or something. So as I am at the window, I smell this terrible odor. It wasn't overly disgusting but it did capture my nose's attention. A few seconds later it was gone. This is one of the claims though, a weird stinky presence that moves around the place. Watching the Ghost Hunters episode where they investigate, Jay and Grant experienced the same thing in the Frederick Lemp Suite on the third floor.
I mentioned earlier that after hours, the way to get in and out of the the building was going through the Atrium Room and down a spiral metal staircase to a sitting area. Sometime in the middle of the night, we took a break. My wife was in front of me, opened the door and was heading down the staircase and I was lagging behind. I'm about the walk out the door when I hear a clanging noise like silverware hitting. This is one of the dining areas and silverware is out arranged on the tables. I walk around the tables and no silverware is out of place, or even touching for that matter. I asked her if she maybe bumped into a table on the way out and that is what I may have heard, but no. She's not clumsy like I can be.
The best evidence of the night took place up on the third floor in the sitting area outside of the Frederick and Louis Lemp Suites. I still kick myself in the ass for not having my voice recorder with me. This is after the tour and earlier my wife said she did not feel good about being in that room. So we are sitting down talking and suddenly we both hear talking coming from behind the door to the Frederick Lemp Suite. We both stopped and looked at each other at the same time. We both pointed to the door and said, "Are you hearing that?" We heard what appeared to be a conversation behind the door. Nobody was in the room and to verify I opened the door and it was empty. The voices also stopped. I went in the room and it was silent so I have no explanation for the voices that we both heard. The only thing I can remotely think of is the other couple that were staying there that night, their room was directly below this room. But unless they were yelling or talking really really loud, I do not see their voices carrying through the floor, through the door, and into the sitting area. Especially since this was around 3:00 AM, and no it wasn't the ghosts coming out at the "Devil's Hour".
I really want to go back to Lemp Mansion again. We had some good experiences. Highly recommended.
