Customer Reviews

Ghosts of St. Louis: The Lemp Mansion and Other Eerie Tales

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked this book up shortly before Halloween, in keeping with the season and thinking that it would be an interesting read. The majority of the book is devoted to the story of the Lemp family and the present day Lemp Mansion. I have dined at the Lemp Mansion on many enjoyable occasions and am familiar with its history.

The rise and fall of the Lemp family makes for a very engrossing story, especially since one can visit the restored Lemp Mansion in St. Louis to this very day. It is presently open to the public as a restaurant and bed and breakfast. Tours are offered, as well as dinner theatre, and it is also a popular place for wedding receptions, etc. The Lemp Mansion gained national notoriety in November of 1980 when it was included in a LIFE Magazine feauture of America's most haunted houses. (For those who don't know, three former owners of the mansion, all members of the Lemp family, committed suicide within the house. A fourth member of the Lemp family also apparently committed suicide, although not at the same location.)

Initially, I was disappointed with the purchase. As another reviewer has noted, the book is loaded with typos and the writing seems somewhat awkward at times. I found this to be distracting. A good editor could have really cleaned things up. However, it was the inconsistent or inaccurate information presented therein that really bothered me.

Case in point: On page 22, the author states "The problems with William began with his son. He had two, actually, and they were William, Jr. and Frederick." This is misleading in that William Lemp, Sr. had eight children - five sons and three daughters. It leads to confusion later on in the story when all the "extra" brothers keep coming out of the woodwork.

Another example of this careless fact checking occurs on page 28, when the author asserts that "Lillian was not a very tall woman. According to account, she was only four-feet-two inches tall." By most accounts, Lillian Handlan Lemp was 4 feet 11 inches tall - tiny, but still nine inches taller than the author gave her credit for!

That having been said, the story of the Lemp family as presented by the author was still very compelling and was told with real feeling. His enthusiasm for the subject seemed sincere and was almost contagious. Had I not already visited the place, I would have probably done so immediately! I appreciated that fact that the author actually toured the mansion, and spent the night there (this makes him braver than I am). He writes in depth about his experiences and includes a photograph taken of himself in the mansion with an orb - a ball of light said to indicate a supernatural presence - on page 98.

The book finishes by touching on several other haunted places in and around the St. Louis area, and concludes with a "Guide for Urban Explanation" and a "Glossary and Equipment List."

All in all, it was an absorbing read. I would encourage anyone who plans on being in the St. Louis area to check out the Lemp Mansion's excellent food, and mysterious history. I would also recommend Stephen P. Walker's "Lemp: The Haunting History" for an even more indepth account of the Lemp family history.

My husband picked this up for me since I grew up in Webster Groves, MO very close to the "haunted house on Plant." I can appreciate that the author loves the subject and enjoyed doing the research but I was too distracted by his writing to enjoy the book. His sentences were short and simple, it was like I was reading a grade school level essay. He repeated facts throughout the book, sometimes doing so in the same paragraph. There were also typos. It's unfortunate that he didn't have access to a good publisher/editor because he just couldn't pull this off on his own.

MY FAMILY AND I JUST COULDN'T PUT THIS BOOK DOWN. THIS AUTHOR HAS A UNIQUE AND BELIEVABLE STYLE OF WRITING. HE SEES THIS SUBJECT JUST LIKE ANY READERS WOULD. HE MAKES YOU FEEL THAT YOU ARE EXPERIENCING THE PHENOMENA THAT HE HIMSELF EXPERIENCED AND THEN WROTE ABOUT. HE IS TRULY AN NOTEWORTHY AUTHOR TO BE WATCHED FOR FUTURE PIECES IN THIS CLASS OF WRITING. THANKS B. ALASPA FOR THE INVESTMENT OF MY TIME READING YOUR BOOK, IT HAS GIVEN ME MUCH ENJOYMENT!

Excellent book:) If you like ghosts stories, you'll love this book. Author has a unique way of telling his visions and thoughts, that it will be hard for you to put this book down !

My family was with the author the night he stayed at the Lemp Mansion and I found myself reliving the entire experience through his very detailed description of the evening's events - a very entertaining read.

This is a must read for all ghost story lovers. Alaspa's writing and story-telling skills are top notch; it kept me entertained from front to back cover and made me feel like I was really there. I can't wait to read his future works.

I found Alaspa's style compelling and the stories fascinating. I would highly recommend this book for anyone hoping to find a late night chill in the St. Louis air.

I enjoyed this book so much that I went online to find more of this author's works and have started to read "The Sin Eater". I'm looking forward to many more works.

Loved the history of the places and people in the book. As someone that also has spent the night at the Lemp Mansion, enjoyed the author recanting his experiences!

I would agree with the large number of reviewers who stated that the author was badly in need of a reviewer to have helped him "wordcraft" his writing. Also, as noted, the style of writing was, at best, basic. The shame is that the book did contain excellent factual material, but this often became lost in the myriad of construction errors. My wife and I read this book immediately before staying at the Lemp Mansion, and the history of the Lemp's and the mansion was interesting. This book was a great idea that became lost in errors.

The author's in-depth description of his night at the mansion was compelling. Very brave!