St. Louis is a city full of history, culture, and spooky places.

The citizens of St. Louis often visit haunted locations around the city. Some even claim that their homes have been haunted.

Secretary Cindy Billings told a story about her husband when he was a child and when he was haunted. This story from her husband caused her to become a firm believer in ghosts.
“I think it’s a possibility. My husband grew up in a historic town and for three nights he saw a woman in white. She would be in his room and every night she would slowly get closer to the bed. So they got a person to come in cleanse the place and after that he didn’t see the thing again,” Billings said.

History teacher Carrie Steele teaches a class called History of St. Louis. Steele

said she is a believer in ghosts because she would like to believe that there is more to life and death.

She said she is very fascinated by the haunted perception of St. Louis and knows of all the major haunted locations around the city.

One of the most well-known places in St. Louis for being haunted, and one of the most visited haunted houses in St. Louis, is the Lemp Mansion located by Benton Park.

The Lemps were a family of beer brewers that dominated the beer industry in St. Louis before prohibition. The first tragedy occurred when Frederick Lemp, the favorite son, died in 1901 at age 28. Three years later, William J Lemp killed himself. The daughter, Elsa, also killed herself in her Nuptial home in 1920. William J Jr. also shot himself. His son, William Lemp the Third died of a heart attack. William Jr’s brother Charles also killed himself. Edwin Lemp died of natural causes at the age of 90. All of the Lemps died in the Lemp Mansion. It is said that the house is still haunted by the family to this day.

Art teacher Eric Ludlow said his wife loves haunted places and loves taking him to haunted houses. Ludlow said he isn’t a firm believer in ghosts, but his wife sure is. She often claims to see figures, or objects that other people don’t usually when visiting the haunted location. Ludlow told a story about a trip they went on to the Lemp Mansion.

“Right at the start of the tour we walked across to the next room, which was Billy Lemp, his office, ok? And it’s where he shot himself…but while the guy was talking, my wife said she could see a figure forming behind him. So she told the guy ‘there’s a man and he looks like this’ and she described what he looked like and the guy says she basically described what he looks like. Like exactly,” said Ludlow.

The haunted culture of St. Louis and the many haunted locations captures the attention of many residents looking for a chance to visit a haunted house or to see some haunted history of the city.

“Lemp Mansion is consistently in the top 10 haunted places in the United States,” said Ludlow.

Another place that is haunted in St. Louis, specifically in Ladue, is Laughing Lakes. People have claimed to have seen abnormal things while at the lakes, which is why it’s said to be haunted. It is not as well known as Lemp Mansion, but the lake was also a popular haunted attraction that ended up being destroyed a number of years ago.

“After hearing some of the creepy things that happened in the past, I was hype to see if I could go to Laughing Lakes. I got really mad when I heard that it got destroyed and that I couldn’t go there,” said freshman Heidi Wright.

Eric Ludlow has been to the houses near where Laughing Lake used to be.

“ You have to go at midnight when there’s a full moon. There’s a long driveway that goes back to a couple of different houses. There was a lake back there. You walk back and you walk right up to this garage. The legend is that three babies drowned in the lake. If you go at midnight during a full moon on the garage doors, on the huge full length of the garage doors, there were three baby heads.”