Heart Starts Pounding: Horrors, Hauntings, and Mysteries - 87: America's Most Cursed Family: The Dark History of The Lemp Mansion

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

The Lemp Mansion is considered one of the most haunted places in the country, all because of the Lemp Family that used to live there. The tragedy that befell them makes them one of the most "cursed" families in American History.  Tw: Suicide This episode is brought to you by RoBody. Go to ro.co/hsp for compounded GLP-1s in stock now. This episode is also brought to you by Create Wellness Gummies. Get 30% off any subscription or one-time purchase of Create 90-count bags at trycreate.co/HSP. This episode is also brought to you by Quince. Get cozy in Quince's high-quality wardrobe essentials. Go to Quince.com/hsp for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns Subscribe on Patreon for bonus content and to become a member of our Rogue Detecting Society. Patrons have access to ad-free listening and bonus content. And members of our High Council on Patreon have access to our after-show called Footnotes. Apple subscriptions are now live! Get access to ad-free episodes and bonus episodes when you subscribe on Apple Podcasts. Follow on Tik Tok and Instagram for a daily dose of horror.

One morning, a woman named Rebecca woke up so early it was still dark outside. She blinked the sleepiness out of her eyes and looked around, but all she could make out were the shapes of the bedroom furniture. That weekend, she was staying with her sister and nephew in the Lump Mansion, a Victorian mansion in St. Louis, Missouri. Now normally waking up in a hotel in the middle of the night is not that scary, but Rebecca had heard some unsettling stories

about this place. Before she left for the weekend, a friend of hers told her that the house was haunted by the ghosts of the family who originally owned it, the Lemp's. Supposedly, the family who originally owned it, the Lemp's. Supposedly the family had been cursed and legend has it that curse is now trapped in the walls of the mansion as are their souls.

And the room was pretty creepy. Rebecca had to agree. The furniture was all antique made of bulky dark wood, a massive mirror hung over a fireplace, and the curtains covering the floor-to-ceiling windows gently swayed by themselves from a draft. It was as if the room was sealed off in the late 1800s and just cracked open for Rebecca

and her family to stay there. Everything looked original to the home. They were staying in the Lavender Suite, which used to be the bedroom of the matriarch of the family, Lillian Lemp, at the turn of the 20th century. It was called the Lavender Suite because Lillian had ordered everything in the room to be purple.

The place, though, felt eerie and cold. And in the middle of the night, while her sister and nephew slept, Rebecca tossed and turned in Lillian Lemp's four-post bed. She covered her head with a blanket to try and force herself back to sleep. When all of a sudden, as she was half awake, Rebecca felt something press down slowly on her feet, like something was sitting on the edge of the bed. For a second, she thought that she might still be dreaming. But then, she felt something, or someone, slam into her legs, as if she was being kicked.

She shot up in the darkness and looked out into the room, but nothing was there. The room was completely empty. She buried her head back under the covers. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. She repeated to herself. There was still the same pressure on her feet though, but maybe she was just going crazy. Maybe she heard too many scary stories about this place. But the pressure started to feel like fluttering little kicks, almost like that of a child. This time, when she looked up over the covers, she could see little imprints down by her feet as if someone small had been standing there

on the silk comforter. In that moment, Rebecca joined the long list of people who have experienced something supernatural inside the Lemp Mansion. Today, I wanna walk you through the horrible and tragic story of the Lemp family, but I also wanna walk you through the horrible and tragic story of the Lemp family, but I also want to walk you through some of the hauntings that still torment guests to this day. And as always, listener discretion is advised. Are horror movies not quite hitting the spot for you these days? Are you tired of playing the same old blockbusters again and again?

Then check out Radio Rental, a podcast hosted by me, Terry Carnation. It's filled with real horror stories told by real people. And it's all set right here at Radio Rental. Radio Rental is available now. Listen for free on Apple podcasts. This episode is brought to you by Roe Body. You've probably heard of Ozempic and Wigovie. They've been all over the news making headlines for the last year or so, but that's also made them pretty difficult to find. The good news is Roe makes it possible to get your

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That's ro.co.hsp. Go to ro.co.hsp for black box warning and full safety information. Compound medication is not required to and does not receive FDA review or approval, Rx only. is not required to and does not receive FDA review or approval. Rx only. This is Heart Starts Pounding, a podcast of horrors, hauntings, and mysteries. I'm your host, Kaylyn Moore. Last week, I talked to you about the most extreme haunted house attraction in the world, one that's run by a complete madman. Well, keeping with our Halloween theme of thrills and chills,

today I want to tell you about one of the scariest haunted houses in the world. Period. There's no one pulling the strings behind this haunted house. No, all of the scares come from the cursed family who once inhabited it. We're going to dive in in just a moment. But first, if you are new here, welcome to our darkly curious community. If you're a true crime lover, a spooky paranormal lover,

someone who enjoys dark history, or all of the above, like myself, then you have found a home, a creepy, creaking Victorian era home on the edge of the woods. I wanna give one quick note if you're considering subscribing to Patreon through the Apple App Store. You may want to do that before the end of October. See, Apple is going to start taking 30% of all Patreon subscriptions made through the App Store,

so Patreon is raising the prices. If you've already become a subscriber, it won't affect you, and this is only through the App Store. It will still be just $5 a month to subscribe directly through Patreon or subscribe to the Premium Edition through Apple Podcasts. But if for convenience sake you wanted to subscribe on Patreon through the Apple App Store, now is the time to get grandfathered in at $5 before the fee change. And again, if you're already a sub, thank you so much. You don't need to do anything. There's no price change.

So now make yourself comfortable and let's get started. If you were to stay at the Lump Mansion today, you would find a freshly painted inn with 33 rooms, each decorated like how they would have been when the house was built. The mansion is currently owned by the Poynter family, who bought it in 1973 and turned it into a hotel. Ever since, Richard Poynter has invited thousands of guests like Rebecca to spend the night in the priceless piece of Missouri history.

Richard kept the mansion in the condition that he bought it, but in 2010 he decided to do some major renovations. And Richard had always heard about the mansion's spooky past, but he never really believed it. In the almost 40 years he owned it, he hadn't personally experienced anything. But once he started renovating, he realized that maybe there really was something residing in the home with him. See, during the construction,

he moved into the bedroom of Charles Lemp, the business-minded grandson of the original builder. One night, Richard was in the antique bed, trying to forget someone had died in that room. He was winding down with a book when a few loud blows rattled the doorframe, one after another. Someone must have broken into the house,

and now they were trying to kick down the door. Richard jumped up to confront the intruder, but when he swung the door open, no one was there. Rushing through the house, he found that every single door and window was locked. There was zero evidence of a break-in. So the intruder had to be someone who was already inside, right? Richard knew for a fact that the last Lemp died in the mansion in 1949, but now he was convinced they had never left. But to really understand the hauntings of the Lemp Mansion, we need to know the story

of the Lemp family and the curse that supposedly killed them. The Lemp Mansion was built in 1866 at 322 Demenil Place, and William Lemp and his wife Julia moved in quickly afterwards. William was heir to a beer fortune. His father had founded Lemp Brewing Company, and with the money that he inherited, William bought the home of his dreams.

There was a grand spiral staircase, a two-floor glass atrium full of plants and animals, and an open-air elevator, which was a newer invention at the time. The home also sat above these massive underground caves, so he built a ballroom, a swimming pool, and an auditorium you could only access through a secret tunnel down there.

He declared to the world that the home was part of what would be a long line of successful lumps with a slab of sandstone carved with the name Lemp that still sits outside of the house to this day. And while anyone passing the mansion back in 1866 would have thought the person inside had it all, William was struggling with the loss of his father who had died four years prior. And actually, when he passed away, that was the second time that William lost his dad. See, in 1838, William's father, Johann Adam Lemp,

settled into a new life in St. Louis, Missouri. Lemp had made the brave decision to emigrate from a small town in Germany with hopes that he could eventually earn enough money for his family to come join him in America. He wanted to give them a better life. At least that's the story from the history books. If you were to ask his wife, William's mother, Justina, she would probably tell you that

her husband skipped town to escape his mounting debt. Justina was Johann's second wife, and when he left her and their son, William, she was furious. She actually wrote a public ad on October 30th, 1841, describing the situation. She wrote, "'I urge my husband, brewer Johann Adam Lemp,

"'who fled from here in 1836, to return to me at once to resume his marital duties. Johann had already kind of done this before. Before Justina, he had divorced Anna Claremont, the mother of his first child, Juanette, and he didn't really look back. Whatever Johan was running from, debts, family responsibility, it was clear that he saw opportunity in America. He joined a growing group of German immigrants flocking to the United States in search of

the already fabled American dream. Once he got there, he dropped his first name and started going by the more American sounding Adam. And then he opened up a small grocery store. Adam was not really a good father, William could acknowledge, but he was fantastic at brewing vinegar. So much so that he became known in the area for it and his grocery store exploded in popularity, soon becoming a chain and making Adam a small fortune. This American dream everyone spoke of, it turned out to be real, at least for Adam. But brewing vinegar wasn't his true passion.

No, that was actually brewing beer. He was able to use his store's success to continue brewing beer on the side under the name the Western Brewing Company. St. Louis was already a beer town and Lemp's German-style drinkable lagers made the Western Brewing Company an instant hit. He was able to take advantage of the existing underground caves in St. Louis to store beer barrels as the operation expanded. And by 1840, he closed his grocery store chain entirely. He was a beer man now. He renamed his company the Lemp Brewing Company. And by 1858, Lemp was officially credited as the most substantial brewer in the city.

And what's the first thing that the most substantial brewer does? He divorces his wife. Yes, if you thought Adam was really going to pay for Justina to come be with him in America, you would be mistaken. However, he did send her $100 as consolation, and Justina sent their son, 12-year-old William, to go be his dad's problem. William ended up joining his father in his successful business and went on to marry a wealthy woman, Julia Feikert. But not long after their wedding, William's father got

sick. It turns out drinking copious amounts of beer was not doing him any favors, and in 1862, he died of cirrhosis of the liver, a direct result of his drinking. William's father had what was described as one of the most expensive funerals St. Louis had ever seen. Carriages surrounded the graveyard, white silk gloves were gifted to every mourner who attended, and Adam Lemp's $75 dollar coffin, which was a lot at the time, lowered into the Bellefontaine cemetery grounds. The plot was marked by a granite tomb that just read, Adam Lemp. Even in death, he refused to acknowledge his past as Johann, the boy from Germany. And just like his father, William also intended to move forward in his life

without looking back. So William and Julia didn't really waste any time growing their family to fill up all of the space of the Lemp Mansion. They had their first six children in a span of just 10 years. Anna, who was a world traveler, William Jr., who was his father's first successor, Louis, a lover of horses,

yes, that's the only information I could find on him, Charles, a banker and politician, Frederick, who was named after William's best friend, Frederick Pabst, and Hilda, who would go on to marry into that very same Pabst family. If you've ever enjoyed a $2 PBR, you actually have the Pabst to thank. In 1880 and 1883, they had two more heirs, Edwin and Elsa. They would both become darlings of the St. Louis high society scene.

And once again, you may look at their growing family and see a picture perfect American dream. But as their family grew, the Lemp's were potentially harboring a dark secret. Talk in St. Louis said that as the Lemp children grew up, one of them had a child, but a child who didn't fit in with the image they were trying to present to the world. Not knowing what else to do with him, they kept him in the attic. His name was Zeke and he was believed to be the illegitimate result of one of William Jr's affairs.

William Jr. was originally married to Lillian Handlin and Lillian was known for her love of the color lavender. She wore it everywhere and she designed an entire room in the Lemp Mansion to be totally purple. That's where Rebecca was staying in the first story. But it was a well-known fact that her gun-toting playboy husband, William Jr., did not stay faithful. And Zeke was rumored to be a result of that. Either way, Zeke became referred to as the Forgotten Limp Child.

Neighbors said that they could see the face of a forlorn boy they didn't recognize playing in the window of the attic overlooking the front yard up until the 1940s. It's also believed that Zeke had Down syndrome. The family supposedly referred to him as Zeke the monkey faced boy. To this day people have said they've caught glimpses of a little boy in the attic as they've walked past the house. William Sr.'s son Frederick also had a child in August of 1900, and though this child was born after Zeke, he was celebrated as being the first male heir to the family. Though the next year, Frederick died unexpectedly, of heart failure, at just 28 years old. And this, understandably, sent William Sr.

into a total tailspin. Frederick had been his favorite child, and William Sr. wasn't really shy about letting people know that, he was set to take over the Lemp family brewing business. And I'll also add here that Frederick wasn't the first to die in the house. William Sr.'s in-laws, Julia's parents, were living in the Lemp mansion until they died in their upstairs bedrooms in the 1890s. This was a tragic, tragic time in the Lemp family history, but no one in the family thought that this was just the beginning of a long, morbid pattern for the Lemp's after a short break.

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couldn't seem lower than they were, his best friend, Frederick Pabst, also died. The one that his son was named after. Around 10 o'clock on the morning before Valentine's Day, William Sr. sat in the dining room for a light breakfast. After eating, he told his house staff that he wasn't feeling very well and he needed to lie down. William had been suffering from stomach issues for over 12 years at that point, maybe a result of all the drinking he had to do for his work. So his staff didn't really think anything of it.

He'd been advised he should no longer consume alcohol anymore, which wasn't really an easy task for a man running the most popular beer hall in town. After breakfast, William spent some time alone in his bedroom upstairs. No one knew that he was getting his final affairs in order. In fact, none of the other members of his family were even home. At 10.30 a.m., a young servant girl named Eva Wetzel heard a muffled bang from the upper level.

She ran up the stairs to check on her boss, but found that the door to his room was strangely locked shut. She called out, Mr. L Lemp and became even more worried when he didn't answer. Her first phone call was to the Lemp Brewing Company's vice president, Henry Valcamp, to tell him that something horrible had happened. Then she quickly dialed Lemp's sons, William Jr. and Edwin, and she nervously waited until they arrived. The boys ended up breaking down their father's bedroom door and what they saw

once it opened stopped them in their tracks. William Lemp Sr. had shot himself with a.38 Smith & Wesson through the right side of his head. His wife Julia stumbled into the awful scene just in time to see her husband take his final breaths. It was horrible. William Sr.'s death ushered in a couple really rough years for the Lump family. It seemed like he actually was the glue holding together his children, who had never known a life other than being rich and not

having to work very hard. I mean, literally became like the show's succession, with the spoiled children trying to figure out how to function. Over $400,000 of unpaid debts from improperly sold stock all of a sudden became William Jr. and his brother Charles's mess to clean up. Then the children's mother, Julia, passed away from cancer just two years after their father had died. Then in the midst of all of that, William Junior divorced the Lavender Lady by telling the court of her supposed compulsive spending and excessive drinking. She retorted by exposing plenty

of her husband's dirty laundry, like how he hosted illegal animal fights in the beer caves, not to mention the open secret of his adultery. Even by today's standards, this would be considered a very messy divorce. But the fact that St. Louis was a small town and the Lemp's were practically royalty, you can imagine how much the gossip mill made of William Jr.'s legal battles. In the end, Lillian ended up winning custody of their only child, William Lemp III.

The other Lemp siblings didn't really have it much easier at this time, like Elsa Lemp, for instance, who had been suffering from spells of depression ever since she had a stillborn daughter named Patricia in 1913. She self-medicated with a drugstore medicine called Laudanum, which was a mixture of opium and alcohol and was a common Victorian medicine for quote, hysterical women. Laudanum was basically something that got you so high you just forgot about your problems and also at the time it was cheaper than alcohol.

So of course it was an incredibly popular and massively abused medicine at the time. Elsa's mental state was only made worse by her rocky nine-year marriage to her husband Thomas Wright. Thomas was the heir to the more metal and grass fortune, which might have been slightly more impressive if Elsa still wasn't much, much, much wealthier than him. In 1919, Elsa actually divorced her husband, but by 1920 they had reconciled and he followed her to her third home in New York. But on the night of March 19th, 1920, Elsa told her husband she wasn't feeling very well and went to draw a bath. A few moments later, he heard a gunshot. The next day, the headline just read, Mrs. Thomas H. Wright kills herself.

The night before she died, Elsa had danced all night at a concert before returning home to Hortense Place. Her cook, Elizabeth Bender, was happy to see Elsa in such high spirits when Elsa stopped by her kitchen to say goodnight between 5 and six p.m. But by seven o'clock, Elizabeth was really concerned. Elsa's demeanor had totally changed and she seemed very nervous.

Elsa spent the night tossing and turning from being sick to her stomach, and she woke up tired the next morning after another day of barely eating. Her husband Thomas asked Elsa how she was feeling and she replied, alright. He thought it was a good idea for Elsa to rest for another hour and he kissed her before she went to draw a bath at eight. Elsa always kept a.32 caliber revolver in the nightstand between their tandem twin beds.

Her husband would later claim he wasn't aware there was even a gun in the house. That is, until five minutes past eight when he heard the shot through the door. When he ran out of the bathroom, he saw Elsa lying in bed with a bullet wound to her left breast. She was dead.

But when the maids came to the kitchen to tell Elizabeth Bender what had happened, they didn't seem so sure that Elsa had shot herself. There wasn't a note left behind, and the way she was lying, tucked under the covers, almost made it look like Elsa had been sound asleep. Even weirder, the revolver was spotted on the couch, 10 feet across the room. Wright had phoned the family doctor, who confirmed Elsa was dead,

and her brother Edwin rushed to be by her side. But for some reason, they all agreed to wait hours until they shared the news with the police. Once the police arrived, Thomas told the officers that he must have disturbed the scene and moved the gun, though he didn't remember doing it somehow. Elsa's end was ironically timed with the demise of her family's brewing business. Prohibition was officially declared into law on January 17, 1920, and beer brewing was done. But the Lump Brewing Company had slowly been losing steam for years in anticipation of

an industry shutdown. The company hadn't brewed a real batch of beer since 1919. William Jr. tried to get back into the game by copying competitors like Anheuser-Busch who already popularized what was called a near beer that skirted prohibition regulations by having a really low ABV. So the Lembs tried to make a really low ABV drink called Cerva. It was 2.75% ABV and it was terrible to drink. It was a financial failure that came too late to keep the company afloat. Not long after ceasing production on Cerva, William Jr.'s employees showed up one day to find that the doors were boarded up to the entire building. Lemp Brewing Company had apparently been shut down completely without

any fanfare and without any farewell. William Jr. sold what he could for cents on the dollar, which was embarrassing to his business-minded family. And six months after dismantling his father's legacy, William Jr.'s behavior became erratic and self-isolating. He had also started complaining about health issues like constant headaches and he would be found staring listlessly at the walls of his office. One day his personal secretary, Ms. Burcek, heard a loud noise that she could only assume was a worker on the basement renovation dropping an iron tool. But one of the Lemp's porters instantly recognized the gunshot and had already raced to the second floor. William Jr. was there in his office, bleeding from a.38 caliber shot to the chest, gasping for air. He had been carefully laid

on the floor with his head resting on a pillow pillow and the gun was laying just out of reach from his right hand, smoke still exiting the chamber. When the police declared William Jr. dead, his son William III had kind of a surprising reaction. He just said, I knew it. I was afraid this was coming. Though it seems impossible for one family, especially one with so much fortune, to suffer from such bad luck, the Lemp Curse was continued with William III. He failed to revive the family's beer label

through partnership with the Central Brewing Company. And on an otherwise perfectly lovely day in 1943, William III dropped dead from a heart attack in the middle of the street while taking a stroll. At this time, Charles, William Jr.'s brother, was becoming paranoid. He had seen what had become of his family, the untimely deaths, the suicides,

and he feared that he was next on the Grim Reaper's list. He had lived in the mansion where all of this tragedy had happened and all of that haunted him. At 77 years old, Charles was suffering from arthritis, which had recently forced him to move his second floor bedroom to the ground floor. It had easy access to his father's old private bathroom with the Italian imported standing shower which was

perfect for Charles' frequent showers and ice foot baths in the porcelain tub. It was believed at the time that cold water and gloves were a solid defense against infectious disease. So Charles would use both to ward off the germs he was sure were going to invade his body. He spent these quiet years alone in the mansion he'd played in as a child. His family had either moved away or had died. His only company was Zeke, who was said to be still living in the attic. Charles was a world traveler and an art collector in his youth who spent his final days holed up with books and collector's pieces from around the world

while also cuddling his Doberman pincher named Serva after the failed beer that led to his brother's demise. The mansion represented so much for his family and himself. It was a symbol of the American dream, how a German immigrant with nothing grew one of the most successful businesses in the country. His wealth was supposed to ensure that his family was forever taken care of.

And yet, Charles watched it kill family member after family member. At this time, his closest human companions were Lena and Albert Bittner, who Charles had employed for 32 years. Because they lived in the rear of the Lemp Mansion, the Bittners didn't hear much the morning of May 10th, 1949. Around 6.30 a.m., Albert placed a tray with Charles' breakfast in front of the

door between his office and bedroom, just like every other day. But when Albert returned to collect the dishes around eight, he was confused to find that the food was untouched. When he went inside the bedroom, he was greeted by heartbreaking horror. Charles Lemp was the fourth of his family to use a gun to end his life. Police arrived so quickly that the light on Charles' nightstand was still burning when they got there. It flickered over a note that simply read, In case I am found dead, blame it on no one but me." The.38 caliber bullet was eventually found buried in the down feathers of his pillows. A doctor pronounced Charles dead at 9 10 a.m. on May 10, 1949, from a self-inflicted wound to

the right temple, the same spot of his father's fatal wound. Before that, Charles had actually shot his dog, Serva, presumably to spare it a life without his master. He had put the dog down in the basement, but the loyal companion had dragged itself up a flight of stairs to try and die by Charles' side. Charles and Serva marked the ninth and tenth untimely demise in the Lemp family history since Adam Lemp started their dynasty a hundred years earlier. The death toll, though, actually creeps hauntingly higher when you consider the numerous relatives who took their last breaths while staying in the mansion. None of the Lemp's could have guessed thousands of strangers would one

day live in the walls they once called home, even in their lowest moments. After Charles's unceremonious departure from the family manor, the space became a boarding house. Edwin Lemp was the last of William Senior's sons still standing. He renounced his claim on the property and instead focused on his charitable efforts with the St. Louis Zoo. You might say that Edwin broke the family curse by dying of natural causes at the age of 90. Meanwhile, from 1950 to 1975, travelers and locals short on cash found affordable short-term

lodging in his childhood palace. And over time, some of the features that made Lemp Mansion so opulent were taken down or neglected. The invasive construction of Interstate 55 through the area stripped the grounds of some of its grandeur, but luckily the Lemp Mansion survived as a whole and was able to be preserved. No matter how many changes the

family estate has gone through, the Lump's legacy could never be forgotten. Though if you were to ask some of the people who stayed at Lump Mansion over the years, it seems like certain members of the family are still there, actively making history. The Lump Mansion ghost sightings after short break. This episode is brought to you by Quince. So the weather is finally cooling down in Texas and I need more sweaters. Or at least I would like to believe it's going to stay cool long enough for me to need more sweaters. So I'm scrolling through the Quince website ready to just order all of it. Right now I have my eye on this Mongolian cashmere

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and 365 day returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash HSP to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince dot com slash HSP. For decades now, Lemp Mansion guests and staff have reported an overwhelming amount of supernatural disturbances. The sounds of paws clicking on the floor, as if Sarava is still there patrolling the grounds.

The overwhelming smell of sweet perfume wafting over them in the middle of the night. And shockingly clear apparitions of a man with a beard and a top hat, they swear bore an undeniable resemblance to William Lemp, Sr. One teen girl, Bea, and a couple of her high school friends were staying for the weekend to celebrate her 16th birthday. Bea's mom was a very petite woman, like not even five foot tall,

and she was tasked with chaperoning the group who was staying in the adjoining Frederick and Louis Suites. The first stop for the girls was the gift shop, but when they got downstairs, one of Bee's friends realized she had forgotten her wallet. The girls ran up to the top floor to grab it, but they couldn't seem to get their door to unlock, no matter how hard they twisted the key. Bea put down her camera on the hall table between the two suites to help, and eventually

the girls yanked it open. Old doors, they figured. But later that night, they realized that there were new photos on the camera, ones that were taken while the camera was on the table. And as they clicked through the images that the camera had somehow taken, one of the girls gasped. Be quickly zoomed in. There was no denying that a disembodied face was floating in the background, peeking out

through the darkness. And then later that night, after the staff were gone for the evening, they heard a loud crash coming from the Elsa suite. They forced themselves to go check it out, but when they got to the room, it was completely empty and nothing had been broken. When they finally tried to sleep,

they heard loud footsteps coming from the attic above them. There were also footsteps coming from behind a door in their bathroom, which hotel staff later told them led to the attic. Knowing rumors about a hidden child named Zeke, they all agreed that they were going to just avoid the bathroom. That night though, named Zeke, they all agreed that they were going to just avoid the bathroom.

That night though, Bee's friend saw someone get up and go to the bathroom. They were definitely less than five feet tall, so they figured it was Bee's mom. The next morning, the friend had to know if Bee's mom had seen anything in the bathroom in the middle of the night. But Bee's mom looked confused, and she said that she wouldn't have in the bathroom in the middle of the night. Babi's mom looked confused, and she said that she wouldn't have touched the bathroom with a 10-foot pole. But her friend was certain she saw someone

no taller than like 4'10", go into the bathroom and close the door. Someone the height of a child. The downstairs reportedly has its fair share of ghost sightings as well. Half of a century after Zeke would have been playing in the attic, the work to restore the Lemp Mansion to its former glory began. A man named Claude was an artist who the Poynter family commissioned to repaint a mural that

was on the grand parlor ceiling. But during Claude's work, he found it hard to focus, which was rare for him. He said that he constantly felt an evil presence looking up at him from below while he painted. And Claude couldn't describe how he knew this, but he said whatever was watching him was clearly trying to make it known that what he was doing was wrong. Eventually, this presence became too overwhelming and Claude left the project early. But years later, after the restoration was done, he came back to the house for a tour and he heard a story that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Apparently, William Lump Sr. had once gotten into a fight with a German

painter originally hired to paint the ceiling, so bad that the painter angrily vowed it would never be finished. Someone must have been preventing Claude from finishing the painting. Almost anyone who has spent time in the Lump Mansion for a weekend has a story to tell about how someone in the family touched them from beyond the grave. But what happened to make the Lump family so cursed during their time on Earth? While some have suggested that growing so much wealth in so little time was testing the graciousness of the universe, Or maybe the darkness that overtook William Sr. stemmed from a genetic predisposition that he passed down to his children. The Victorian

era wasn't exactly a safe space to explore mental health. The terrible truth is that the lemps weren't the only German immigrants suffering from violent deaths. Prohibition was really hard on American industry, including expats who pioneered a huge portion of the alcohol business. Police eventually coined the term Dutch Act to refer to the alarming number of German immigrant entrepreneurs who took their lives during the financially paralyzed era. Patrick Nolan of the Mutual Brewing Company, Otto Steiffel who led Union Brewing, and Anheuser-Busch founder August A. Bush Sr. all died by suicide in the early 20th century. But by creating beers that became part of American

society, they almost found a way to keep themselves alive forever. I guess it's fair to say every dream has a price. Johann Adam Lemp risked everything leaving Germany with nothing but his name. He wanted to forget the past and forge a new future for his family. But in the process, he sacrificed his old family. He never once thought about his first wife and child after

he made his way in America. But that's the thing about the past. It always comes back to get you. And now his family's horrible past is forever trapped within the walls of the Lemp Mansion. Heart Starts Pounding is written and produced by me, Kaylen Moore. Heart Starts Pounding is also produced by Matt Brown. Additional research and writing by Marissa Dow. Sound design and mix by Peachtree Sound. Special thanks to Travis Dunlap, Grace and Jernigan, the team at WME, and Ben Jaffe. Have a heart pounding story or a case request?

Check out heartstartspounding.com. Until next time, stay curious. Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo