By Amannda G. Maphies, Missouri Magazine
Stephen Walker is a proud native St. Louisan. His interests include architecture, history, writing, acting, to name just a few. However, it was his visit to The Lemp Mansion in 1982 that truly captured an interest that shaped the trajectory of his future. Walker dove into the history of the Lemp Family, the brewing legacy, the multiple suicides, the macabre history and haunting present, so much so that he looked down one day, with a box full of newspaper clippings, article notes, photos, and thought, “I could write a book on this topic.”
And that is exactly what he did. Stephen Walker’s book, Lemp: The Haunting History, was born after nearly a decade of in-depth research, interviews, digging, and composing. It is this book in which Stephen Walker will lecture in the second installment of the Jefferson National Parks Association Speaking Series at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 18th in the Rotunda Room of the original St. Louis Courthouse.
The Lemp Mansion would be an easy rabbit hole in which to escape. It has a fascinating history, something of interest to nearly everyone. After the Lemp Family, local brewery tycoons in St. Louis, suffered the effects of prohibition and their business went bankrupt, the family endured several deaths by suicide. Once the Lemp Legacy was exhausted, the home went into disrepair and became property of the Missouri Highway Department.
When Interstate 55 was developed, it cut through a portion of the former Lemp property. One carriage house was destroyed in the construction of the highway system. Fortunately, owners of a nearby mansion-turned-museum on the historic register convinced the state to go around the second carriage house on their adjoining property and in so doing, the Lemp Mansion was saved from impending destruction, and history was allowed to continue telling her story for future generations. The Pointer Family purchased the Lemp Mansion in 1976. They renovated and restructured the mansion to the glory it is today, which includes a bed and breakfast, paranormal tourist attraction, restaurant, bar, giftshop, and historic jewel located in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri.
“My interest in the Lemp family began as a hobby. That hobby turned into an obsession and thus, a book was born,” says Walker. Walker reminisced about visiting the Lemp Mansion for a Sunday fried chicken lunch one day and was in awe of the mansion itself, the dark history, the rumors of hauntings, and the folks simultaneously drawn inside the historic brick walls of this historic St. Louis icon. While he was first exposed to the popular ghost stories abounding from the Lemp Mansion, after years of research, interviewing bartenders on site, waiters, those that stayed in the bed and breakfast, and even distant family members, his curiosity turned from that of chilling paranormal accounts to the concrete and morbid history in which his years of research uncovered.
Walker has always been fascinated by the paranormal. As a child, living in Illinois, the detailed structure of churches built in the 1600s stood out to him. Attending Catholic School, his classmates often shared stories involving ghostly apparitions and unexplainable sounds from deep within the walls of the archaic churches. As an altar boy, Walker was expected to be at church at 5:30 a.m. for mass on Sundays. Being one of the first in the church, he recalls the dark, foreboding aisles and hallways he encountered. Coupled with the imagination of a young child, he described the simultaneous measure of curiosity and fear as a roller coaster he never wanted to end. It was this early childhood experience that triggered Walker’s awareness of the vast element that falls under the category of ‘that which cannot be explained’.
Walker’s book is comprised of thirteen chapters, a notable number for those familiar with the paranormal world. The first twelve chapters focus on the history of the Lemp Family. Their brewing industry, how prohibition affected their livelihood, the tragedy that befell the family early on and the subsequent suicides that resulted. The last chapter offers that which ghost hunters undoubtedly seek – a deep dive into the haunted history of the Lemp Mansion. With as much tragedy as this house has seen in its lifetime, there is more than enough fodder for some truly chilling ghost stories. “Sudden violent death is the perfect recipe for a haunting and with three suicides, this mansion has definitely seen its share of trauma,” says Walker. “I liken the bulk of the book to eating a meal, with the last chapter dedicated to the haunted history, as the dessert. The ghost stories serve as the cherry atop the sundae of historical fact found in preceding chapters,” shares the proud book parent, Stephen Walker.
The bulk of Walker’s research was done in the 1980s, before Google, AI, search engines, and the ease of modern-day research was born. Walker had to do things the old-fashioned way. Pounding the pavement, perusing local libraries, frequenting museums, scheduling interviews, listening to the harrowing ghost stories of those that worked or stayed at The Lemp Mansion. “I am not a paranormal researcher; I simply listened to the tales of those that had experienced things they could not explain,” says Walker. Walker found that when interviewing one fellow researcher, it would lead to another and another. He collected years’ worth of memorabilia and learned as he continued along this rabbit trail of Lemp legacy. “It became a bottomless well of interest for me,” says Walker.
“I did not start out to write a book”, shares Walker, “my hobby simply turned to an obsession and after eight years of effort, I realized I had enough material to share. A book seemed the natural way to do that.” As a college graduate with a degree in graphic design, Walker proves that sometimes life takes us in a different direction. “My interests are different than my college degree,” says Walker. The graphic design education did help with the design and layout for his book.
Walker recalled his first book signing. The book was published in 1989. A local St. Louis radio station, KMOX, an a.m. frequency, had a morning drive-time show with Bruce Bradley. Bradley did book reviews and interviewed local authors for his show. Walker thought this would be the perfect way to publicize his book.
After receiving several large boxes of inventory in his small St. Louis apartment, he realized he had no clue how to market and sell the printed books. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” says Walker. In a divinely providential idea, he signed a book, attached a note of interest to share his book on the morning drive-time show with Bruce Bradley, and dropped it off with the security guard at the KMOX radio station. The rest, in a story-worthy twist of fate, is history.
Bradley called Walker the next day and invited him to be a guest on his morning radio show. This happened to be toward the end of the year, with October being the perfect time to release a non-fictional account of a haunted mansion. The radio interview led to a book signing at a coffee shop on Cherokee Street in downtown St. Louis.
After the radio show and first book signing, which was well attended, Walker engaged in an official signing at The Lemp Mansion. It was three weeks later, during the dead of winter, snow and ice painting the outside world in a treacherous winter storm, “yet hundreds of people were lined up down the sidewalk of the mansion to get a signed copy of my book,” shares Walker, who was as humbly surprised as he was grateful for the prior publicity. “The Lemp Family offers a shred of interest for everyone,” says Walker. Whether you are a ghost enthusiast, interested in beer brewing history, or perhaps a macabre family history buff, there is so much to discover from the Lemp family.
The Lemp Mansion has been featured on several television shows, including Ghost Hunters, Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State/Ghost Hunters International Crossover and the local Show Me St. Louis, to name just a few. The haunted history of the Lemp Mansion was showcased in a 1980s issue of Life Magazine’s Most Haunted Houses in America, which served to put the mansion on the national map.
Walker felt fortunate to be selected for two interviews by the Travel Channel and the Food Network. An affiliate wanted to sell two separate videos to different stations. One was for a haunted hotel feature and the other for a haunted restaurant, both of which the Lemp Mansion offers in spades. Walker was told to bring a change of clothing for the filming, so it did not appear he was interviewed on the same day, despite that fact that he was interviewed on the same day.
Walker still visits the mansion a couple of times a month. He and his wife enjoy the popular Sunday all-you-care-to-eat family style chicken dinners that have been offered for several years. Walker’s book, Lemp: The Haunting History, is available for sale in the gift shop at the Lemp Mansion. Signed books will be available at Walker’s speaking engagement this Sunday, October 18th, and can be found on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
Walker started a roundtable on the third Friday of each month at the mansion. A different topic is selected for each get-together. It has garnered much interest. The upcoming roundtable topic will center on Edwin Lemp, who retired from the Lemp family business in his 30s, saying he had all the money he needed. He moved to Cragwold, an estate in Kirkwood, Missouri, overlooking the mysterious and breathtaking bluffs of the Meramec River, where he lived until his death in 1970. Edwin was a known lover of nature and collector of wildlife. He worked with a zoo director to establish the St. Louis Zoo. A man of many talents and affluent means, he dabbled as a gourmet chef, world traveler, and antique hunter.
While no future books are on Walker’s radar, he is working on a uniquely creative project. He has developed a series of one-person plays. The first, which debuted in 2025, was Billy Lemp Tonight. Walker hired an actor to play Lemp’s character, who comes to life in period clothing and speaks about his life and death in the Lemp Legacy. “The audience found this concept fascinating,” says Walker, evidenced by the fact that Billy Lemp Tonight ran for ten productions. The one-person plays take place in in the cellar of the Lemp Mansion. There is a room set up similar to a theater, which seats 75 people. One end of the narrow rectangular room contains a stage which is the perfect atmosphere for Walker’s one-person plays.
The next installment will be Lillian Speaks, in honor of Lillian Lemp’s 150th birthday in April 2027. Lillian is the infamous Lavendar Lady who was married to Billy Lemp and known to roam the halls of the Lemp Mansion today. Walker is currently auditioning actresses for his second one-person play. “This is an enjoyable way to learn history. I want to tell history in a personal way, which makes it more compelling to the listener,” says Walker.
The one-person plays offer a new dimension, an offshoot from the book. “It is a different approach to telling history,” says Walker, “which has been well-received.” Walker is curious to see if Lillian Speaks will rival the ten productions of Billy Lemp Tonight. “We will continue to offer these one-person plays as long as the demand warrants,” says Walker. No definitive dates for Lillian are scheduled, but readers are welcome to check https://www.lempmansion.com/
for information as Billy and Lillian become scheduled.
Make every effort to attend Stephen Walker’s lecture on the Lemp Legacy on Sunday, October 18th at 2:00 p.m. in the Rotunda of the historic Old Courthouse. More information can be found here: https://www.jnpa.com/751/speakers.htm.