After the untimely death of his son, Frederick, due to heart failure in 1901, and the passing of his best friend (also named Frederick, and the owner of the Pabst Brewing Company) in 1904, the namesake of William J. Lemp Brewing Co. shot himself to death in his home on Feb. 13, 1904. In the next few decades, three of his children would die in the same way. Daughter Elsa killed herself in her own home in 1920, and William J. Lemp, Jr. (in 1922) and Charles Lemp (in 1949) both did so inside the house. According to local legend, the mansion is still haunted to this day and was even featured in a Life magazine list of America’s most haunted houses way back in 1980. One spirit, nicknamed “the monkey-faced boy,” is said to be the ghost of William’s illegitimate son, Zeke, who was born with Down syndrome and hidden away in the attic.
Today, the house is a restaurant, mystery dinner theater, bar, inn, gift shop, and museum.
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