You are here: Real Ghost Stories :: Apparitions / Voices / Touches :: People Hanging in Lemay

Real Ghost Stories

People Hanging in Lemay

 

I have had an interest in paranormal activity since my early teens when I began researching it. As a child, I saw ghosts. This is what led me to read dozens of books on paranormal activity, entities, ghosts, apparitions, etc. It has been a few years since the last time I saw anything out of the ordinary, or "paranormal..."

I was 16 years old and at the time I had a boyfriend named Dan. He lives in St. Louis County. There is a part of his neighborhood that is very old. Most houses in the county are newer and the architecture is a little more updated. But in this part of the neighborhood, the houses have an old, country look to them and some even look like they are collapsing. This part of the neighborhood is called Lemay. Lemay is so small that everyone knows each other. It even has its own school district. It seems that the people who live in Lemay never leave and their families have lived there for generations.

It was midsummer and we had been swimming all day at a local pool. Finally, we were on our way home at about 10pm. I was in the passenger's seat and as we approached Lemay, for some reason, I felt like looking at the houses. He was driving and we were both quiet. I looked to the left out his window and that's when I saw the house and the people.

I had never seen this house before. The red brick house was old and the white paint was chipping off the trim and gutters of the house. There was a screened porch that wrapped around the house and it looked like it was falling apart. The lawn was high and there was a huge tree sitting in the middle of the front lawn. What scared me the most was the 3 people hanging by their necks from the tree.

It looked like a family because the person all the way to the left was a man, then there was a woman, and last a small child. They had dirt on there faces and they were dressed like they were from the 1700's.

Almost instantly after seeing this, I began to scream at the top of my lungs. I curled myself into a ball and pushed myself into the corner of the passenger's seat. Immediately, Dan hit his breaks and said "Oh my God! Jasmin what is wrong?!" I screamed and said "keep going".

We were silent the rest of the way home since I was in shock and I didn't want to speak. When we got to his house I explained what I saw and he believed me because of my reaction in the car. He did mention though, that he passes by that house everyday-there is no tree in front of that house. He said he would prove it to me in the morning.

The next morning we left for him to take me home at about 6 a.m. He stopped in front of the house and to my surprise the lawn wasn't as high as it was the last night and there was no tree! Instead there was a tree stump where the tree had been. I was stunned, because the grass was not freshly cut and the stump looked old as if it was cut years ago. I looked up into the old screened porch and there was an old man staring at us through the screen. We walked back to the car as fast as we could and took off. I know that Dan believed me. He knew that I was an honest girl and it's not like me to exaggerate and be over dramatic.

I would ask for people to help in finding out what happened that day, but I don't feel like I need to know since I was used to these happenings. I have read many books and I know spirits do exist and we just have to give them their space on this earth too. I don't mind sharing although I do find myself being frightened when it comes down to it.

Please feel free to comment. Thank you for reading.

Other hauntings by Jasmin314

Hauntings with similar titles

Find ghost hunters and paranormal investigators from Missouri

Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, Jasmin314, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

withheld (1 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-05-03)
Jasmin,

I grew up in Lemay, and found this website accidentally while looking up something else. I confess that I don't actually believe in ghosts whatsoever, but I felt compelled to provide some tips to help you research this issue.

First, Lemay is was not really settled in the 1700s, and the oldest buildings in the entire St. Louis metro area only date back to the early 1800s. Everything older than that was generally made of timber, and has long since been torn down. It is rare to find a building in Missouri that dates back to the 1700s. Look up old buildings in Missouri on Wikipedia to see what I mean.

Having said that, you were really just estimating the timeframe based on the clothing of the people that you saw, so they could have been much more recent. Another thing that you could do is look at http://revenue.stlouisco.com/ias/ to find out when the house was built. I would be surprised if there is anything still standing in Lemay that dates back before 1900, but I could be wrong.

Finally, I doubt that three people were ever hung at the same time in Lemay, let alone a family. That would be the sort of legend that people would talk about, and I have never heard of such a story.

On a personal note, your description of Lemay residents is mostly accurate, except that anyone who has the opportunity to get out of there does so as soon as they can.
honey91 (14 stories) (80 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-21)
This story really creeps me out because people getting hanged or electricuted scares me really bad.

Obviously for some reason, that family wanted to show you what had happened to them. Iv'e heard of objects from the past being shown too (the tree) but I don't quite understand because objects don't have spirits. I totally believe your story, I just don't understand how objects can be displayed from years past.

Awesone story! Very creepy. ❤
jennifer314 (7 posts)
 
14 years ago (2010-01-15)
Hey Jasmin314,
I grew up in STL too and am moving back soon. I know it's been a long time since you posted this but I was wondering what street this house was on. It's sounds cool and would just like to see where it really is.
Jasmin314 (13 stories) (210 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-07)
Thank you all for reading. This was one of my most frightening encounters. It had been a few years since I had seen anything when this happened, so it caught me by surprise. I honestly haven't done any research. I do know that there is AlOT of history in that area. If you read about River de Peres you will see that this little naighborhood goes back into history. This house is about 3 blocks off of River De Peres. As Libertybelle said this land was occupied by the French in the 1700s and they named River de Peres. Lemay wasn't a town back then, but there was civilization. If you are very interested, I advise you to read about the history of River de Peres and St. Louis. It is very interesting. Especially for me, since I grew up here. Again thank you all for reading this story.
ChrisB (6 stories) (1515 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-07)
Hello Jasmin and thank you for sharring this very scary story with us. I believe that at that time the sixth sence was kicking in. You probably still have it but it just got weaker. There are stories like yours and I believe this to be something like a residual haunting. I read a story just the other night and there were spirits showing themselves to families but only from the torso and up. There legs were never see. But when they checked the history of the house ther was a smaller house built in the same place where this house stood. That would explain why they showed them selves in half. I guess it goes with the tree. Even thoe there wasn't one there, doesn't mean there wasn't one there before. Thanks for sharring your story with us. I hope to hear from you soon and take care
twilightfan (1 stories) (8 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-06)
FREAKIE! I probably would have had a heart attack but I do believe you don't worry. 😁
girlie (15 stories) (426 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-05)
Hi, I really believe you. I think someone in the family did something bad and instead of hang that one person they hunged the whole family so what ever got them hung must have been really bad for the whole family to be hung for it. But the best thing to do is look up the history on that house (if able) or look up the history on the town and see if there was a hanging of a three preson family. I hope I helped.
GIRLIE
libertybelle (14 stories) (207 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-05)
Like rhodes68, I'm inclined to agree with the residual haunting theory--a key plot element in many ghost stories seems to be a reenactment of some tragedy, frequently on or about the anniversary of its occurrence.

I think a little research into the house and land might prove to be interesting, to say the least.

Perhaps you or Dan could ask some questions of the people you know in LeMay--see what stories (if any) are attached to the house.

I know the settlement of Missouri goes back quite a way, and that the French occupied it as early as the 1700's, so it's bound to be an area that I think of as soaked with history.
rhodes68 (14 stories) (1596 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-07-05)
Hello Jasmin314 and thank you for sharing a very interesting story with us.

That must have been a "challenging" night and a more "challenging" morning of unexpected revelations. I can only imagine what you must have felt when you faced a distinctly different front yard.

It sounds like you've witnessed a scene from the past-a very ugly scene. I have to wonder though was it residual and you just happened to observe it at the right moment due to your sensitivity or was someone trying to tell you about their lives. I think it was probably residual.

I don't suppose you have learnt anything more about that particular house or the land the house stood on. Has anyone else, to your knowledge, experienced anything similar in that area?

Thank you!

To publish a comment or vote, you need to be logged in (use the login form at the top of the page). If you don't have an account, sign up, it's free!

Search this site: