Long before Anheuser-Busch ruled St. Louis, the Lemp family brewed the city’s most famous beer, then lost almost everything to Prohibition, heartbreak and four gunshots. Today the Lemp Brewery complex and the family’s Italianate mansion next door in the Benton Park neighborhood carry a reputation as one of the most haunted places in America. Ghost hunters, history buffs and beer lovers all make the pilgrimage, and the stories they hear are mostly true, which is what makes them so chilling.
From Lager Pioneer to Beer Baron
German immigrant Johann Adam Lemp arrived in St. Louis in the late 1830s and was soon selling one of the first lager beers in the city from his grocery store. Lager needs cold storage, and Lemp found it underground in a natural limestone cave system on the city’s south side. Those cool caves became his lagering cellars, and the brewery above them grew into one of the biggest in the Midwest.
His son William J. Lemp took over in 1862 and built the Western Brewery into a powerhouse. The Lemp complex covered several city blocks, and it was among the first breweries to ship beer coast to coast, thanks to refrigerated rail cars and its own rail line. Its flagship Falstaff brand became a national name. William even used the caves to pipe beer straight to the mansion he bought nearby at 3322 DeMenil Place.
The empire cracked from the inside. Breweries like Anheuser-Busch modernized while the Lemps did not, and the brewery slipped behind. When Prohibition arrived in 1919, the Lemp Brewery closed for good. The Falstaff name was sold to brewer “Papa Joe” Griesedieck, and in 1922 the sprawling plant was auctioned to the International Shoe Company for a small fraction of its earlier value.
The Lemp Family Curse
Four members of the Lemp family took their own lives between 1904 and 1949, three of them inside the DeMenil Place mansion. The string of losses began with grief. William Lemp’s favorite son and chosen heir, Frederick, died in 1901 at just 28. Weeks after his close friend Frederick Pabst died in early 1904, William shot himself in his bedroom.
His daughter Elsa, often called the richest heiress in St. Louis, died the same way in 1920 at her own home, shortly after remarrying her husband. Two years later, with the brewery sold off, William “Billy” Lemp Jr. shot himself in his office at the mansion. The last to die by suicide was Charles Lemp, a reclusive bachelor who lived alone in the house with his dog. In 1949 he shot the Doberman and then himself, leaving a note that blamed no one.
Year
1949 Charles Lemp Died by suicide in his mansion bedroom
1922 William “Billy” Lemp Jr. Died by suicide in his mansion office
1920 Elsa Lemp Wright Died by suicide at her home, not the mansion
1904 William J. Lemp Sr. Died by suicide in his mansion bedroom
1901 Frederick Lemp Died of natural causes at 28
The last brother, Edwin, lived quietly to age 90 and died in 1970. Legend says he had family papers and art burned before his death, taking many Lemp secrets with him.
Who Haunts the Lemp?
Staff and guests have reported strange happenings at the mansion for decades, and national magazines and TV ghost-hunting shows have called it one of America’s most haunted houses. Doors open and slam on their own, footsteps cross empty floors and glasses move on the bar. Some guests say they hear a dog barking where Charles Lemp once lived alone with his Doberman.
The most famous spirit is the Lavender Lady, believed to be Lillian Handlan, Billy Lemp’s glamorous first wife. Her love of lavender clothing earned her the nickname, and visitors still claim to smell lavender perfume in empty rooms. Then there is the darkest tale on the tour: the legend of a hidden Lemp child with a disability, kept out of sight in the attic and given a cruel nickname by storytellers. Historians have never found records proving he existed, but guests swear they see a small face peering from the attic windows.
The brewery has its own ghost stories. Paranormal teams lead visitors into the dark basements of the old Bottle Works, where the cave system once chilled Lemp lager. Investigators tell of shadow figures, cold spots and the echo of tragedies that unfolded in those damp stone rooms.
Ghost Tours Today
You can tour both the mansion and the brewery, but they are run by different groups, so book the one that matches what you want to see. The mansion is now a restaurant, inn and museum owned by the Pointer family, who bought it in 1977. Its signature Spirits with the Spirits Tour runs about 90 minutes and hands guests ghost-hunting gear as guides share the family history and first-hand accounts of unexplained events. The mansion also hosts murder-mystery dinners, an escape room, overnight stays in the haunted rooms, a paranormal package called The Lemp
Experience and a big Halloween party.
To get inside the brewery, the St. Louis Paranormal Research Society runs the Lemp Haunted Neighborhood Walking Tour, led by investigator Dr. Mark Farley. It mixes paranormal tales, creepy history and true crime, and takes guests into two basements of the old brewery. Note that this tour passes by the mansion but does not go inside it.
Tour Run by Spirits with the Spirits Tour
Lemp Mansion
Inside the mansion, with ghost-hunting gear
$44, Wednesday nights
Lemp Haunted Neighborhood Walking Tour
St. Louis Paranormal Research Society
Neighborhood walk plus two brewery basements
$27, about 1 hr 45 min
Heads up for 2026 and 2027: the Pointer family has put the mansion up for sale after nearly 50 years. It will keep running its restaurant, inn and tours through December 31, 2027, so this Halloween season goes on as planned. Prices and schedules change, so check the websites before you go.
Raise a Glass to the Lemps
The Lemp story has everything: a beer empire built on cold caves, a family undone by grief and Prohibition, and a mansion that may never let its owners rest. Book a tour, stay for dinner, or spend the night if you dare. Just don’t be surprised if you catch a whiff of lavender on the stairs.
Address: Lemp Mansion, 3322 DeMenil Place, St. Louis, MO 63118
Website: https://www.lempmansion.com
