#spirit of st louis

[blackswaneuroparedux]

The airplane seemed far more alive and human than any machine I had ever flown.

Charles Lindbergh

The cockpit in which Charles Lindbergh sat while piloting the first aircraft to make a solo non-stop transatlantic flight, the Spirit of Saint Louis, in May of 1927 was as pioneering as the flight itself.

It was an unusual design to an ordinary layout of a cockpit of that era. A periscope was used instead of a forward window. The Spirit was designed and built in San Diego to compete for the $25,000 Orteig Prize, which was offered by New York hotel owner Raymond Orteig to the first aviator to cross the Atlantic non-stop, either from New York to Paris or vice versa. Lindbergh, a U.S. Air Mail pilot, believed that a single-engine, single-seat, high-wing monoplane would provide him with the best chance of success.

Under his close supervision, the Spirit was designed and constructed in just 60 days. To enhance the centre of gravity and minimise the risk of being crushed in case of a crash, Lindbergh had the large main and forward fuel tanks placed in the front section of the fuselage, ahead of the pilot, with the oil tank acting as a firewall. As a result of this design choice, there was no front windshield, and forward visibility was limited to the side windows.

However, this arrangement didn't bother Lindbergh, as he was accustomed to flying in the rear cockpit of mail planes with mail bags in the front. When he needed to see forward, he would simply look out the sides. To address the need for some forward vision, Lindbergh enlisted the help of a former submarine serviceman to design and install a periscope. Inside the cramped cockpit, measuring 94 cm wide, 81 cm long, and 130 cm high, Lindbergh couldn't even stretch his legs.

[toastedpopsicle]

The 1985 Spirit of St Louis Field CD Mk II was my first music player. Mine was second-hand from my father and I still have it!

[rockyp77mk3]

Replica of the Spirit of ST Louis over New York 1987.

[andreacasadei]

"Uno vale tre, due valgono mezzo, tre valgono niente..."

Charles Augustus Lindbergh

Quando si discuteva se attraversare l'Atlantico sia con un equipaggio composto da uno, due o tre aviatori ma anche se su un aereo dotato di uno, due o tre motori... E Charles decise di viaggiare da solo sul mono motore "Spirit of St. Louis"... Il resto è storia

[flojocabron]

Here's another thing I got at the thrift store. A Spirit of St. Louis vintage Phone. I got it for around $5.00. It's got a very steampunk look to it. I like it. I did a Google search, and it's got a few years on it. But it's not as old as it's meant to represent. It's just got dust from being abandoned and left at the thrift store. I think 8 year old me would've loved to have it as a toy. But I can appreciate it as an adult, too.

[driveintheaterofthemind]

Vintage Poster - L'Aouila Solitaria (The Spirit Of St. Louis) (Italian)

Art by Luigi Martinati

Warner Brothers (1957)

From ha.com...

One of the best artists who ever worked in movie posters, Luigi Martinati created this impressive portrait of a concerned James Stewart as the legendary pilot Charles Lindbergh. "Lucky Lindy" would become world famous for his 1927 solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean between New York and Paris and this film depicts the event. The director, Billy Wilder, cast Stewart in the role that was perfect for him as Stewart himself was a pilot in WWII. With its colorful image, there's no doubt that this poster by Luigi Martinati is vastly superior to the film's American posters.

[newyorkthegoldenage]

Charles Lindbergh poses with his plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, on May 20, 1927, as he prepared for his historic solo flight from New York to Paris.

Photo: Associated Press via the Seattle PI

[ghostlytales]

Real Spirit

Hotel Jefferson St Louis, MO

[bianchiblue]

[eternal--returned]

Dr. J dunks against the Spirit of St. Louis (1974)

[archivist-crow]

The Haunted Atlas

Lemp Mansion - St. Louis, Missouri

38°35′36″N / 90°12′58″W

Former residence of a famous brewing magnate, whose tragic multiple family suicides have made it one of America's most haunted houses.

History

The Lemp mansion, in St. Louis, Missouri, stands four stories tall and has 34 rooms. It was built in the 1860s for William Lemp, president of Lemp's Brewery, as a wedding gift from his father-in-law. Lemp was the son of John Adam Lemp, a German brewmeister who immigrated to the United States in 1838. The elder Lemp opened a small brewery and made German lager, which was an instant success. Lemp died in 1862, and son William inherited the business. A shrewd businessman, he turned Lemp's Brewery into the largest brewery in the world, producing 900,000 barrels a year for an international market. The plant covered 11 city blocks. The mansion overlooked the brewery.

William Lemp and his wife had seven children and lived a glamorous lifestyle among the cream of St. Louis society. Eldest son Frederick was the favorite and was groomed to take over the family business. He was shrewd like his father and learned the brewing business well. But tragedy struck in 1901: on a trip to Pasadena, California, Frederick, who was only 28, had a heart attack and died.

William never recovered from his grief. One day in 1904, he walked into the marble office of the mansion and shot himself to death in the heart with a small caliber pistol.

The family business went to William Lemp Jr., who was not as astute in business as was his brother. He and his wife, Lillian, daughter of the wealthy Handlan family, lived an extravagant life, spending freely on clothes, expensive furnishings and art. William Jr. built three vaults in the mansion to house his vast art collection. Lillian, who favored lilac-colored clothing, was called "The Lavender Lady."

When the Prohibition law was passed in 1919, the brewery was forced to close. Other breweries switched to making ice cream and low-alcohol "near bear," but Lemp's Brewery never adapted, and the family fortunes declined drastically. In 1920, William Jr's older sister, Elsa, one of the wealthiest women in St. Louis, committed suicide by shooting herself with a small caliber gun. She did not do it at the mansion, however.

William Jr. sold the business in 1922 for a fraction of its worth: 8¢ on the dollar. Six months later, on December 29, the despondent William committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart with a small-caliber gun—just like his father. He was found seated in the marble office where his father had died.

In 1949, another sibling, Charles, went into the mansion's basement one morning with his dog. With a small-caliber gun, he shot the dog in the head and then shot himself to death. He was 77. A strange man, he had been very attached to the mansion. He had an extreme fear of germs and wore gloves most of the time.

Brother Edwin sold the family mansion. He had moved out of it in 1917 to escape its oppressive atmosphere of gloom. He never married and had no heirs. Perhaps out of fear that he, too, might commit suicide, he kept a companion with him at all times. He died of natural causes in 1970 at age 90.

The mansion became a boardinghouse and deteriorated over time. In the mid-1970s, it was purchased by Dick Pointer Jr., and his father, who planned to renovate it into a restaurant and inn.

Haunting Activity

Strange things happened during the renovation, which was completed in 1977. Pointer Jr. and various workmen lived in the house while the work was being done. One night while lying in bed, Pointer heard a door slam, even though no one else was in the house at the time. Another time a workman heard the sounds of horse's hooves on cobblestones outside his window—though no cobblestones were there. Months later, Pointer dug up grass beneath the window and discovered cobblestones, where horses surely traveled during the Lemps' glory days. Tools disappeared, and workers felt watched by invisible eyes. Some became so spooked that they left without completing their jobs.

Haunting phenomena continued after the restaurant opened. Glasses lifted off bars and flew through the air, mysterious voices and noises were heard, filmy apparitions were glimpsed, doors locked and unlocked on their own, and a ghostly piano played. Some witnesses say they have seen the ghost of Lillian, the Lavender Lady. An oppressive and sad atmosphere clings to the marble office where William Lemp Sr. and Jr. ended their lives. It became a front dining room in the renovation.

Most of the activity is attributed to the ghost of strange Charles. A neighbor of the Lemps said she sometimes saw a face staring out the mansion's attic window and speculated that the Lemps had an eighth child who may have been retarded and thus hidden away, and who also might be responsible for the hauntings. No records of an eighth child exist, however.

Text from The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits, Third Edition by Rosemary Ellen Guiley (Checkmark Books - 2007)

[gaybaseball-fan]

[jackbeauregards]

[ofleafstructure]

The Spirit of St. Louis - British Sea Power

And there's a little trouble in the starboard wing And a number of Stukas are coming in Are just coming in

[kindsoulbuddy]

Sad story alert featuring Charles Lindbergh:

Colonel Charles Lindbergh, along with being a Nazi sympathizer and into eugenics, also believed in the Watson method of parenting: parent children, even babies, like little adults.

I just read a biography about his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Anyway he instructed Anne to do things his way and not to cuddle the kids.

(Book: Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Her Life by Susan Hertog, 1999. Susan spent time with Anne).

The kids had strict schedules.

Bedtime was before he got home in the evening.

Their first child, Charlie, would toddle over to him and Charles would push him away literally. He took a cushion and knocked him down. He did it over and over until Charlie gave up.

Charles had his wife Anne learn to be his copilot after they married, and she was an aviator in her own right. In fact she won medals for her accomplishments in flying and wireless communications.

Not to mention she was a successful author.

But Charles would make Anna go on long trips while she was pregnant and her kids’ babyhoods. Especially the babyhood of Charlie.

When they got home he didn’t recognize his parents.

When Charlie was 20 months old he was kidnapped and murdered. (The Lindbergh Baby case)

Charles got over it suspiciously fast. He may have had something to do with it since Charlie was a sickly child with rickets.

(Actually there’s another book out on the subject. Called “Suspect No.1, by Lise Pearlman, 2020. I’m curious….)

Charles Lindbergh was a prankster too but his jokes were cruel and sadistic.

He had hid baby Charlie for 30 minutes in a closet at least once while Anne and the Nanny searched frantically for him.

For example , in college his roommate almost died because Charles gave him a glass of gasoline instead of water.

Charles got over Charlie’s death very quickly.

Anne did not. She died in 2001 at age 94, haunted forever.

She wasn’t one to talk about Charlie until her death.

She had 6 kids total with Charles and she didn’t discuss Charlie.

When the other kids were teenagers Charles would travel and be gone for months at a time.

When he came home he immediately became colonel Lindbergh and ordered his family around like troops.

When he would finally leave again Anne and the kids could breathe.

Charles was fond of saying “this is not a democracy, this is a dictatorship!”

2 years after Anne’s death, it was discovered that Charles Lindbergh had 3 secret families and 5 children in Europe.

Anne never knew this. But maybe she knew something…no one’s sure.

Charles purposely had these families because he believed his superior Aryan blood should be spread after the Germans lost WWII.

Anyway, it’s a fascinating story about Anne. I don’t know what to really think of her since she kept being loyal to Charles and letting him order her around, and people suffered. They had influence even though many people thought them villains around the war.

But she was always begging God for forgiveness for Charlie being taken under her nose and her complicity with Nazi party in the 30s. Her whole life was accommodating Charles.

She was a victim of Charles too i think. But her life revolved around him, so she couldn’t say this.

I don’t know. She was very complicated.

One more thing. When Charles died of cancer in the 70s, he wanted a natural burial in Hawaii. He wanted room for Anne for when her time came.

She was never buried with him, she was cremated. I hope she found peace, I do. I’m not sure she did.

Rest in peace baby Charlie . He died 92 years ago, March 1 1932.

[myhauntedsalem]

St Louis Cemetery

St Louis Cemetery is the most haunted cemetery in New Orleans. It was opened in 1789 and has connections to voodoo, including having a voodoo priestess buried in it. Though the cemetery has been known for dozens of paranormal events it has three ghosts who are the most prominent and active.

One of these ghosts is the voodoo priestess Marie Laveau. She sought fame and attention through practicing voodoo magic. When she was alive she attracted a huge following, so much so she ended up with her own cult of worshipers. Marie was buried in an unmarked tomb due to her fame, the authorities did not want to turn the cemetery into a shrine for her followers. Marie Laveau’s ghost in an angry one. Her apparition has been seen in the area of her unmarked tomb. She has also been seen, in a foul mood, storming along the pathways chanting curses at the living. She once slapped a man who was passing the area near her grave. Many believe that death has not stopped her from practicing her black magic. Her ghost has been seen turning into a black crow and a big black dog. Both of these animals have been seen roaming the cemetery on a regular basis.

The second ghost is called Henry Vignes. He was a seaman, who foolishly trusted his landlady with the papers to his family’s tomb so she could take care of it if he died at sea. When he was at sea she sold the tomb. Henry suddenly died before he could seek justice. There was no tomb to put him in so he was buried in an unmarked grave in the pauper’s field area. Unlike some ghosts Henry looks very much alive when he appears in the cemetery. He can easily be mistaken for a tourist or tour guide. He is tall, dressed in a white shirt and has piercing blue eyes. He is still looking for his family’s tomb. A number of people have been approached by Henry and asked if they know the location of his family tomb. He then walks away and suddenly disappears. He has also been known to tap people on the shoulder and ask them questions about tombs. He will appear at family funerals and ask mourners if there is any room in the tomb for his remains.

The name of the final ghost is unknown but he has been nicknamed Alphonse. He is a very lonely spirit and, like Henry, he looks like a living person when he appears. He will walk up to a visitor, take their hand into his ice cold hands, and with a big smile, ask for help to go home. He will then start to cry before disappearing. Alphonse has also been seen carrying vases and flowers from other tombs and graves and placing them on his own, perhaps in an attempt to make himself feel better.