31 Days of Halloween: Haunted House of the Day

[BrandonDaCollector]

Good write-up. Gosh, yet another one I knew nothing about

[packerbacker180]

There are a lot of haunted places in the US. Sometimes a haunted house might just hit a little closer to home...



Said to be one of the ten most haunted places in America, the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis, Missouri, continues to play host to the tragic Lemp family. Over the years, the mansion was transformed from the stately home of millionaires to office space, decaying into a run-down boarding house. It was finally restored to its current state as a fine dinner theatre, restaurant, and bed and breakfast.



The Lemp Family began with Johann Adam Lemp, who arrived in St Louis from Eschwege, Germany, in 1838. Building a small grocery store at what is now Delmar and 6th Streets, he sold everyday household items, groceries, and homemade beer. Two years later, he gave up the grocery store and built a small brewery in 1840 at a point close to where the Gateway Arch stands today.



Over the years tragedy followed the Lemp family which led to the suicides of three family members inside the mansion. The old cliche, “Money doesn’t buy everything,” is true. Not one person in the Lemp family ever had to worry about money; there was always plenty of it, no matter the circumstances. Some members became independently wealthy from other ventures and situations. Others still had money left from the Brewery business. The only one who lived to a ripe old age of 90, was William Lemp Jr.’s brother, Edwin, who left the mansion long ago, enjoying a quiet life on his own estate, avoiding unnecessary stress from his eccentric family.



William Lemp Sr. never recovered from the death of his favorite son, Frederick, in 1901, who suffered from a health problem which finally killed him. Frederick was being groomed to take over the brewery, as he had a head for business, but that plan was snuffed out. William Lemp Sr. lost interest in the business, slipped into a depression and wound up shooting himself in 1904 in a first floor room of the mansion, setting a horrible example for his children, making suicide as a way to end one’s trouble and pain. William Lemp’s wife – died of cancer in the William Lemp Suite.



William Lemp Jr. then became President of William J. Lemp Brewing Co. In 1922, William Jr. was so depressed about selling off the brewery and the death of his sister, Elsa, that he shot himself in his first-floor office in the mansion, which was the same room that his father killed himself.



Charles was William Lemp Jr.’s brother. While living in the mansion over the years, he developed an obsessive/compulsive disorder. One day, Charles shot his dog in the basement, though the dog’s body was found halfway up the back stairway, which goes up to the third floor. Charles then shot himself in his second floor room.



Because of all these tragedies visitors report seeing multiple apparitions throughout the building, including small children, the Monkey Faced Boy in the attic, the Lavender Lady, and a dog whose clicking nails and chain can be heard in the stairway, still looking for his beloved master.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Good one. It's possible I knew about Lemp Mansion because of My Ghost Story but just didn't keep it in the databanks. I used to watch My Ghost Story on Bio all the time. I really liked that show because there was no criticizing, debunking or anything of the sort

[packerbacker180]

There are few places that would send a chill down the most seasoned of paranormal investigators, but one such place might just be...



Personally, I think anyone living in Philadelphia is trapped in a hellish prison but for the denizens of Eastern Star\te Penitentiary, there really was no escape.



Eastern State Penitentiary is on the bucket list for most paranormal investigation groups. Teams brave enough to search for evidence of paranormal entities don’t ever seem to leave empty-handed. Sci-Fi’s Ghost Hunters revealed what appeared to be the apparition of a man walking through Cell Block 12. A crew for Travel Channel’s Most Haunted, recorded objects moving on their own. Investigators with the production claim to have communicated with multiple spirits.

'

Guests claim to get a glimpse of a man standing in a guard tower on the property. However, there’s no way to physically get to the top of the tower today. The brick stairs crumbled away years ago. Other employees and tourists hear whispering, giggling, and even weeping while exploring the property. When they investigate where the noises are coming from, they never find the source. The apparition of a mysterious woman is spotted so often that employees have named her The Soap Lady. She sits in the last cell on the second floor wearing white. The second floor held the women’s cellblock when the prison was operational.





Chicago gangster Al Capone spent eight months locked up in Eastern State Penitentiary. Apparently, the spirits of the prison were powerful enough to terrify even the most vicious mob boss. Capone’s criminal network made sure his accommodations at Eastern State Penitentiary were luxurious. His cell could have been mistaken for a cozy living room complete with oil paintings and fine furniture.



Although he was living like a king, an unseen force terrified him at night. The crime boss would let out blood-curdling screams in the darkness, begging for someone named Jimmy to leave him alone. Many people believe Jimmy may have been the spirit of Jimmy Clark, one of the men killed by Capone’s execution orders in the Saint Valentine’s Massacre.





So yes, there are still tortured souls in Philadelphia. Nowadays we just call them Flyers fans.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Yeah, those areas in the Mid-East - North-East to the East Coast are strange. Missouri has a lot of strange stuff but the States beyond that, I have always found all them places really nice looking when it comes to scenery but I find them scary because of all of the paranormal stuff I'm a bit familiar with the Eastern State Penitentiary. I'm sure I saw a documentary or something about it on the History channel or something a long while back. Good write-up Packer

[packerbacker180]

Well then, let's venture on down back to the bayou for today's Haunted House of the Day...



Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie was a Louisiana socialite known for hosting ritzy soirees in her lavish French Quarter mansion in New Orleans during the early 19th century. Guests gorged on fine food and champagne, unaware of the grisly scenes that unfolded two stories above.



Funeral registers between 1830 and 1834 document the deaths of 12 enslaved people at the Royal Street mansion, although the causes of said deaths are not mentioned. On April 10, 1834, a fire broke-out in the Royal Street mansion, beginning in the kitchen. When police and fire marshals reached the residence, they found a 70-year-old cook chained to the stove by her ankle. The cook later said that she had set the fire as a suicide attempt because she feared being punished, stating that slaves taken to the uppermost room "never came back". As reported in the New Orleans Bee of April 11, 1834, bystanders responding to the fire attempted to enter the quarters of those enslaved to ensure that everyone had been evacuated. Upon being refused the keys by the LaLauries, the bystanders broke down the doors to the quarters and found "seven people, more or less horribly mutilated ... suspended by the neck, with their limbs apparently stretched and torn from one extremity to the other", who claimed to have been imprisoned there for some months



When the discovery of the abused and enslaved people became widely known, a mob of local citizens attacked the Royal Street mansion and "demolished and destroyed everything upon which they could lay their hands". The Pittsfield Sun, citing the New Orleans Advertiser, and writing several weeks after the evacuation of LaLaurie's quarters of her victims, claimed that two of the enslaved people found in the mansion had died following their rescue. It added, "We understand ... that in digging the yard, bodies have been disinterred, and the condemned well [in the grounds of the mansion] having been uncovered, others, particularly that of a child, were found."



LaLaurie's life after the 1834 fire is not well documented. It's said in 1838 that she fled New Orleans during the mob violence that followed the fire, taking a coach to the waterfront and traveling, by schooner, to Mobile, Alabama, and then to Paris.



For almost 200 years, there have been reports of paranormal activity coming from this house. It shouldn't surprise many that many hauntings are attributed to the slaves that Madame LaLaurie kept on the property. There is a room in the LaLaurie Mansion where slaves were often kept - and reports of moaning coming from that room are common. Phantom footsteps echo through the house with regularity. Many people who have stood near the house have reported feeling as if they were taken over by negative energy.

[BrandonDaCollector]

Good one PB. I know that one a tiny bit, not much. Louisiana and the Bayou can great looking but also very freaky

[packerbacker180]

Yes, there are a lot of unfathomable horrors in the south, and I'm not just talking about the Dallas Cowboys defense.



But don't worry, Dorothy, for today's Haunted House we will be in Kansas, so carry on my wayward son...



The Sallie House was built in the mid-1800s, commissioned by the Finney family and home to Dr. Charles Finney. Some believe Dr. Finney practiced medicine from the house, using the bottom floor for surgery and examination, and a bedroom as an office. The Finney family lived upstairs until moving out due to a lack of space. However, the layout and floor plan of the house does not suggest this theory. Dr. Finney operated a medical office down the road at the time he lived in the home. This unassuming looking house has sat vacant since the late 1990s.



The Sallie House is reported to be haunted by the ghost of a young girl who died there. According to legend, a child named Sallie was brought to Dr. Finney's house by her mother for severe abdominal pain. He gave her anesthesia and began emergency surgery, as he believed that Sallie's appendix was about to rupture; however, he made the first incision before the anesthesia kicked in. As he continued surgery, Sallie was screaming from pain and bled out, which ended up killing her. However, there is no physical evidence of a Sallie living or dying on the property and it has been said that the Mayor made the story up as a publicity stunt to attract more visitors to the city of Kansas.



Though the house had long been known to be haunted, Sallie’s haunting grew ominous in 1993, when the house was rented to a young couple. Their dog seemed to growl at nothing, especially near the upstairs nursery. Things began to take a violent turn, however. Fires broke out in the house and a series of sinister attacks on the husband began. The operating area would become cold. Objects would visibly move when the young man drew near. He could feel scratches upon his chest or abdomen. But never did the ghost attack the wife or baby.



Multiple former tenants have alleged paranormal activity there. It has been especially reported by male residents and visitors, some of whom have claimed to have been scratched until they bled, which has led to Sallie being dubbed "The Man Hating Ghost". This could be because the last thing Sallie saw before death was the male doctor, whom she believed was torturing her.



So if you're feeling brave, click your heels 3 times, and take a trip to Atchison, but I would think twice before I...Sallie forth.

[BrandonDaCollector]

I have no clue about their defense much less any Football teams Gosh Kansas is right next door to Missouri and I didn't know about this Sallie;s House That is something that Jericho got involve here too Another good one PB

[packerbacker180]

Jericho occassionally does some paranormal and true crime stuff on his podcast. Those are sometimes the most interesting ones.

Today's Haunted House of the Day is dedicated to AcidDragon...



Be sure to press play before you begin reading...



Home to a collection of 2,000 clown figures, this motel sits along north Main Street in Tonopah, Nevada; Often referred to as "America's scariest motel", the building is located adjacent to the cemetery where the father of the original owners is buried. Clarence David had died in a nearby mine fire in 1942. In 1911, 17 men had died in another fire in the nearby Belmont mines leading many to believe their spirits still roam the surrounding areas.



If the thought of a bright red nose and a painted smile sends a shiver down your spine, you may be among the nearly ten percent of adults that suffer from coulrophobia. The fear of clowns has been documented across multiple cultures all around the world, but besides the ghostly pallid makeup, blood red bulbous nose of horror, and malevolent smile pf a presumed psychopath because who else would want to dress like a bozo, no one is quite sure what causes it.



In 1905, illness swept the town of Tonopah, claiming the lives of 56 people between January and April. Those afflicted often died within hours of first reporting symptoms. Newspapers across the west published hysterical headlines about the Tonopah Plague, which was ultimately ruled as an outbreak of pneumonia. So, could such of place as a Clown Hotel nearby be seen as a mockery to their suffering leading many spirits to be at unrest?



But everybody loves a clown, so why don't you?



The 33-room Clown Motel was opened in 1985 by Leroy and Leona David in honor of their late father Clarence David whose collection of over 150 clown statues was used to decorate the property. In 1995, Bob Perchetti bought the motel and operated it for 22 years until 2017 when he put the property up for sale for $900,000. Two years later the property was purchased by Vijay Mehar who appointed his former art director family friend Hame Anand as CEO, who not only gave a new facelift to the motel but created a new identity as The World Famous Clown Motel and increased the collection from 600 clown statues to over 4,000 pieces of clown memorabilia.





While they may have been buried, many say they have not been put to rest. Today, apparitions are frequently seen moving between the cemetery and the Clown Motel. One such apparition even bears an uncanny resemblance to Clarence David, perhaps investigating the legacy he unknowingly left behind. In the motel, disembodied voices have been heard stating ‘we mined’ and ‘we died that day’, further convincing investigators that the doomed miners are the cause of activity on the property. Some speculate that the spirits are drawn to the lobby in particular, because of their ability to manipulate the clowns to make their presence known. When the “Ghost Adventures” TV show investigated the Clown Motel, they captured footage of a life-sized doll moving on its own. The paranormal claims are not limited to the lobby, however. Visitors report hearing ghostly laughter down the corridor and sounds of movement coming from empty rooms.



While nowhere on the site is necessarily immune to activity, the highest concentration of reports seems to come from the same five rooms. One man spent over six years in Room 210 after he claimed that his excruciating back pain was cured by a supernatural force residing there. Room 111 began seeing regular paranormal activity after a terminally ill man took up residence inside. His intention was to live out his final days in peace, however, he was immediately troubled by the appearance of a dark figure that would come to him each morning.



The most infamous lodging available at the motel is Room 107, also known as the “Fear Unlimited” room. 107 was closed for roughly four years, following multiple deaths in the room over the course of a decade. It was treated as a storage space, however even unoccupied, guests in neighboring rooms complained of loud noises coming from inside. Heavy furniture was dragged across the floor. Conversations could be heard when passing by in the corridor, and something banged on the walls at all hours of the night. The room was recently reopened to the public and is now available to stay in once more.



Pricing varies by room and date, ranging from $85 to $199 per night. The motel fully embraces their spirited reputation and even offers EMF meters to rent during your stay. So be sure to book your room in advance. But even still, you may just find it already oocupied!





Sweet dreams!