Majanka Verstraete's Blog, page 22

Real Haunted Houses: The Lemp Mansion

The Lemp Mansion, located at 3322 DeMenil Place in St. Louis, Missouri, is a historical house with no less than 33-rooms.

The house was built in 1868 and first occupied by William J. Lemp and his wife, Julia in 1876. The house went through major renovations in 1911, during which some spaces were converted into offices for the Lemp Brewery. The William J. Lemp Brewing Co. dominated the St. Louis beer market with its Falstaff beer brand for several decades.

The Lemp Family: First Suicide

William J. Lemp, aka William Sr., had four sons to take over his brewery business. His son William Jr. was vice-president, his second son Louis was spuerintendent. His third son also joined him in the brewery business but it was allegeledy his fourth son, Frederick, who William wanted to leave the family business to.

Frederick however, suffered from severe health problems that he kept from his family. on December 12, 1901, he died of heart failure resulting from these health issues.

William Sr.’s own health declined following his son’s death. On January 1, 1904 his best friend Frederick Pabst died, causing another major blow.

On the morning of February 13, 1904, William Sr. committed suicide by gunshot, and died at 10:15 a.m. on this tragic day.

The Lemp Family: Second Suicide

On November 7, 1904, William J. “Billy” Lemp Junior, the oldest son of the family’s patriarch, took over the brewing company of his late father. Billy’s life was filled wiht one tragedy after the next. His wife, Lillian Handlan Lemp, nicknamed “The Lavender Lady” because she often dressed in this color and drove around in a lavender-colored carriage, filed for divorce in 1980. She was granted the divorce and custody of William III, their only child.

After the trial, Billy built his country home near the Meramec River, nicknamed “Alswel”, where he lived full-time from 1914 onwards.

In the early 1920s, when Prohibition began, the Lemp Brewery suffered immensely. It was eventually shutdown and sold at action. Not able to cope with this other devastating loss, Billy Lemp shot himself in his office at the original family home.

The Lemp Family: Third Suicide

Billy’s youngest sister, and youngest child of William Sr., was named Elsa Lemp. She married Thomas Wright, president of the More-Jones Brass and Metal Company in 1910, changing her name to Elsa Lemp Wright.

In 1918, the couple seperated, and in 1919, Elsa filed for divorce, citing damage to her mental and physical health. The divorce was granted but soon after, Elsa and Thomas reconciled and even remarried in March 1920.

Later that month however, Elsa shot herself while in bed, another tragic suicide in a tragic family history.

The Lemp Family: Fourth Suicide

Charles Lemp, the third son of William Sr., left the brewery in 1917 to go into banking, finance and politics. Charles never married and lived with his dog in his the Lemp family mnasion.

On May 10, 1949, Charles Lemp shot his dog and then himself in the head, leaving only a very brief suicide note.

After the Lemps

After the death of Charles Lemp, the house was sold and used as a boarding house. It’s then that the stories of hauntings began. Residents complained about phantom footsteps and disembodied voices.

Currently, it has been restored and turned into a restaurant and bed & breakfast.

The last Lemp left, Edwin Lemp, avoided his own family home and the Lemp Brewery at all cost and moved to a secluded estate in Kirkwood in 1913. He lived until the age of 90 and passed away quietely in 1970.

Edwin Lemp’s last request was to have the art collection of the Lemps burned, and all the priceless family heirlooms burned with them. The butler complied with his master’s final request.

Ghosts and Legends

With four possible Lemp family members to haunt the house, you would think there’s a plethora of ghosts to choose from.

However, one of the most persistent legends about the Lemp family home, is that of the “Monkey Face Boy”, an illegitimate child of William Jr. Lemp, who was apparently hidden i nthe attic quarters of the house. A St. Louis historian by the name of Joe Gibbons apparenlty interviewed a former nanny and driver who worked at the house, and who attested to the “Monkey Face Boy” being a real child who was born with Down’s syndrome.

This child was buried on the Lemp Cemetery Plot with only a small flat marker on his grave, with the word “Lemp” on it. Legend says that while Charles Lemp, William Jr.’s younger brother, lived at the house, he also cared for William Jr.’s illigitimate child. Only after the boy’s death, did Charles take his own life.

Visit

The mansion is open for visits, as it’s currently a bed and breakfast, and a restaurant. Many of the guests have reported ghostly visitations or a general feeling of being “creeped out” while visiting.

Are you brave enough to spend the night?

 

Real Haunted Houses: Joshua Ward House

On 148 Washington Street in Salem, Massachusetts, stands a three-story federal style brick house originally built in 1784. It was built ofr Joshua Ward, a local merchant.

In 1789 during his visit to Salem, George Washington requested specifically to stay in this house.

In 2015, the house was turned into a hotel.

While the house itself has no particular haunted history, the ground on which it is built, does.

George Corwin

The house is built on the exact site where Sherriff George Corwin, an important figure during the Samel Witch Trials, lived, died and was buried (until his exhumation). Corwin was nicknamed “the strangler” because of the nineteen men and women he executed for witchcraft.

Corwin was also quite sadistic and extremely cruel in the way he tortured his victims prior to having them executed.

He was so vicious even that after his death (in 1696 from a heart attack at just 30 years old – perhaps a result from the curse one of his victims whispered just before dying?) his family decided to bury him in the basement of his own home, because they were afraid villagers would disinter and dismember Corwin’s body as punishment for his cruel ways in life.

The legend says Corwin is still creeping around on the grounds and he’s not alone – of his victims is fond of giving visitors scares as well.

Ghosts

The first ghost to haunt the property is, as mentioned, Corwin himself. Some visitors have experienced a strangling sensation, which they attribute to “the strangler” himself.

Another is the spirit of Giles Corey, a man who was tortured and killed by Corwin. Corey, the poor man, was pressed to death on September 19, 1692.

Another ghost haunting the property is that of an innocent, unnamed woman who was accused of witchcraft and murdered for bieng a witch.

Dale Lewinski, an employee of Carlson Realty, a realtor business that had purchased the house in 1981 and used it as office space, was taking headshots of employees against a white door frame one day. All photos came out normal, except for the photo of Julie Tremblay.

Because that picture didn’t show Julie Tremblay anywhere. Instead, it showed a skinny woman in a long, dark dress and with frazzled hair – a woman nicknamed “The Witch”.

A theory exists that the picture is not of a ghost at all, however, but instead is just a picture of Julie Tremblay, with a wreath behind her (the headshot pictures were meant to be employees standing next to or in front of a wreath to celebrate Chirstmas time) and with extremely bad polaroid lighting or overexposure on it.

I’m no expert on photography, but what I can say for sure is that the witch in question looks extremely scary and if she’s real, I wouldn’t want to meet her, not even during daylight.

 

 

Monday Musings #45

Monday Musings is a post in which I talk about my writing goals for the upcoming week, and the progress I made on my goals for the past week.

Since I didn’t post last week, I’m combining two weeks into one.

Goals for week one (April 2 – April 9):

Schedule articles about “Real Haunted Houses” for the month. Total: 4/4
Finish reviews for Ind’Tale Magazine and send them out.
Schedule two additional posts for on this blog for last week. Total: 0/2
Schedule review for TV series “Requiem” for on the blog.
Set up and schedule newsletter for April 8.
Set up and schedule newsletter for April 15.
Post regularly in the Ghost Slayer Release Event: Total: 4/4

Goals for next week (April 9 – April 16):

Rewrite / revise chapters 1 through 5 of Allegro Academy Book One. Total: 0/5
Schedule posts on the Monster House Books Blog.
Finish remaining parts of article. Total: 0/4
Send article to editor so it can be checked.
Write 10k additional words in the first draft of The Sign of The Serpent , the second book in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes Series.
Get 5 email exchanges for Ghost Slayer this week.
Post regularly in the Ghost Slayer Release Event. Total: 0/4
Brush up Murder in Mind and send to potential publisher.
Pitch new story idea to potential publisher.

Fingers crossed I do as well on these goals as I did last week. Do you have any writing goals for this week?

TV Series Review: Requiem

Requiem is the kind of rare gem that shows up on your Netflix feed every so often and that makes you jump in delight because it’s just so good. It’s a series that pulls you in from the start featuring eerie music, paranormal happenings, and a relatable heroine who is so flawed and so lost that you can’t help but feel for her.

Also, that cello music is so haunting, I couldn’t put it out of my head.

Anyway, on to the story. Matilda Gray is a cellist, barely twenty-three, and already a rising star professionally. In her personal life, she’s not doing that great, though. She pushes guys away, never letting them get close, not even her supposed best friend – who has obvious romantic feelings for her that Matilda pretends not to see.

Then, there’s her relationship with her mother, which seems pretty okay at first…until her mother commits suicide right in front of her. Talk about traumatizing.

Among her mother’s belongings, Matilda finds newspaper clippings about a girl who vanishyed twenty years ago, in Wales, in a small town named Penllynith. Desperately to find out what this missing girl has to do with her mohter, Matilda goes to Penlynith, where she finds an isolated, spooky manor that holds a great deal of secrets and that…somehow… feels familiar.

While the plot is excellent, you can’t exaclty say the series has a slow, intense build up. We get phantoms moving items and forcing people to suicide in the first fifteen minutes of episode one. We get a madman roaming through his old, gigantic house, smashing all mirrors in sight.

But once you get through those rocky first scenes, you actually get a pretty strong story, with a strong and steady build, excellent camera work, and a marvellous blend of mystery, suspense and horror.

Driven by atmosphere and the gorgeous surroundings, this series is a must-watch for fans of ghost stories and the eerie type of horror stories – think movies like “The Others” starring Nicole Kidman, the not “in-your-face” type of horror.

The series is compelling in every way, and a must-watch for all horror fans. Just don’t watch it late at night, because then, sleep is far from guaranteed.

Circuit Fae Sale – Limited Time!

The Circuit Fae series, written by my friend, editor of The Adventures of Marisol Holmes books, and fellow author at Monster House Books, Genevieve Iseult Eldridge, is on sale.

For a limited time only!
DERAILED is FREE at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, GooglePlay and iBooks!
MORIBUND is 99 cents
at Amazon, B&N, Kobo, GooglePlay and iBooks!
This limited-time ebook offer celebrates the launch of Circuit Fae 2: OUROBOROS. Want to know more about OUROBOROS? Check out the description below…

Description

Syl’s a princess of the fair Fae.

Her girlfriend Rouen is a princess of the dark Fae.

Mortal enemies. Girlfriends.

Relationship status: It’s Complicated

All introverted geek girl Syl Skye wants is to get close to her girlfriend. But when you can kill with a simple touch, a normal date night’s not really in the cards. As it happens, Syl is also a sleeper-princess of the fair Fae. Last year after a freak accident, her power Awakened, granting her white flame to purify the darkness.

Rouen Rivoche is that darkness—a dark Fae princess whose power to bewitch mortals is as terrifying as the violet lightning she controls. Rouen is Syl’s total opposite. Her mortal enemy.

She’s also Syl’s beloved girlfriend.

And even though they joined forces to defeat the evil Circuit Fae who harnessed the killing magic in technology to take over the school…that was so last year.

Now, Syl’s touch could mean Rouen’s death. Her increasing power is spiraling out of control, threatening to burn down everything she and Rouen have built together.

Their lives, their love, their very world.

Win an eBook copy of Ghost Slayer

 Win an eBook copy of Ghost Slayer prior to its release on April 24!

All you have to do to enter is go to the release day event on Facebook, and hopefully drop by (because you’ll have the chance to win many more awesome prizes!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Real Haunted Houses: House of Death

With a name as “House of Death”, you have to do a lot to live up to the expectations. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, the “House of Death” in New York City, located on 14 West 10th Street, has no trouble living up to these expectations.

History

Built in the late 1850s, the brownstone saw its share of famous people passing by, including Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens, who only lived there for about a year, though.

In the late 1900s, the house was converted into several apartments.

An actress named Jan Bryant Bartell and her husband moved into the top floor apartment. Bartell claimed she had several paranormal experiences in the house, including hearing phantom footsteps and voices. Bartell later died in mysterious circumstances. Her experiences involving the house were detailed in her book: “Spindrift: Spray from a Psychic Sea” which was published in 1974, just before she died.

In the late 1980s, criminal defense attorney Joel Steinberg killed his six-year-old, illegally adopted daughter Elizabeth (“Lisa”) in the house.

Ghosts

Apparently, twenty plus ghosts are stalking this home, an astonishing amount. One of these ghosts is Mark Twain, although he only lived in the house for about a year. Multiple inhabitants of the apartments have claimed to see him on the first floor and near staircases in the house. These occurences happened early on in the house’s history, even as far back at the 1930s.

Perhaps the most notorious account of ghosts is the one described by aformentioned actress Bartell in her book. While living in the house, Bartell and her husband were tormented by spirits. Things started out small, with phantom footsteps and disembodied voices. But soon, their pet dog started freaking out, and a phantom grape even appeared on a clean dinner plate, although the couple hadn’t bought grapes in month. The grape was completely shriveled and smelled horribly.

Most unsettling, according to Bartell herself, were the odors that appeared out of nowhere: perfume, and a “rotting miasma” that smelled disgusting.

Bartell and her husband eventually called in a medium, who felt the presence of “something dead” under the floorboards: “a young girl with curly hair, blue eyes and a tiny nose, an aborted child and, of course, a small gray cat”.

Now, I don’t know about you, but those words seem pretty creepy to me. Creepy enough to pack my bags and leave. And that’s exactly what the Bartells did. Bartell herself believed the house had “poisoned her”.

If the house is haunted or not, it certainly seems like a scary location to live, what with all the tragedy, the murder, and the corpses possibly hiding under the floorboards (if you believe the medium the Bartells hired, that is). I wouldn’t want to stay the night, that’s for sure.

Monthly Goals April 2018

So, I have a confession to make. I haven’t been doing that well on my monthly goals each month. I know, I know, I’m sorry!

But, I have been making some progress at least, and some is better than none… right?

Here’s a rundown of my goals for April:

Write two blog posts on my blog per week. Total: 0/8.
Rewrite / Revise Allegro Academy #1, the first book in the Allegro Academy series.
Schedule all posts for this month on the Monster House Books Blog.
Finish writing my reviews for Ind’Tale Magazine (Total: 0/3).
Finish part two of my article, and send to editor.
Write first draft of The Sign of the Serpent , the second book in The Adventures of Marisol Holmes Series.
Prepare for the release of Ghost Slayer on April 24. Yaaaaay!
Do at least 6 newsletter exchanges.
Write my newsletter for the month and send it to subscribers.

What are your goals for htis month?

 

Real Haunted Houses: The Pink Palace

You can’t miss The Pink Palace. Mainly because, as its name suggests, it’s completely pink.

The house can be found on the southern end of St. James Court in Louisville, a street with Victorian mansions lining left and right and with a beautiful park area.

The History

Looking at the architecture of this pink three-story Victorian mansion, it has reminiscents of French Chateaus, including a turret roof and observation windows.

Back in the day, the Pink Palace was a gentleman’s  club and casino, where the Victorian gentlemen came to enjoy cigars and brandy, and play a game of cards.

After being operated as a gentleman’s club for many years, the house was sold to a family who used it as a private residence until 1910. Then, the local chapter of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union bought the mansion and… decided to paint the facade pink.

The house gained its colorful name, The Pink Palace, from that decision.

After this event, numerous other families lived in the house, but it still retains its pink exterior to this day.

The Ghosts

The current and previous owners of the house all claim to have been visited by at least one spirit, nicknamed Alvery, who is a friendly, protecting presence and watches out for the mansion’s inhabitants.

Avery is described as an older, southern gentleman with white hair and a string tie.

As the story goes, one of the inhabitants, a young woman, was takin a bath in the house when Avery appeared. Scared and startled, she jumped out of the tub, just in time because someone had hurled a cement block through the window just above the bathtub. If she’d stayed in the tub, she would’ve been hit.

The story also claims that, minutes before a fire broke out in the kitchen, Avery appeared to other residents of the house, warning them.

People curious about the house can take a look inside here (the article shows various photos of the house’s interior).

If the house is haunted or not is nearly impossible to say, as we’ve only heard stories from residents. The home is a private property and it’s doubtful that paranormal investigators will be allowed to visit. If you do happen to visit and come across a ghost, let us know!

Real Haunted Houses: Sauer Castle

Located at 935 Shawnee Road in Kansas City, the Sauer Castle was once the residence of Anton Sauer. Sauer had married his wife Francesca at age eighteen in Vienna, Austria. They had five children together: Gustave, Anthony Philip, Julius, Emil and Johanna.

In 1858, they decided to move to New York City to be closer to Anton’s mother and sisters who had lived in the area for some time. Francesca passed away in 1868 and due to his condition of tuberculosis worsening over the years, Anton Sauer decided to move his family to Kansas City.

The History – Part One

In Kansas City, Anton Sauer moved into the Sauer Castle. There, he began courting 28-year-old widow Maria Enhellig Messerschmidt, who already had two daughters from a previous marriage: Anna and Maria. Anton married his mistress in 1869 and together, they had five daughters, four of which survived to maturity: Eva Marie, Antoinnette, Josephine and Clara. One infant daughter named Helen passed away at only 14 months of age.

In 1879, Anton passed away in the second floor master bedroom of the house. Mary and the children continued to live there until Mary passed away in 1919 – she committed suicide by hanging.

The History – Part Two

Eve Maria Sauer, the daughter of Maria Einhellig Messerschmidt and Anton Sauer, remained in the house after her mother’s suicide. She first married William C. Van Fossen in the house. They had one child, Helen, before the marriage failed after just 18 months.

After her first failed marriage, Eve Maria married again, this time to widower John S. Perkins, who already had six children of his own. They had three more children together until John committed suicide with a handgun at age 73 because of his inability to deal with his declining health.

Eve Maria and John Perkins’ son, John Harrison Perkins, had an infant daughter drown in the swimming pool on the west side of the house. Nevertheless, John Harrison Perkins stayed with his mother in the house, along with his two sisters, Eva Marie Perkins and Marguerite A. Perkins.

Eve Maria Sauer passed away in 1955.

The History – Part Three

After Eve passed away, the owner of a home heating oil company, Paul Berry, bought the house. He lived in the house until his own death in 1986. But due to ghost stories originating already since the 1930s, the house was constantly trespassed and vandalized.

In 1987, Bud Wyman, his son and daughter in law, Cliff and Cindy Jones, bought the house in hopes of turning it into a bed and breakfast.

When this fell through, the house was purchased by Carl Lopp, great great grandson of Anton Sauer. His intention was to fix up the property and eventually reside there with his family, but this seems to be a difficult task as he hasn’t made much progress yet over the year. The fact that people who believe the ghost stories often come by to trespass and, in worst case scenario, vandalize the house, isn’t really helping either.

The Rumors

As if the reality of two suicides and one drowning isn’t enough to spark up the enthusiasm of many paranormal enthusiasts, for some reason several persistent rumors / legends about this house persist that didn’t happen and aren’t even closely related to the truth, but have still circulated as being the truth for many, many years.

These stories include mentions of murders, buried bodies, treasures, even a secret tunnel. None of this has been proven to be true, though.

The Ghosts

Several witnesses who visited the abandoned property of the years claimed to see lights from the lookout tower, and claimed to hear laughter, crying or shouting coming from the house.

On the widow’s walk, witnesses often report seeing the apparition of a woman (presumed to be one of the Sauer women who once occupied the mansion).

Cindy Jones, one of the last owners of the house, was convinced the place was haunted and even allowed teams of paranormal investigators visit the house.

Is the house haunted or not? One thing is for sure – the property is as good as abandoned, and in its derilict state, it’s doubtful the current owner will allow anyone to properly investigate. Since it is in no way recommend to go on the property without the owner’s permission, it’s anyone’s bet.

Haunted or not, though, it’s a shame that such a beautiful house is in such a state of disrepair.