We move as a group into the area that is the bar. It’s a small place. There are two lovely stained glass windows on both sides of the bar. One is supposed to be of Lillian Lemp and the other is supposed to be Billy Lemp. Neither looks remotely like either judging from the photographs scattered about the place. However the stained glass work is lovely. The windows are not originals to the mansion. Betsy tells us that the large fish mounted above the bar is, however.

Lillian Lemp was a very lovely woman. She was also very tiny. She was just over four feet tall. She fought her husband Billy for custody of their son, William III. She nearly lost custody when a photograph surfaced showing her smoking. These were the times Lillian lived in. However, the very large fish above the bar was caught by Lillian on a trip to Florida. She presented it to her father-in-law.

Betsy tells us that this room was once the Lemp library. However, she then tells the tale of Charles Lemp. Charles was the last Lemp to possess the mansion. He lived in the place almost entirely alone. He descended slowly into a kind of insanity. He became a germ-a-phobe. Then, one day, when he decided he had had enough he became the only Lemp to write a suicide note. The then shot is beloved dog, Serva, and then he shot himself. She says it happened in this room because by the time he did that he was too sick to climb up the stairs to his room any longer. She tells us Serva also walks the mansion and that whenever she is seen walking around Charles is close at hand.

We explore more of the downstairs. We head into a back room that appears to be painted like a jungle. This is often referred to as “The Jungle Room.” In fact this room began its life as an atrium for Billy Lemp’s mother. She loved nature. She loved animals. Apparently the roof of this room was once all glass and had more windows. However, when Billy remodeled the inn to house brewery offices the glass roof was removed to put in a room upstairs and two windows were removed to support the weight.

A man in the group kicks a table and scares everyone. It’s a guy in a dark shirt. He is a problem throughout the tour. He seems to have been dragged here and pays little attention to Betsy. In short, he’s a jerk.

Betsy says that there are supposedly many animal spirits. In addition to the Doberman that Charles Lemp had there is also some smaller yapping dog. She says there are several cats too. She also points out that the floor and the tile in the room is original. It’s in pretty good shape for being nearly 200 years old.

We head into the room next door. It is a large dining room. Tables line the room. As soon as we enter the dim light that hangs from the ceiling begins to flash. It brightens and then darkens. It does it slowly and then more rapidly. Betsy swears this never happens in this room. My friend Jessica says when they first spent the night here they experienced that phenomenon in all rooms of the house. Ghosts? Or ancient wiring in an old house?

Betsy says that some ghosts are just energy that is recorded by a place and played back. She says two examples of this happen in this room. In one an older man is seen sitting at one of the back tables. He is dressed in older clothes. Whenever someone approaches him he disappears. She says that up towards the front of the room a family of three is often seen. Again, they just seem out of place. As soon as they are seen they often disappear. The light flashes some more. These apparitions, she says, appear only during the day.

Now we head upstairs. We walk through darkened hallways. There is ancient thick carpet on the floor. There are mirrors along the walls. The place smells like a 200 year-old house. We head up the stairs. We all cram into a small room with a bed and a wardrobe that also happens to have a television and DVD player added. I am betting the ghosts do not use these much. The room is lit but very dimly. There are two doors in and out of the place.

This is Charles Lemp’s room. It is now the Charles Lemp Suite. A sign just outside the room says that this may be the room where Charles committed suicide. Of course, Betsy tells a different story. Perhaps she heard it from Charles. Anyway, she tells us that Charles likes to appear in full view and in person. She tells the story of a man and woman who were in this room and the woman suddenly awoke after sensing something moving in the room. To her surprise she opened her eyes to find an older gentleman in a suit with his arms crossed staring down at her from the foot of the bed. Of course, her husband slept through it.

Betsy tells another story of a couple of people who were in a room down the hall. They had been told they would be by themselves in the Inn. So, they partied hard and they partied loud. Then, two of them, wandered down the hall toward the restroom that is across from the Charles Lemp Suite. They were startled when an older gentleman burst through the door and glared at them. Realizing they were not alone they apologized profusely. The next morning as they were checking out they told the person doing the checking to apologize to the man in the suite down the hall. As you might expect the woman checked and informed the couple they were the only ones in the place the night before.

Betsy now pulls out a cassette. She has made a relatively recent appearance on a local radio show that likes to broadcast at least once a year from the Lemp. Recently, when she appeared, she was discussing one of the rooms upstairs. The room in the attic was supposedly the place where a deformed child lived out his entire life. According to legend this child was the illegitimate son of Billy Lemp and his many dalliances with prostitutes. According to Betsy, and her discussions with Billy, this child was actually Billy’s brother and was born deformed because Julia (Billy’s mother) had the child near the age of 50. Supposedly he was kept up near the top of the inn because the servants lived there and he could be cared for. Some research I had done says this child lived until the age of 30. Betsy says the child died at age 16.

She plays the tape and you hear Betsy talking to the radio host. She mentions this child. Legend says that this child was deformed and perhaps mentally retarded. Some have suggested he might have had Down’s Syndrome. He reportedly would be spotted by local children peering out of the windows of his room. His face was such that he received the horrible nickname of “The Monkey-Faced Boy.” Betsy says, in fact, this child’s name was Zeke. On the tape she mentions to the host that she believes the name of the child was Zeke. Just after she says the name and just before the host starts to talk again you hear another voice, guttural, almost a whisper and that was not heard when the conversation was live but only heard afterward. Betsy and the host were in Zeke’s supposed bedroom at the time.

“I’m Zeke,” the voice says.

She plays this several times in the dimness of the room. It’s very creepy. Suitably freaked out and chilled we move on. The best is yet to come.

Bryan W. Alaspa’s new novel Dust is now available at his website www.bryanalaspa.com and www.amazon.com.