The Journal

Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Jennifer Meinhardt The ghosts of the Lemp family members are said to haunt the Lemp Mansion, located at 3322 DeMenil Place.

If students know the right places to visit around town this October, they can be in for a real treat - or trick. From downtown to midtown, from Alton to Eureka, there are plenty of spooky joints to appease the Halloween thrill-seeker.
Historical hauntings

Lemp Mansion
3322 DeMenil Place

This house, former home to owners of the Lemp Brewery, has been called one of the top haunted places in the United States by such sources as Time magazine and The Travel Channel.

One by one, the Lemp family members slowly fell from grace and committed suicide throughout the years. Since then, the house has been turned into a popular restaurant and bed and breakfast. Guests claim to have witnessed ghosts of the family members, strange happenings throughout the house and an ever-eery presence of someone lurking in their midsts.

The nationally-renowned Lemp Mansion is one ghostly hot-spot students shouldn't miss out on. The 22nd annual Halloween Party is being held at the mansion from 8 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Oct. 27-28. It will feature an open bar, food, live bands and a costume contest. Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 at the door.
664-8024

Haunted Alton Tours

Just a 45-minute drive away, an evening of haunted thrills awaits visitors who make reservations for a trolley tour through Antoinette's Haunted History Tours of Alton, Ill.

Three tours are still available, all of which make stops at the Alton City Cemetery, the Milton School and the McPike Mansion. Each site has its own history and recorded incidents of "real life" paranormal happenings, such as a kindly formal principal who walks the halls of the Milton School while the ghost of a man who murdered a girl roams the school's basement. In the McPike Mansion, Paul Laichinger, who owned the house after the McPike family has been reportedly seen as well as an apparition of a servant girl named Sarah who smells of lilacs.

The Entity Express tour is from 7 to 10:30 p.m. and involves historical information and spooky exploration of the specific sites. The cost
is $45.

The Eating with the Entities tour is from 6 to 10:30 p.m. and is the same as the Entity Express, but includes a meal at Tony's Restaurant in Alton. The cost is $60.

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