Road Trip Into The Unkown: Two Steppin With Evil At Bobby Mackey’s Music World.

For many years paranormal researchers have oftentimes wondered if it is possible that a person who habitually performed bad deeds or was known as an evil person has the ability to ammend for those wrongs and change their ways. The big three religions in our world Christianity, Judaism and Islam answer us an emphatic, no way once you are dead that is it if you are a sinner and committ evil your soul is forfeit and you will face rightoues judgement. In other words after death forget it you are screwed it is hell for you, buddy.

The annals of ghost phenomenon is replete with tales of abusive douchebag husbands who returned from the grave to beg for his wife’s forgiveness. Or mothers who abandoned her children and lived a life of evil showing up by their children’s bedside in the hopes that their children can release her soul and her guilt. Me personally, I am of a mind that says Jagg off in life jagg off in death once you take that eternal dirt nap and plunge headlong into eternity that is it. In the town of Wilder, Kentucky there is a place and there is a man, gentleman club owner and country music afficianado, Bobby Mackey, who knows all to well that those who committed great acts of evil still carry that over into the spirit realm. Bobby Mackey’s World of Music is home to not just one but two evil spirits, a love lorn young woman and a well in the basement that has come to be known as the “Gate of Hell.”

Bobby Mackey had become a wildly popular country music performer in his native state of Kentucky and actually turned down a lucrative recording contract in Nashville because he had a simple dream, he wanted to open a club that played good old fashioned country music and in 1978 he and his wife realized that dream. When Bobby first walked into the old building that had once been known as a dance hall and in it’s earlier incarnation in the 1890s was a slaughterhouse. From the second he walked through the door he felt that he had come home and this would definately be the site to realize his dream unfortunately as time moved on he realized that this building was more of a nightmare.

Why would a seemingly normal building by all appearances turn out to be a place known as a home of evil spirits? Before we continue it is always a good thing to take a look into a haunted location and do a little bit of research to find out why a place has such a reputation. In the late 1800s, the building which sits on the foundation of an old slaughterhouse was the site of some pretty unsavory practices and the site of a murder that would shock the little farming community. The body of Pearl Bryan, was found floating down a nearby river without her head. Although Pearl really was a nobody who hung out with the wrong people she was still a lady and did not deserve to die in such a manner. The trail lead investigators back to the old slaughterhouse and a well in the basement where they discovered a chilling find, Pearl Bryan’s head.

After many man hours of investigation they discovered that the basement of the slaughterhouse was used as a temple of sorts to worship the prince of darkness and sacrfice animals to his unholy name. They soon discovered that Pearl’s boyfriend, Scott Jackson and his buddy Alonzo Walling were leaders of this little cult of the damned and after questioning the locals had their men. It would seem that Pearl was used as their first attempt at human sacrifice, however whatever riches or glory was promised to them by satan soon turned to dirt and rocks when the two were hung high for their crime. Before the hangman ushered the two evil men into eternity Scott Jackson warned that he and Alonzo would return from the dead and forever haunt the location where Pearl’s head was found, the future site of Bobby Mackey’s dream.

Carl Lawson, a young man that Mr. Mackey had hired to perform general maintenance on the building and serve as a part time beertender was the first to notice that something strange was afoot at the Music World. Mr. Lawson who lived in a one room apartment above the club would be woke up in the middle of the night by the sound of the juke box turning on and belting out the traditional country dance song, “The anniversary Waltz.” When Mr. Lawson went down to the club to investigate he would oftentimes find every window and door unsecured and open as the juke box belted out this rather sad sounding ditty. After closing up all the doors and windows and resecuring them, Carl turned his attention to the jukebox and realized two strange things, one this song was no where to be found on the juke box and far more startling the juke box was unplugged. Carl did not know what to make of this strange phenomenon but knew that something was just not right with this building.

Carl was not the only person to have strange experiences in the building Bobby Mackey’s wife witnessed a few odd occurences. Disembodied voices that seemed to come from everywhere but from nowhere would oftentimes be heard her when no one else was around. Traveling cold spots the size of a man could be felt in various areas of the club and load clomping footsteps were heard during the night as well as the day. Although the two went to Bobby and told him that it was their belief the building was haunted, Bobby remained skeptical believing that their must be a logical explanation behind the strange phenomenon the two were experiencing. Even if the place was haunted whatever or whoever was here did not appear to mean anyone harm perhaps it was a friendly spirit who would enjoy the fine country music when the club opened. As with most hauntings two chilling discoveries would be made by Carl Lawson that would turn the haunting up a notch and make the club a must visit for every ghost geek from sea to shining sea.

The night the club opened it was a rousing success. It seemed that everyone from Campbell county Kentucky had heard of the new club and loved the idea of kicking up their cowboy boots, throwing back a few beers and cutting a rug at a nightspot with live music that catered to their love of good old fashioned country jams. However a few nights after the club had opened and everything was locked up nice and tight, Carl found himself unable to sleep and decided to look around to see if maybe there was some logical explanation to what he thought was a haunting. Carl found himself in the old basement that was left over from the days when the building was a slaughterhouse. While snooping around Carl discovered an old diary in an unused room and cracked it open for a little late night reading.

The diary belonged to a dancing girl named Johanna who had danced at the building when it was dancehall in the 1930s. Carl discovered that Johanna, was in love with a crooner that frequented the hall and desired that the two be together for all time. Johanna’s father disapproved of his daughter’s lifestyle and certainly disapproved of her taste in men allegedly dear old dad had the crooner killed and Johanna went into a deep despression over the man she loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with. If her crooner could not live neither would she, Johanna hung herself in the attic of the building and now her and her love could be together for all eternity. Carl was shocked by what he read he belived that perhaps it was the spirit of this love lorn young woman that walked about the club at night. After putting the diary down Carl heard what sounded like trickling water coming from under the floor boards and decided to pull up the floor to see what the noise was. after a few moments of work he discovered a black hole in the ground that seemed to lead to nowhere. Carl realized that this well was a draining well for the blood of the slaughtered animals the one thing he did not realize was that this was the very well where Jackson and Walling in the previous century had disposed of the head of Pearl Bryan. One thing Carl Lawson was sure of this well gave off a sensation of evil and Carl would soon come to regret his snooping around.

A few days after the chilling discovery, Bobby’s wife who was pregnant at the time was doing some work on a staircase when she claimed that as she was walking down the stairs an invisible person savagely pushed her down the stairs and as she lay at the bottom she could hear what sounded like diabolical laughing coming from a point at the top of the stairs. Carl was also targeted by these discarnate spirits. Carl claimed that he could hear voices yelling at him in the middle of the night telling him to do unthinkable things. Carl could feel his will becoming weak and one night as he fitfully slept the evil spirit of Alonzo Walling entered his body and took possession of the young man.

Although the club was stirring success patrons began reporting that something strange was going on in the building. One patron would have the shock of his life as he was in the restroom taking a leak. He claimed that when he turned around he watched as the trash can violently struck the wall and the sneering form of a man appeared to him saying over and over, “Die game.” The patron attempted to sue the club owner but the court threw the case out.

Bobby watched in terror when Carl Lawson, the formerly dutifull worker and all around nice guy seemed to take on a whole new persona. He was sullen and angry all the time easily snapping at anyone who crossed his path. It was not until a pastor friend of Bobby’s who knew Carl well and knew of the hauntings at the Music World realized that the formerly nice young man may be possessed by something evil. After six long grueling hours undergoing the protestant version of an exorcism, Carl Lawson was free of the evil spirit of Alonzo Walling. It would appear that the evil that stalked Bobby Mackey’s was now gone. Unfortunately this is not true patrons still hand over reports of strange occurences they experience.

Despite the reputation the club has gained over the years Bobby Mackey’s Music World is still open for all those who want nothing more than to hear good traditional country music. However the club has also become a must visit for every ghost geek in this country who desire to have a brush with something not of this world. Those brave enough to investigate the club have come away with not just feelings of dread but they also come away unexplained scratches and bruises. Despite all that has been reported to him over the last thirty years, Bobby Mackey still remains skeptical but keeps his mind a little bit more open than in the past.

Before I end this post I feel a need to clear a little something up. Many researchers and investigators have said that whatever haunts Bobby Mackey’s is a demonic entity. This is not quite true, an inhuman or a demon is a spirit that has never walked the earth in human flesh and it would appear that the ghosts that haunt the club, although very evil, were at one time very much alive they just like acting like grade A a-holes.

Rick E. Hale

t_seeker@hotmail.com

Patrons