Show full transcript 0:40 to help create an affordable price 0:42 so you can get back to cracking 0:43 all of life's bigger cases. 0:45 Talk to a State Farm agent today 0:47 to learn how you can choose to bundle 0:49 and save with the Personal Price Plan. 0:52 Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. 0:54 Head to statefarm.com to get a quote. 0:56 Prices are based on rating plans 0:58 that vary by state, coverage options are selected by the customer, availability, 1:02 amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state. 1:06 Here's one holiday mystery officially solved. What to get the man in your life. The Old Space 1:12 Holiday Gift Pack is that perfect gift that he's actually going to use. It's also a great value 1:18 since each ready-to-gift pack includes four, one, two, three, four honey, full-size products. 1:24 There's a deodorant, body wash, body spray, and a shampoo. Choose from scents including 1:29 swagger, cedarwood scent, and Fiji's palm tree and coconut scent. 1:35 Old Spice makes holiday shopping easy, leaving more time for building that epic backyard snow 1:40 fort. I'm obsessed with that. I will absolutely be putting this in Drew's stocking. 1:44 Buy Old Spice holiday packs for a limited time to give the gift of scent this holiday season. 1:50 Hey, weirdos, I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this right here is Morbid. 2:10 Morbid. 2:11 What the fuck is up, Kyle? 2:12 We're back to Spooky's. 2:14 It's Percussism. 2:16 Percussism. 2:16 Percussism. 2:19 And we're glad you're all loving the last few weird episodes. 2:23 It was some of the most fun we've ever had. 2:25 It truly was, but I'm glad it's coming across that way. 2:28 I know. 2:29 It was unhinged. 2:30 I left that was such a whirlwind of a day because we traveled to New York to record that yeah 2:36 Like back and forth in one day, and it was one of the coolest days. I've ever lived it really was yeah 2:42 I loved it. It was great. He's we're gonna make him come back. Yeah, I think he was okay with coming back 2:48 I think he wants to come back to do like something like true crime or like weird history with us 2:52 Yeah, he wants to do like a spooky thing. I think we should totally do that so we'll we'll see you then 2:58 See you then Matthew. That was lovely. Thanks for coming. We shall meet in New York once again 3:03 It really was it was the most fun we've had I think it really long time 3:07 That's like one of my favorite episodes we've ever produced. Yeah, I think and it was nice to see that people who are not 3:13 Drawn to guest episodes actually enjoyed a lot of people said it's their favorite episode 3:18 Yeah, they don't usually watch a guest episode. So maybe it'll entice you to watch a couple other ones 3:23 Okay, give them a chance. We honestly we have a lot of fucking fun with our guests 3:27 We do. 3:28 I know guest podcasts can be tough. 3:30 Like sometimes you're not always familiar with the person 3:33 or maybe you're like just not a fan of them. 3:35 But yeah, I've listened to other podcasts in the past 3:38 where I've just like given it a chance 3:39 and I've become a fan of someone 3:41 who I previously didn't really know about. 3:43 Yeah, you know, it can be done right. 3:45 Yeah, and we'll get Matthew as we'll make him a regular. 3:50 How yeah, we'll force it. 3:51 We have to if we have to. 3:53 Yeah. 3:53 But it seems like he was down too. 3:55 I think so. 3:56 I don't I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship. Do you know what is the a beautiful not even a beautiful ending? 4:04 Oh, they're getting rid of Mama Celeste Pizza. I 4:08 I don't even know if I'm ready to talk about this 4:10 No, I have to talk about it because I might need to go to therapy over it 4:13 Yeah, I and I'm gonna name this man who was the CEO who decided to get rid of this 4:20 I looked it up earlier. Are you guys? 4:22 are you guys fans of Mama Celeste's pizzas? 4:25 The little frozen pizzas, freezer pizzas. 4:28 They're so good. 4:29 They're fucking great. 4:30 They put them in the microwave for like four minutes 4:32 on that little foil plate. 4:35 And John Braze, the CEO of Something Brands, 4:39 why did you choose that, sir? 4:41 Yeah, no, like I want to know. 4:43 Call me. 4:44 Because. 4:45 Call me. 4:46 It's bullshit. 4:47 I will personally fund putting them back on shows. 4:50 I will make this my life's work. 4:53 This is a travesty? 4:54 I ordered 15 today. 4:56 I've actually gotten a fight with my husband 4:58 because he was like, are you fucking kidding me? 5:01 We have no room in the freezer for these. 5:03 And I said, then we'll buy a new freezer. 5:05 And he said, we're just gonna buy a new freezer. 5:07 And I said, yeah, Drew, we're gonna buy a new freezer 5:10 for my Mama Celeste and that's enough. 5:13 We made up and now I have 15 Mama Celeste pizzas. 5:16 And he said, he'll get me a freezer for them. 5:18 This is serious. 5:20 Yeah. 5:21 This is so serious. 5:23 I'm being so legit right now. 5:25 I'm being too legit to quit. 5:27 So legit, and I shunt quit. 5:29 No, I'm really upset about it. 5:31 Every week I might buy 15 because that was the other thing. 5:34 Drew goes, Ash, they're discontinuing in 2027. 5:37 I said, do you know how soon that is? 5:38 Do you know how soon that is? 5:40 And there was a few stores I couldn't even find them at. 5:43 I had to go to like a random road grocery store. 5:46 Yeah, I'm saying. 5:47 They're already selling out. 5:49 Yeah, I'm not pleased about it. 5:51 I rue the day that John decided, that CEO John decided to ruin my life. 5:55 CEO John, we're not happy with you. 5:57 No. In fact, one might say we're really angry with you. 6:00 Truly though, CEO John, have your people, call my people. 6:04 We can work this out. 6:05 Like how do we keep going to say CEO John? 6:07 Just in case. 6:08 Not Alina's John. 6:09 He would not mad about him. 6:10 Never make the decision. 6:11 He would never. 6:12 Does he think Elio's a supreme? 6:15 Yeah, he does. 6:16 And Drew said that at the same time, but he understands my love of Celeste 6:20 Drew understands my love of Celeste now 6:22 I literally we were I was willing to get in a fight about it my full allegiance is to Celeste 6:26 Drew was like I'm not home and you just had 15 pizzas delivered and I said well you better get home then yeah 6:32 Because they're also they're super cheap. Oh my god. You can get a million of them 6:36 That's the thing the beauty of mama Celeste and I'll continue to oh my god. We gotta have one for lunch 6:41 You bought ten right? 6:43 What what? 6:43 Elena was just so pissed about it that she kicked a cocky across the room. 6:45 I kicked over my coffee. 6:47 Matthew Lillard interview was great. 6:50 Megyn Kelly's a bitch. 6:51 Megyn Kelly's a bitch! 6:53 Fuck Megyn Kelly. 6:55 Fuck Megyn Kelly. 6:56 Fuck Megyn Kelly. 7:00 That's what I- 7:01 She doesn't even deserve to be a Megyn. 7:03 She's a Megyn. 7:04 Yeah she sucks ass. 7:06 Fuck you. 7:06 Fuck Megyn. 7:07 if anybody is following the Cornell case, 7:09 which you all should be, 7:11 she just came out and said some fuck shit. 7:13 Honestly, if anyone is alive and breathing, 7:15 then you know that Meg and Kelly 7:16 is just a complete piece of shit. 7:18 Like she has the worst takes I have ever seen. 7:22 Some of the takes on, 7:23 obviously her takes are always shit, 7:25 but these takes, I'm like, 7:27 can you just stop fucking talking? 7:29 Yeah, they're always, she's a rage baiter. 7:32 She knows how to get people up 7:33 and we're playing right into her fucking hands. 7:36 I know, but I have to. 7:37 But I had to say it because she just loves pissing people off. 7:41 Yeah, fuck her. 7:42 Yeah, fear. 7:43 I don't think we're meant to be friends 7:46 if you were listening to Megan Kelly. 7:48 When I worked at the salon, there was three different locations. 7:52 In one location in particular, this woman would always tell me 7:55 that I looked like Megan Kelly. 7:56 And I would be like, why do you make me suffer so? 7:58 Yeah, and you don't? 7:59 I don't look anything like Megan Kelly. 8:01 Not one part of you actually looks like Megan Kelly? 8:03 I was alarmed. 8:04 Oh, there you go. 8:05 So it's that whole thing that's just all blogs look the same. 8:08 She was like, oh my god, Maga Barbie. 8:09 And I was like, not me, babe. 8:11 That that ain't me. 8:11 Could never be me. 8:12 I was like, I'm actually a lesbian right now. 8:18 I'm actually a lesbian right now. 8:20 So thank you. 8:21 Thank you. 8:24 Put that on a shirt. 8:26 I'm actually a lesbian right now. 8:32 Damn, not me choking on my own emphysema. 8:36 I'm so sick right now. 8:38 That was one of the things during the interview 8:41 was we were laughing so hard 8:42 and we were both coming off of a cold. 8:44 I was starting mine. 8:45 When you were starting your cold, 8:46 that I think it was just us hacking. 8:49 That edit must have been, whew. 8:50 Hopefully we didn't get Matthew Lillard sick. 8:52 Yeah, if you're sick, I'm sorry, but. 8:53 Sorry, Matt. 8:55 We might have made him sick. 8:57 I know, we've been sick for days, weeks. 9:00 Yes, please. 9:02 Anyways, what do you got for me today, Big Red? 9:04 Oh, we have the haunting of Lemp Mansion. 9:06 Ooh, I think I've heard of this. 9:08 Yeah, this is crazy. 9:10 It's gonna, cause it's not just the haunting part, 9:12 that's at the end. 9:13 It's what leads up to it, what creates the haunt. 9:15 That's the real life. 9:16 That's the thing. 9:17 This family, it was, seems like there was a little bit 9:21 of a curse here happening. 9:22 Oh, I love a curse. 9:23 Yeah, it's not good for them. 9:25 I don't want a curse, but I love a curse. 9:27 I love learning about a curse. 9:29 Yes, yes. 9:30 So this, we're talking about beer. 9:33 Ew, just beer. 9:34 I don't really like beer, bro. 9:35 You know, no thank you breweries, which are it's a really hard word to say brewery is a hard word to say because you just got 9:43 You have to slur through it, which might be by design. I think we just figured that out 9:48 Yeah, that's by design because you can just like 9:51 Until next bro, let's go to the next 9:55 Yeah, so let's begin at the beginning. Okay, that's a good place. Um when Johann Adam 10:02 Lemp, left Germany for the United States in 1838. 10:07 He had a very simple plan. 10:09 1838. 10:11 We were thinking two different things 10:13 because you said that. 10:14 I did. 10:15 And I was thinking he had a simple plan 10:16 and I was gonna be like, not. 10:19 Wait, oh my God. 10:20 I do anything. 10:21 Thank you. 10:22 I almost just went Blink 182 with it and. 10:24 Yeah. 10:25 I'm remiss. 10:26 That's okay. 10:26 I'm sick. 10:26 It was a lot of those bands. 10:28 There was, there was. 10:29 I loved simple plan. 10:31 Simple plan was great simple plan was so fun. I'm bouncing off the walls again. No fuck me. Yeah, all right. I'm gonna leave 10:40 Jesus Christ, it's okay 10:42 You weren't you weren't cognizant enough in that era. No, you were just driving me around in the back 10:48 Yeah, yeah, I'm like, yeah kind of music like that era 10:53 Yeah, so we'll forgive you. Thank you. But yeah, he had a simple plan not the band 10:57 he just had a legit plan. 10:59 He was gonna bring German beer to the American people. 11:02 I think the Americans to this day are quite appreciative. 11:05 We thank him for it, I suppose. 11:07 At first, Lemp found work as a grocer 11:10 on the south side of St. Louis, St. Louis. 11:12 I'll just say St. Louis, don't worry. 11:14 Where he sold his beer. 11:16 And by 1940, his beer had become so popular 11:19 that he was able to leave the store behind 11:21 and focus solely on brewing. 11:24 Wow. 11:24 Brewering. 11:25 Brewing. 11:25 Brewing. 11:26 Brewing that year he found you know a suitable location to start the brewery, which he named Western Brewing nice 11:33 One of the keys to his success was the cave system that ran under the city. Oh 11:40 That's actually really interesting 11:42 It really is because it provides a perfect environment to complete the necessary 11:46 Loggering phase of beer, you know that they actually talked about this on the housewives of SLC 11:51 I did not know you can go to a cave 11:54 Yeah, no they go to like a cave in Missouri, and I maybe they talk about this story 11:59 I can't remember but it's like good for beer. Yeah, you do the loggering phase 12:03 That's basically allowing it to rest undisturbed in a really cold temperature for long periods of time cool 12:08 And a cave is perfect for that. Yeah, so there you go 12:11 I do that in my fridge with my sourdough. I do that like with my body most of the times just go in a cave 12:17 I 12:18 Wasn't sure and just rest undisturbed 12:21 I wasn't sure where you were gonna go with that, but okay, I like it. It's what I want to do 12:25 I should say yeah hibernation. I know I sure I don't do that, but I would love to let's give it a try 12:30 Just go into a cave like a bear. Do you know what I actually want to do? 12:34 So I'm I'm all over the place today, and I'm sorry to interrupt your story like this 12:37 Okay, I'd like to go to the salt caves. Oh, yeah, and lay in the salt 12:41 Lay it's supposed to be really good for your body. Yachty. All right 12:44 So if you want to go into a cave, we could kill two birds with one stone 12:48 And together we could go to the salt caves awesome and another quick little detour because it's gonna be it be like that 12:55 Okay, it's a day and we're I'm not even on cough medicine, but I feel like I am and I probably should be yeah 13:01 We're just you know 13:03 One of my children found out that that saying recently kill two birds with one stone and we're 13:10 Horrified by it. It's a pretty shitty does not understand how that's I said it and they were like that's horrific 13:15 Why would you ever say that? 13:16 And I was like, no, it's a saying. 13:18 Ma gets really mad if you say that? 13:19 Have you ever said that to her? 13:20 She's like, don't say that. 13:21 And I'm like, I didn't make it up. 13:22 Yeah, it's, I didn't make it up. 13:24 And I don't, I don't even approve of it really. 13:26 It's just sometimes fits the situation 13:28 because it's like, I have a whole murder of crow bros 13:31 that like, I'm very serious about. 13:34 Drew is coming for your neck. 13:36 What? 13:36 Drew is coming for your neck. 13:37 Is he getting crow bros? 13:38 He's getting crow bros. 13:39 He gets ours at night for some reason, which is strange 13:41 but he put out peanuts for them. 13:43 Yeah, that's what I'm giving them next. 13:44 Yeah, well you're in a competition make sure they're unsalted. I'll tell them. Yeah, don't come salted. I'll tell him 13:51 It'll hurt them. I think they were I don't I have no idea. I was gonna say. I think they were but 13:56 My man's who knows. Yeah, I got seven row bros right now. My murder is expanding damn. Yep 14:04 So I also hate that saying I like that we're in a crow race. Yeah, I like that you and drew anyway 14:09 I mean I'm really not part of this 14:12 Anyway, just watching from afar. 14:14 So within four years, 14:15 Western Brewing was one of the top producers of beer 14:18 and Adam Lemp was able to move his operation 14:20 to a bigger facility that was closer to the caves 14:23 where they stored the beer. 14:25 A few years later, in 1848, Adam brought his son, William, 14:29 from Germany to begin learning the trade 14:31 because he was like, 14:32 you're gonna take over the business someday. 14:34 Hell yeah. 14:34 Whether it was the addition of William 14:36 or it just happened to coincide with his arrival, 14:38 The decade that followed proved to be very prosperous for Western brewing. 14:43 By the time he died in 1862, Adam Lemp's estate was estimated at $20,000, which would 14:49 be $800,000 in 2026. 14:52 That's a good chunk of money right there. 14:54 Yeah, making him one of the wealthiest men in St. Louis, if not the entire Midwest 14:58 at the time. 14:59 Humble brag. 15:00 Now, at the time of his father's death, William had enlisted in the U.S. Army, 15:04 but Adam's death was sufficient cause for him to be discharged to return home to his wife and daughter in St. Louis. 15:11 So now fully in charge of the brewery, William had big plans to expand the company 15:16 way beyond what even his dad had imagined. Because to William 15:19 it seemed wasteful to spend all that time transferring the beer from the brewery to the caves for loggering. 15:25 So he decided to move the brewery to the caves. That's a sick idea. Yeah. With the brewing operation above ground in the caves below. 15:34 That's really smart. 15:35 Really smart. 15:36 Between 1862 and 1886, 15:38 William increased the brewery's output 15:40 from 26,000 per year to 300,000 per year. 15:44 Wow. 15:45 With sales exceeding $3 million, 15:47 which is roughly $106 million in 2026. 15:52 Motherfucker was an entrepreneur. 15:54 Yeah, he went for it. 15:56 Shark Tank would have loved his ass. 15:58 It's true. 15:59 Now by 1890, William and his wife Julia had nine children. 16:03 That's a lot of kids. 16:04 That's a lot of kids. 16:05 Holy shit. 16:05 Ensuring that by the time, you know, when the time came, there would be someone to hand 16:10 over the business to, nine-someones. 16:13 By then, William had built what would become known as the Lemp Mansion, an extravagant 16:17 two-story home with access to the brewery via the caves below. 16:21 Cool. 16:22 Two years after building their massive home, William made another significant change. 16:26 He rebranded the company as the William J. Lemp Brewing Company, or simply Lemp 16:32 Brewing. 16:32 Alright. 16:43 The Hulu original series, Phony, is coming to Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus October 20th. 16:49 Sunny's life is pretty great, until he wakes up from a car accident to a world that looks 16:53 exactly like his, with one exception, his mom. 16:57 Starring five-time Emmy nominee Connie Britton and Sam Nevola, this small town is hiding 17:02 the mother of all mysteries just beneath the surface. 17:05 Watch the Hulu original series, Phony, on October 20th, streaming on Hulu and 17:09 on Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers terms apply. 17:14 Every good detective needs a partner 17:15 to support them on important cases. 17:18 Think of a state farm agent like your sidekick 17:20 there to help you along the way 17:22 in your search for coverage. 17:23 State Farm can help you choose the coverage you need 17:26 whether it's for your home, car, boat, or even RV. 17:30 With so many options, it's nice knowing 17:32 you have help finding what fits for you 17:34 so you can get back to solving 17:35 all of life's bigger cases. 17:37 Go to statefarm.com or use the award-winning app to connect with a local agent and get a quote. 17:44 Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. 17:46 As a former stylist, I have seen a lot of types of hair damage and there's all different kinds. 17:51 There's over-processed, overheated. 17:54 My clients were always like, girl, what can you do? 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First, 18:59 Here's the long quality hair repair. 19:00 It's actually Pantene. 19:07 Now, by the late 1800s, William decided it was time to start planning to hand the businesses 19:12 down to his sons. 19:13 He wanted to start thinking about retiring. 19:15 Although William Sr. would remain president of the company, the bulk of the responsibilities 19:20 were handed down to his son, Billy, who would be named vice president. 19:24 I'm nervous because did you know that it's a thing that the third generation 19:28 of a family business usually fucks it up? 19:31 Really? 19:31 Yeah. 19:32 Yeah, I didn't know that. 19:32 It's a thing. 19:34 That's interesting, I didn't know that. 19:36 Well, as the oldest in the family, 19:38 it seemed pretty natural for Billy 19:39 to take over that next in line position. 19:42 But it was his youngest son, Frederick, 19:45 why, quote, widely known to have been William's favorite, 19:48 who he had hoped would take over his legacy. 19:51 Oh no, this is giving succession. 19:53 And it's also giving SK Pierce. 19:55 Oh, it is giving SK Pierce, yeah. 19:57 Unfortunately, Frederick had been born with health 19:59 problems and wasn't able to meet the demands of running a company, so he was named assistant 20:04 superintendent. Okay. To the regional manager? Exactly. Now, in the fall of 1901, Frederick 20:11 Lemp traveled to California with his wife and daughter, and he's the youngest, remember? Okay. 20:16 Seeking new and experimental treatments for what was described as, quote, complications of the 20:21 heart. That December, William and Julia visited Frederick and left confident, 20:26 I'm pretty confident that Frederick's health was improving. 20:29 But just a few days after they arrived in St. Louis, 20:33 William and Julia received the tragic news 20:35 that Frederick's health had taken a dramatic turn 20:38 and on December 12th, he died. 20:40 Oh my God, that's really awful. 20:42 Now the news came as a shock for William 20:44 and he was like completely destabilized 20:47 because you're not supposed to die before you could. 20:49 No. 20:50 Or your kid's not supposed to die before you. 20:52 Like that's not supposed to happen. 20:55 The Lemp Company secretary, Henry Volkamp, 20:58 said suddenly the grief of the father was most pathetic. 21:01 Oh, which I was like, okay, Henry. 21:04 I guess you can use the word pathetic to be like so, so sad. 21:08 It has bitchy undertones. 21:10 But then he followed that up by saying 21:12 he broke down utterly and cried like a child. 21:15 Okay. 21:15 It was the first death in the family. 21:17 He took it so seriously that we feared 21:19 it would completely shatter his health 21:20 and looked for the worst to happen. 21:22 and I'm like, okay, Henry, you're really helpful 21:24 in this situation. 21:25 Maybe let your dad grieve. 21:26 Maybe get anybody around you that's not Henry Volcamp 21:30 when somebody dies. 21:31 Yeah, evidently. 21:32 Because Henry's gonna make you feel bad about it. 21:33 He sure will. 21:34 He's gonna make you feel really bad 21:35 about having feelings. 21:36 Like, oh, why are you crying like a little bitch? 21:37 It's just your son that died. 21:39 Henry would be my kryptonite 21:40 because I already feel bad about having feelings 21:43 and he would be like, you are pretty pathetic. 21:45 And I'd be like, I am. 21:46 Like, he would ruin me. 21:47 That's true. 21:47 That would not be good. 21:48 Yeah, he would ruin me. 21:49 That's not good. 21:50 He'd set you back decades. 21:50 He would, I can't be around Henry Volkamp. 21:52 Good thing he's probably dead. 21:54 Good thing he's like very dead. 21:55 Yeah, like soup's dead. 21:56 RIP, Henry. 21:58 Now, a few months later, William ordered the construction of the Lemp family mausoleum 22:02 in Belle Fontaine Cemetery. 22:04 Your dream. 22:05 And it remains the largest and most expensive mausoleum in the cemetery to this day. 22:10 Until Elena died. 22:11 It is also my dream. 22:13 Now, devastated by the loss of his favorite son and his youngest son, 22:17 William attempted to carry on, but Frederick's death left him noticeably and irrevocably changed. 22:24 Three years later, on January 1st, 1904, William was dealt another devastating blow 22:29 when his best friend and rival brewery magnet, Frederick Papst, of Papst Blue Ribbon, on ice, 22:38 had died from a heart attack at age 65. 22:42 The deaths of two of the most important some of the most important people in his life proved way too overwhelming for him 22:48 On the morning of February 13th, William waited until his family was out of the house 22:53 Then he went up to his bedroom and he shot himself in the right temple. Oh fuck 22:57 He died an hour later from the injury. He was only 68 years old. Why did it take an hour? 23:03 Don't know. That's fucked. Yeah 23:10 when they heard the shot ring out on the second floor and they all rushed to see what happened. 23:14 When they found William on the floor bleeding from the head, one ran for a doctor and the other ran to the brewery to get his sons. 23:21 The family reached that house just a minutes before William died. 23:24 Now the news of William's death came as little surprise to anyone who knew anything about the family. 23:30 According to one reporter, quote, at first he seemed to resist the impulse to withdraw from active life after Frederick's death. 23:36 But after a time he yielded to it and was seldom seen at the office. 23:40 I mean, I don't know how anybody deals with that. 23:42 How do you get over that? 23:44 Once he'd resigned himself to his grief, 23:45 he started complaining about aches and pains 23:47 for which there was no cause to be found. 23:50 Probably just depression. 23:51 Physical ones, yeah. 23:51 And he began experiencing regular bouts of insomnia. 23:55 The death of Papst, his friend, 23:57 it seems was just the last tragedy that he could bear. 24:00 It's crazy what, like, just depression 24:02 can do to your body physically, for sure. 24:05 Now, with his father dead, the majority control of the brewery fell to Billy. 24:09 No longer needing the massive mansion as a family home, Billy transformed a portion of 24:14 the house into offices for lent brewing. 24:17 Unlike his father, who was a shrewd businessman and pretty frugal actually, Billy lived an 24:22 extravagant lifestyle. 24:24 Well, if you think about it, he was probably frugal because it made the business more 24:27 money. 24:27 Like, look how well it was doing. 24:29 Exactly. 24:29 But Billy, extravagant. 24:31 I told you, bitch, third generation. 24:33 You're right. 24:33 And at the very least, his wife, Lillian Handlin, 24:37 lived an extravagant lifestyle. 24:39 I would do that. 24:39 At the time of their marriage in 1899, 24:42 Lillian was the daughter of a railroad magnet 24:45 in the head of the St. Louis High Society. 24:48 What a lucky bitch. 24:50 Rich husband, rich dad, right? 24:52 And she was known as the lavender lady 24:54 because that's the color she wore almost exclusively. 24:57 I love that. 24:58 I know. 24:59 She employed a staff of full-time seamstresses 25:02 and traveled in seven different carriages. 25:05 Goals. 25:06 One for every day of the week. 25:07 Mother fucking goals. 25:10 She was the OG real housewife. 25:11 She was. 25:12 She said, did you know $25,000? 25:15 Like, she was. 25:16 I'm obsessed. 25:17 Now, according to some, 25:18 the marriage between Billy and Lillian was, 25:20 quote, more of a business than a romantic deal. 25:23 Ah. 25:24 Whether or not that's true is anyone's guess, 25:26 but the marriage did produce one child, 25:28 a son, William III. 25:29 For years, the couple created a spectacle wherever they went. 25:33 They traveled in those lavish carriages. 25:35 They dined at the most expensive restaurants. 25:37 But behind the scenes, the marriage 25:39 was in danger of falling apart. 25:41 Right, Roe. 25:41 Among other things, Billy accused 25:43 his wife of constantly needing to be a public spectacle 25:47 and even suggested that, quote, 25:48 the excessive wearing of the color lavender 25:50 was to attract public attention. 25:52 I mean, of course it was. 25:55 He would also go on to claim that, quote, 25:57 she used profane language and was unfaithful to him. 26:00 I love her. 26:01 I don't love the unfaithfulness, of course, 26:03 but I love her traveling in a different car every day, 26:07 exclusively wearing a signature color 26:09 and swearing while you do it all. 26:11 That's a bad bitch. 26:13 I love her. 26:14 That is a bad bitch. 26:15 Good for her. 26:17 Lillian made similar accusations, 26:19 accusing her husband of cheating on her, 26:21 being abusive, and even threatening her with a pistol. 26:24 Oh, yeah, cheat on him. 26:25 In 1908, Lillian filed for divorce, 26:28 citing her husband's infidelity and physical abuse as the reason. 26:31 I'm like, damn, she was allowed to do that. 26:33 For a couple who had spent so much of their married lives in the press, 26:37 the trial was, of course, one of the most sensational events in St. Louis 26:41 that they had seen in years. 26:42 Oh, sure. 26:43 For 11 days, residents packed the courtroom to hear the accusations 26:47 that Billy and Lillian were just hurling at each other 26:50 until finally the judge ruled in Lillian's favor, 26:53 or granting her the divorce. 26:56 Maybe worse, at least from Billy's perspective, 26:58 was the judge also awarded her a $6,000 per year alimony 27:03 in full custody of their son, 27:05 with Billy only receiving visitation. 27:08 Oof. 27:08 For Lillian, that wasn't enough though. 27:11 She said, get him. 27:12 After the verdict was handed down, 27:14 she took her case to the state Supreme Court 27:16 and demanded a retrial. 27:17 She said, I'm not done. 27:19 I want more. 27:19 the court denied the retrial but amended the verdict 27:22 awarding her a lump sum payment of $100,000, 27:27 the largest sum ever awarded in Missouri to that point. 27:31 That's my girl. 27:34 That's Lillian. 27:34 That's Lillian. 27:35 Pour one out for her. 27:36 Lillian had won or so it seemed. 27:38 But the truth was, and this is sad, 27:40 the divorce may have gotten her a large sum of money 27:43 and sole custody of their son 27:45 but that's where the benefits 27:46 really started and ended for her. 27:48 Oh no. 27:48 According to author Elizabeth been benoist quote the lavender lady was a pitiful sight after that 27:54 She still wore lavender, but she never got over the divorce. She was right pretty but crazy as a coop 28:00 Hey 28:01 Hey, don't talk about my girl like that. It also like 28:04 So she's right. She's pretty she's pretty crazy like let her live like that seems fine 28:09 Pretty and crazy is a great combination. All right 28:13 I'd like to claim the same. Yeah, billy meanwhile remarried 28:17 to Ellie Limburg, daughter of the president of Columbia Brewery. 28:21 Fuck. 28:21 So he went right for another brewing girl. 28:23 Look at all this brewery friendship. 28:25 I know. Now, Billy's high-profile divorce from the lavender lady 28:29 was just the first domino to fall for the exceedingly wealthy and prosperous Lump family. 28:34 In 1910, Billy's youngest sister, Elsa, married Thomas Wright, 28:39 who was the president of the Moore Jones Brass and Metal Company. 28:42 Okay. 28:43 Very high society. 28:44 All the companies. 28:45 For years, it seemed from the outside 28:49 that the marriage was an okay one, 28:51 but by 1919, Elsa filed for divorce, 28:54 claiming that, quote, 28:55 her husband had destroyed her peace and happiness. 28:58 Fuck. 28:59 Whoa. 29:00 Men will do that. 29:01 Yeah, they do be doing that. 29:02 One thing about men is they love coming for peace and happiness. 29:05 They love doing that. 29:07 But unlike her brother and now his ex-wife, 29:10 Elsa refused to share the details 29:12 of her marriage with the public 29:13 and even left much out of the divorce petition. 29:16 The divorce was granted, 29:18 but within a few months, they reconciled. 29:20 Oh. 29:21 And on March 8th, 1920, they remarried. 29:24 Interesting. 29:25 I always find that very fascinating 29:26 when people will divorce and then remarry. 29:28 Cause divorce is such like a process 29:31 and to get to that point. 29:32 That's what I mean. 29:33 I would think it has to go, 29:34 I mean, so far into like, 29:37 we can't fix this territory, obviously, 29:39 that you're like, we can't fix this, 29:40 so we have to end it. 29:41 Yeah. 29:41 And then to come back from that, I'm like, damn. 29:44 I know. 29:44 What a fucking roller coaster. 29:46 For real. 29:47 Now, throughout much of her adult life, 29:49 Elsa Wright had to struggle with depression and anxiety. 29:51 Oh. 29:52 Though, like her father, her symptoms 29:53 were rarely acknowledged and really not 29:56 treated by a professional. 29:58 Yeah. 29:58 And on the evening of March 19, 30:00 Elsa went to the symphony alone. 30:02 Then she returned home and had dinner with Thomas. 30:05 And after dinner, they spent the evening together 30:07 before she went to bed, telling him 30:08 she wasn't feeling well and was 30:10 planning to spend the next day in bed. 30:12 The next morning, Thomas was taking a bath 30:14 when he heard a, quote, sharp sound coming 30:17 from the adjoining bedroom. 30:19 Thinking his wife was calling out to him, 30:20 he got out of the bath and went into the bedroom, 30:23 and he found Elsa laying on the bed. 30:25 A bullet wound in her chest from where 30:27 she had allegedly shot herself 30:29 with a .22 caliber revolver. 30:31 OK. 30:32 Thomas called for a doctor, but by the time they arrived, 30:35 it was too late. 30:36 Elsa was dead. 30:36 Oh, that's so tragic. 30:38 Now, given that the couple had so recently 30:39 divorced only to quickly reconcile and remarry, some found Elsa's death suspicious and a coroner's 30:46 inquest was held to determine the cause of death. According to Thomas, Elsa had gone through many 30:57 bouts of depression over the years that they were married, but quote, she never threatened suicide 31:02 and he could think of no reason why she would have taken her own life. At the inquest, 31:07 the officers and physician who were called to the scene testified that they both saw no 31:12 signs of struggle in the bedroom that would suggest foul play. 31:16 But both maids testified that when they entered the bedroom, they saw the revolver lying 31:22 on the floor by the couch, about ten feet from the bed where Elsa lay dying. 31:27 No one seemed to be able to explain how if she had shot herself, the gun was found 31:31 so far away from the body. 31:32 Yeah, that's weird. 31:33 But after just a few hours of testimony, the coroner deemed the death was a suicide and the case was closed. 31:40 Interesting. Now according to filmmaker Frankie Camboletta, 31:44 there were several red flags when it came to the scene of Elsa's death. Yeah. Most notably, there was no blood at the scene. 31:51 The wound was a through-and-through wound, meaning it entered her chest and exited through her back. 31:57 And he said, quote, usually if you get hit by a bullet and it gets stuck inside somewhere, 32:01 there's not a lot of blood, but if it enters your heart and out your back and there's no blood, 32:07 that's going to raise some questions. Yeah, there's nothing. Not a lot of blood, at least. 32:11 Okay. In fact, the police in Coroner may have rested their case when it came to the cause of 32:16 death, but St. Louis Press and Public were not quite ready to let that story go. Some claimed 32:21 Elsa had divorced Thomas because he was cheating on her with several different women. They 32:26 had also gone through the tragic experience of losing a baby not long before Elsa filed 32:30 for divorce. That's very sad. Then there's the fact that just prior to rekindling their relationship, 32:35 Elsa supposedly filed a new will in order to prevent Thomas from receiving her estate 32:41 in the event of her death. Oh. Whether or not Elsa's death was in fact a suicide 32:47 is still a mystery. Yeah, there's some interesting points there though. Yeah. 32:52 But as the third member of the family to die in less than two decades, 32:55 and the second to die by violence, 32:58 Elsa's death is the continuation 33:00 of a pretty tragic legacy here. 33:02 For sure. 33:02 And the next time that tragedy came around, 33:05 it didn't wait that long. 33:07 Now the problem with building a business on vice, essentially, 33:12 is that should the political or social wins 33:15 change directions and move people away from your product, 33:18 it can be difficult to avoid, 33:21 I could find that catastrophic ruin, you know? 33:23 Yeah. 33:24 You talking about prohibition? 33:26 Following his divorce from Lillian in 1908, 33:28 Billy was splitting his time between the mansion 33:31 in Allswell, his vacation home, and we're 33:33 talking about Billy again, his vacation home 33:36 along the Merrimack River in Sunset Hills. 33:38 And by the time he'd married Ellie, 33:40 the couple was residing at Allswell full time 33:42 and spending time with Billy's son whenever possible. 33:46 Elsa's death had been a tragic experience 33:48 for the Lemp family, particularly 33:49 given that her death was followed by speculation 33:52 and, you know, the potential of foul play. 33:55 But otherwise, the Lamp family's prosperity continued to grow, but you know, it was sharply 34:03 interrupted by the ratification of the 18th Amendment banning the manufacture and sale 34:09 of alcohol in the United States, otherwise known as prohibition. 34:13 You said 1919 and I said, we're approaching an interesting point in this story. 34:28 For most of us, home security was never really about the house. 34:31 It's about the people inside it, the ones that you would do absolutely anything to protect, 34:36 and SimplySafe gets that. 34:38 While other home security systems react once a break-in has begun, SimplySafe is built to 34:43 keep threats away from your door in the first place. 34:46 When an intruder steps onto your property, SimplySafe's AI-powered cameras detect the 34:50 threat and alert live US-based agents who intervene and stop them before they ever 34:55 even get to your door. 34:57 I think that's so important. 34:58 I mean, I have drew drew in the house. 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Nearly 50 years after Stephen King's carry became a 36:49 cultural phenomenon, Mike Flanagan is reimagining the iconic story for a new generation. After 36:55 her father's sudden death, Carrie White enters public school for the first time and 36:59 must navigate a viral bullying scandal, the relentless pressure of the social media age, 37:04 and the awakening of mysterious telekinetic powers that rise alongside her adolescence. 37:09 You know, the usual. 37:10 Carrie is a story about how small acts of cruelty snowball into something catastrophic, 37:14 A theme that feels as painfully relevant today as it did 50 years ago. 37:19 I feel like maybe even a little bit more because we are all hooked on social media 37:23 and we all know that can be a terrifying place, but not quite as terrifying as the prom 37:28 scene. 37:28 Carrie is now streaming on Prime Video. 37:36 Obviously, the band was a devastating blow to liquor and beer manufacturers across 37:40 the nation. 37:41 Some managed to survive prohibition by manufacturing non-alcoholic goods and 37:46 products. 37:46 And a small number marketed non-alcoholic beer that contained less than 0.5% alcohol. 37:52 To stay afloat, Billy Lemp shifted the company's priorities towards making their own non-alcoholic 37:58 beer. 37:59 It was called CERVA, but the product wasn't successful enough to pay the bills and soon 38:03 the company was falling apart. 38:05 Within a year, Lemp Brewing found itself in a desperate situation. 38:10 The rest of the stakeholders in the company, all family members, had accrued their 38:14 own wealth. So they had limited roles within the brewery and they were kind of ambivalent 38:19 about this future because they were fine. Okay. It was only Billy who was really committed 38:23 to keeping the business alive. Yeah. But by early 1922, even Billy gave up on trying to 38:29 keep the business going really. That summer he sold the buildings at auction, mostly 38:33 to the International Shoe Company. Three years later, the property had been valued 38:38 at $3 million, but at auction he received $585,000. 38:43 Ooh, that's a loss. 38:46 Now, for Billy, the slow and disappointing liquidation 38:50 of the company's assets only compounded 38:52 the self-loathing he felt 38:54 at having failed to keep his family business alive. 38:57 Billy's friend, Billy told a friend, 38:59 they told us when prohibition came 39:01 that we could make something out of our plants, 39:03 but look what happened. 39:05 Now, in the months after the auction, 39:06 Billy continued to sell off the rest of the company's assets and corner bars, 39:10 receiving about eight cents on the dollar. 39:13 So bad. At the same time, he started to exhibit signs not dissimilar to those displayed by his 39:20 father shortly before his death in 1904. Billy was constantly nervous and frequently complained 39:26 of chills and aches. On the morning of December 29, 1922, Billy arrived at the brewery just 39:34 as he had every morning for years. 39:36 And on his way to his office, 39:38 he was greeted by the company secretary 39:39 and resident vibe killer, Henry Volkamp, 39:43 who mentioned that Billy was looking better 39:46 than he had in recent days. 39:48 And in reply, Billy said, I may look at better, 39:51 but I'm feeling worse, which is so sad. 39:54 That's really sad. 39:54 Then he went into his office 39:56 and Volkamp went about his business, 39:58 he walked up to the second floor and moments later, 40:01 where two shots were heard from Billy's office. 40:04 The company's stenographer, Ms. Birchek, 40:07 was the first to hear the noise. 40:08 And when she ran into Billy's office, 40:09 she found him lying on his back in the corner of the room, 40:12 a 38-caliber revolver just a few inches from his right hand. 40:16 He had removed his jacket and unbuttoned his vest, 40:19 making it easy to see the two large bullet wounds 40:22 in his chest just an inch apart. 40:24 How did she himself twice? 40:26 To make sure, I guess. Damn. 40:28 The stenographer called for a doctor, 40:30 but there was no point. He was already dead. When his son William arrived at the brewery 40:34 that morning, he was overheard yelling, you knew I knew it. I was afraid this was coming. 40:38 Who said that? His son, William. Oh, that's so sad. Now, according to his friend, August Bush, 40:46 who also has a beer company, who had seen him a few days earlier, he said, quote, 40:53 he seemed cheerful and there was no indication that he was worrying either about the business 40:57 in a situation or anything else, which is common. 41:00 I was gonna say. 41:01 Now, two days later, the funeral was held 41:03 at the company offices and Billy's remains 41:05 were taken to the family mausoleum. 41:07 With his father dead, Billy's son, William III, 41:10 inherited the family business or what was left of it. 41:13 When prohibition was repealed in 1933, 41:16 William III tried to revive Lembrewing, 41:19 but his father had previously sold the name 41:21 and recipe of the brewery's most famous beer, Falta. 41:24 And another company had already begun making it. 41:27 Oh, that sucks. 41:28 In 1939, William III entered into a licensing deal 41:32 with Central Breweries, another St. Louis company, 41:36 and they officially rebranded themselves 41:37 as William J. Lemp Brewing Company. 41:40 At first, things started going well, 41:42 and the latest incarnation of Lemp Brewing 41:45 was like seeming to be a success. 41:46 Okay. 41:47 But just one year later, 41:48 sales of the new Lemp products began to decline steeply, 41:51 And by the end of 1941, Lemp Brewing was once again bankrupt. 41:56 Two years later, William III died from a heart attack at age 43. 42:01 Holy shit. 42:02 That is so young and so terrifying. 42:04 Yeah. 42:05 With several members of the Lemp family dead and the brewery completely closed, the rest 42:09 of the family members drifted further and further away from one another. 42:13 At the time, Billy's brother Charles was the only Lemp family member still living 42:17 in the mansion. 42:18 which was by then one half house and one half empty brewery offices now. 42:24 Oh, that's like spooky. 42:25 Really spooky. 42:26 For a time, Charles had worked alongside his brothers at the brewery, 42:29 serving first as the company treasurer than as the vice president 42:33 before leaving in 1911 to go into the banking business. 42:36 His move away from the family business 42:38 coincided with his move out of the house and into the racket club. 42:42 In 1929, though, he returned to the mansion living there alone. 42:46 Charles Lemp never married and the years following his return to the mansion he 42:51 became increasingly reclusive as he entered its later years. To live in a 42:55 big old mansion by yourself like that's spooky. Charles Lemp never married and the 43:00 following years after his return from the fan to the family mansion he became 43:04 pretty reclusive. I feel like living in a mansion like all by yourself. Yeah you 43:09 would become like your family's just dying around you. Yeah. The business 43:12 and it's just like imploded on itself. 43:14 What else do you do? 43:15 Half of the mansion is like just abandoned offices, 43:18 essentially. 43:19 The ghost of your family business, like that's rough. 43:21 I'd become pretty fucking reclusive too. 43:22 And places where all your like, 43:25 your family members have killed themselves in this house 43:27 and in that brewery. 43:29 But in the spring of 1949, several people noticed 43:32 that Charles had begun to suffer from quote nervousness, 43:36 but he rarely engaged with anyone. 43:38 So the extent of his discomfort, 43:40 for we can't really say. 43:42 Now, on the morning of May 10th, 1949, 43:45 just after 8 a.m., the cook, Lena Bittner, 43:48 placed the breakfast tray outside Charles's door 43:50 just as she did every morning. 43:52 Oh, I would love to have a cook 43:53 for the breakfast tray outside my door. 43:55 Chef Riley. 43:56 Chef Riley. 43:57 Our boy Riley. 43:57 Will you cook me breakfast? 43:59 Please come be my chef. 44:01 Be our chef. 44:01 Now, a few hours later, and we can just hang out. 44:04 Be our chef, be our chef. 44:06 A few hours later, she noticed the tray 44:09 I was still outside the door, completely untouched. 44:13 Not sure what to do, 44:14 but Nur called her husband who came to the house 44:17 and after knocking several times, they entered the bedroom 44:20 to find Charles' body lying in the bed, 44:22 a bullet wound in his head. 44:24 Oh my God. 44:26 On the bedside table, there was a note that read, 44:28 in case I am found dead, blame no one but me. 44:31 Oh. 44:32 Charles Lemp was 77 years old. 44:35 That's so wild that you can live that long 44:37 and still have an end like that. 44:40 It's so tragic. 44:42 He died one room away from where his brother, Billy, 44:45 had shot himself nearly 30 years earlier. 44:47 Oh, shit. 44:49 And just down the hall 44:49 from where his father had died in 1904. 44:52 That's so gnarly. 44:54 Now, Charles's death left Edwin Lemp, 44:57 the only remaining member 44:59 of the original dynasty left alive. 45:01 Oh. 45:02 Edwin had worked alongside his brothers 45:03 early at the brewery, 45:05 but like Charles, he had left the family business 45:07 in 1913 and rarely interacted with his siblings. A lover of animals, Edwin donated heavily to the 45:14 St. Louis Zoo in the Missouri History Museum, and he died of natural causes in 1970, effectively 45:22 ending the family legacy. Interesting. So they are, they all, that was the end. 45:29 But now there's ghosts. Yeah. Because after Charles's death, the Lent mansion was purchased 45:34 at auction and turned into a boarding house. 45:36 Of course. 45:37 That, at its peak, was able to accommodate as many as 18 lodgers. 45:42 Unfortunately, in the 25 years that followed, 45:44 the owners let the once very opulent mansion 45:47 fall into near-disrepair. 45:49 That's so fucked up. 45:50 I know. 45:50 That shit always pisses me off. 45:52 Let's take care of these things. 45:53 If you buy it, take care of it. 45:54 Yeah. 45:55 And in 1975, it was purchased by Richard Pointer, 45:58 who heavily renovated the building 46:00 and transformed it into a restaurant. 46:02 Oh, that's cool. 46:02 It was during this period that strange things started happening at Lem mansion. Okay pointer later recalled 46:09 I was painting a bathroom by myself 46:11 There was no one in the house and I felt someone be behind me watching me 46:14 Yeah, I mean it was a terrible feeling the most burning sensation you could have I turned around and nothing was there 46:21 I started working again and got the same feeling I cleaned my brushes and got the hell out of there 46:26 Ew. 46:27 Local painter Claude Breckwalt had a similar experience while working in the home to restore 46:32 the original hand-painted ceilings. 46:34 He said I was on the scaffolding, lying on my back, painting the ceiling in the dining 46:38 room when I got the feeling that someone was staring at me. 46:42 He said it felt as though they were in the hallway just outside the room, but I couldn't 46:45 see anything past the frosted glass doors. 46:48 I felt like I just had to get out right then. 46:51 Which is so weird because obviously we've talked about ghost-hating renovations before, 46:55 Yeah. 46:55 But it seems they were trying to restore certain things. 46:58 They're trying to be like, what's going on here? 47:00 Now in the months after that, 47:02 other members of the Pointer family 47:03 began having their own experiences with the house. 47:06 Televisions would turn off and on by themselves. 47:09 Doors appeared to open and close on their own 47:11 and inexplicable noises could be heard 47:13 throughout the house. 47:14 But while Richard's initial experience 47:17 was unsettling for sure, 47:18 he was like, I felt like I had to get out of there.
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