The Lemp Mansion in St. Louis is one of those places that shows up on just about every “most haunted” list—and after digging into its history, it’s not hard to see why. Built in the late 1800s as the home of the wealthy Lemp family, founders of the famous Lemp Brewery, the house is as much a monument to prosperity as it is to heartbreak. The family’s story is riddled with tragedy: several members took their own lives inside the mansion. That dark past lingers heavily over the property and has fueled decades of ghost stories.
The mansion has since become a restaurant, inn, and regular stop on haunted tours, but its eerie reputation continues to grow. Over the years, the house has been investigated countless times, particularly by the St. Louis Paranormal Research Society (STLPRS). Ironically, the group’s offices are located in one of the original Lemp Brewery buildings, tying them closely to the very history they study. Dr Mark Farley, the founder, has led numerous investigations inside the mansion. He has captured some unsettling photographs (which I have seen), and audio evidence—images showing faint, human-like forms, and recordings of whispers or voices when no one was present.
Visitors and staff have also shared their own unnerving experiences. People have reported seeing shadowy figures peering out from the upstairs windows long after the house has been locked up for the night. Others describe the sound of footsteps pacing across the floor above them, even though the rooms are empty. Cold spots are another recurring theme—sudden, inexplicable drops in temperature that make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Some guests say they’ve felt watched or followed, while others catch fleeting movement out of the corner of their eye, only to turn and find nothing there. Certain rooms, in particular, are said to carry an oppressive weight, as though the sorrow of the past is still imprinted in the walls.
I recently had the chance to join a tour with STLPRS to see the mansion firsthand. Unfortunately, the night I went, the house was booked for a wedding—yes, a wedding in one of the most haunted houses in America! That meant we couldn’t go inside, but even circling the grounds at dusk, I could feel something in the air. The mansion’s heavy, ornate presence seemed to radiate history and mystery in equal measure.
For me, the Lemp Mansion is more than just another haunted house. It’s a place where wealth, tragedy, and folklore collide. The paranormal reports—from strange images and chilling EVPs to the countless eyewitness accounts—make it one of the most intriguing sites in St. Louis. It’s firmly on my “to do” list for the next trip, because I have no doubt the Lemp Mansion still has stories left to tell.
