“Warning to our Patrons: This establishment is purported to be haunted. Management is NOT responsible and cannot be held liable for any actions of any ghosts/spirits on these premises."
- The Sign in front of Bobby Mackey’s Music World
Welcome to “Bobby Mackey's Music World.” Where the beer is cold and the bands are hot! Thanks to legends involving rumors of hauntings and murders, Bobby Mackey's has become a paranormal hot spot in the otherwise quiet town of Wilder, Kentucky.
I first learned about “Bobby Mackey's Music World” after watching an episode of “Ghost Adventures.” I found the story absolutely fascinating. So much history, violence and sadness all taking place in the same location and cross-roads over the last 200 years.The location has been investigated by many well-known paranormal teams over the years and the evidence documented has been nothing short of frightening.
Before it was “Bobby Mackey's Music World,” the lot was the site of a slaughterhouse. The lot is located at 44 Licking Pike in Wilder, Kentucky. The slaughterhouse was demolished in the early part of the 20th century and the lot sat empty until the 1920's. A new building was then built that housed a casino, nightclub and speakeasy during the age of Prohibition.
When prohibition ended in 1933, the property was bought by a man named E.A “Buck” Brady. He named the building, “The Primrose.” After more than a decade of success, mobsters tried to muscle their way into the business. Brady refused to sell or give them a piece of the proverbial pie. Violence then escalated with fighting and many threats to the customers. This led to “Buck” drawing a gun on known mobster Albert “Red” Masterson and shotgun blasting him in the leg. He was charged with attempted murder but at trial, Masterson refused to name his attacker so “Buck” went free. Upon being released, his friends advised him that continuing to run the casino would be dangerous. Brady left the casino business in 1946. He moved to Florida and committed suicide in 1965.
After “Buck” retired, the bar become “The Latin Quarter”, (a bingo hall) and finally a violent biker bar known as “The Bloody Bucket.” It closed in 1977 after a series of shootings.
Robert Randall (Bobby) Mackey was born March 25th, 1948 and his country music career has spanned over 40 years. Bobby purchased the property in 1978 and named is “Bobby Mackey's Music World.” The bar was located right next to the railway tracks he worked on as a young man.
According to rumors and legends, Bobby Mackey's is home to a “Portal to Hell”. In the basement, there is a very large well in the ground. Many say this is where the remains of dead animals were thrown when the location was a slaughterhouse in the 1850's. The well was never filled in. Many claim that after the slaughterhouse closed in the 1890's, the site was used for many Satanic rituals surround the dark “portal” in the basement.
The bar also features a set of stairs that leads to nowhere. I know that certain haunted locations (such as The Winchester Mystery House) has stairs that lead to nowhere in order to confuse the spirits who “live” in the home.
For $10 you can explore the catacombs of the building, where it is said more than 40 spirits currently reside.
The Murder of Pearl Bryan
The first major case that is associated with Bobby Mackey's property is the murder of Pearl Bryan. Pearl was born October 25th, 1872 in Greencastle Indiana. Her father (Alexander S. Bryan) was a well-respected farmer in the community.
Pearl was working as a school teacher at the time of her murder. On January 28th, 1896, Pearl left her home under the pretense she was going to visit a friend in Indianapolis. When in reality, she was visiting her lover Scott Jackson. Her body was discovered on February 1st, 1896, headless, behind what is now a YMCA in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. Her body was discovered by a 17-year-old farm-hand named Johnny Hewling. Her body was found only 2.5km away from where Bobby Mackey's is now located.
She was found with many injuries across her back and hands and evidence indicate that she was still alive when she was decapitated. Pearl was identified by the tag in her custom-made shoes. She was 5 months pregnant at the time of her death.
Pearl's headless body is buried in the Bryan family plot at Forest Hill Cemetery in Greencastle Indiana.
The Murderers
Scott Jackson ( a dental student) was arrested for Pearl's murder and shortly after implicated his roommate and fellow student, Alonzo M. Walling.
During the trial it was reveled that Jackson had been having a romantic relationship with Pearl for several months leading up to her murder. Rumors also flew concerning whether the men were active Satanists. On January 31st 1896, Jackson slipped cocaine into Pearl's drink while they were at a Saloon in Cincinnati. He then committed the murder later that evening. During her autopsy, cocaine was discovered in her system.
When asked about the location of Pearl's head, Jackson and Walling provided several answers such as; “At the bottom of the Ohio River” and “In a sandbar in Dayton Kentucky.” Nearby bodies of water were drained in search of Pearl's head, however, these investigations turned up nothing.
Former Detective Cal Crim (when interviewed in 1937) states he believes that the head was burned in the furnace at the dental college. Pearl's head was never found. Many say it somehow ended up in the well in at the slaughterhouse.
Both men maintained that Pearl had come to town to have an abortion and her death was the result of the botched procedure. The prosecution stated that the men never intended to help Pearl at all and that there was no Doctor involved. That they drugged her in order to murder her. The fetus was never a concern at all. They carried her body across the Ohio River into a nearby field. There, they proceed to sever her head (at the 5th vertebrae) while she was still breathing.
Both Jackson and Walling were convicted of first-degree murder and hanged on March 20th, 1897. Both men survived the initial drop through the gallows and then suffocated minutes after.
No connection between Bobby Mackey's bar and Pearl Bryan murder has never been fully established. However, there are still many claims that Pearl haunts “Bobby Mackey's Music World.” Those who have studied Pearl's death say that any established connection between her murder and the Wilder Bar is “complete folklore.”
However, Zak Bagans of the popular TV show “Ghost Adventures,” claims he made contact with Scott Jackson at Bobby Mackey's using an Ovilus device (a spirit contact device) where the spirit of Jackson admitted to the murder.
I believe that if people are seeing the ghost of Pearl in Bobby Mackey's, it is because of the location of the bar itself. The bar has such a strong history of negative entities and other hauntings that it is possible the spirit of Pearl was drawn to the area. After all, she was murdered only 2.5km from the bar. Perhaps her spirit does indeed reside in there, drawn by the other spirits who already took up refuge within its walls.
Johanna
Another popular story took place in the 1940's and surrounds a dancer named Johanna. At this time the bar was known as “The Latin Quarter Club.
The story claims that Johanna was in love with a young singer named Robert Randall. Johanna became pregnant and the couple planned to elope. Johanna's father did not approve of their relationship and using his connections to the crime world, had Robert murdered. Johanna was distraught and after poisoning her father, committed suicide in the basement of the nightclub.
The Connections
A very odd connection to the club's past is that Bobby Mackey's full name is ROBERT RANDALL MACKEY. The same name as Johanna's lover. On top of this he himself is a singer, just like Johanna's lover Robert Randall!
I find it extremely interesting that Bobby Mackey has this amazing connection to the club. The name, the singer, he worked on the railway that passes the club as a young man and he even wrote a song entitled “Johanna.”
I truly believe that Bobby Mackey was fated to own this club and that maybe he has some sort of involuntary connection to the location that even he himself cannot fully comprehend.
The Caretaker
In 1978 Carl Lawson, who was 20 years old at the time Arrived at the bar and asked Bobby for a job. Since the bar was being remodelled; Bobby was never one to turn away extra help. He hired Carl to do some repair work and to paint. By the time the bar opened that September, Carl had landed himself the permanent position of caretaker and had moved into the attic above the bar.
It wasn't long before Carl was filling Bobby in on the odd occurrences that were taking place in the bar. Footsteps, the feeling of being watched and odd noises occurring throughout the building and particularly the basement.
Bobby was said to have said; “Carl, I don’t want to hear that. I don’t want nobody to know nothin’ about that. Here I am, putting everything I got in here. I didn’t want to be scaring people off before we got started!’”
Carl agreed to keep it quiet and continued to live in the attic. He slept with a brace against the door and his shotgun located by the bed. Over the next five years the bar became a huge success and was open 5-6 nights a week. Throughout this time Carl continued to update Bobby on the odd things that continued to happen.
Other members of Bobby's staff started to also have experiences and began to inform Bobby of these as well. Janet, Bobby's wife even stated she was grabbed by something around the waist and pushed down the stairs. After that, Janet refused to enter the bar alone every again. Bobby eventually gave permission to Carl to tell a good friend of his (Doug Hensley, a horror enthusiast and author) about the activity that had been occurring in the bar over the previous 10 years. Carl was more than happy to do so.
Over the years, while cleaning up the bar Carl and Bobby had discovered many holes and oddities throughout the building, including the large “well” in the basement. Carl was adamant that the place was not only being haunted by spirits but demonic entities as well.
Over all these conversations, Doug started to write a book about the bar. All chapters were run by Bobby before continuing. The first edition of the book came out in 1989 (The Terror at Bobby Mackey's Music World). Bobby wasn't concerned as he believed it wouldn't really go anywhere.
As the public became more fascinated with the paranormal, Bobby, Janet and Carl were invited on multiple television shows over the next 2 years. Doug's final version (Hell's Gate: Terror at Bobby Mackey's Music World) came out in 2005. It included much more information and even interviews with the staff of the bar.
With the increased attention, Carl's behaviour became more erratic. Doug reported he began to talk to himself and had a very difficult time sleeping. He claimed, “The demons were attacking him in his sleep.” Soon after, Carl claimed he had become possessed by the demons in the bar. He submitted to an exorcism attempt in 1993 that was unsuccessful.
It was around this time that the ghost tours began in the club. Bobby said it started small. Very informal. That 2-3 people would show up and ask if they could tour the basement. The staff would oblige. Soon after, they have people volunteering to lead the tours. Bobby states he was embarrassed at first and tried to repeatedly to put a stop to it however, he eventually signed on and agreed to the tours. He then began to let paranormal investigators in (for a hefty price) to spend time in the bar and document evidence of the hauntings. Carl passed away on January 26th, 2012 at the age of 53.
Following Carl's funeral, Billy Tolley of The Ghost Adventures Crew went to visit Carl's memorial located inside Bobby Mackey's. While there, Billy was told that an EVP was captured that suggested that Carl had now joined the ghosts haunting the bar.
Additional Accounts of Hauntings and Paranormal Activity
1) In the early 1990's there was a fatal accident that took place right outside the club. A car crashed into a telephone pole everyone in the car was killed.Larry Hornsby was the first police officer on the scene. As he surveyed the damage, he claims a woman in an evening dress came out of the club and offered him 2 table cloths to lay over the faces of the dead. Hornsby returned to the club the following week to thank her, only to find out that the no one had been at the club that night and no such women existed.
2) A bar regular (J.R Costigan) claimed that while he was in the men's room washing his hands, he looked into the mirror and saw a large black mass. The mass attacked him. It beat him until he fainted onto the floor. When he woke up, he rushed to tell Bobby what happened. He told him that he “needed to get control over his evil spirits.” Bobby just laughed and assumed it was a joke. It was no joke. Costigan sued Bobby for negligence. Claiming there needed to be some kind of warning to patrons of the bar about the paranormal activity. A judge threw the case out. Upon the advice of his lawyer, Bobby now has a sign in place warning clients to enter at their own risk.
3) Many believe that since spirits are supposedly not allowed to cross running water, the location of the bar is what is causing so many spirits and entities to remain trapped inside.
4) A bar patron claimed to have experienced a suffocating heat, witnessed a trash can go flying across the room and even saw the apparition of a man with a handlebar mustache in the restroom.
5) Many witnesses have described seeing the spirits of not only Pearl Bryan but Buck Brady as well in the bar.
6) The bar manager claims that even after they had locked up and turned all the lights off, the jukebox would play “The Anniversary Waltz”. The jukebox was unplugged and didn't even contain that song!
7) Another staff member has claimed to have seen Johanna and that she leaves the smell of roses behind
Conclusion
In conclusion, Bobby Mackey's has more than enough documented evidence to prove to me the existence of the spirits who inhabit the bar. The stories of Pearl Bryan, Carl Lawson and Johanna keep visitors more than happy to come visit the bar and have a drink with its “residents.”Bobby Mackey's is another location on my haunted bucket-list and at least it's a location I can set foot in without trespassing;)
Happy Hauntings everyone...
VIDEO INVESTIGATIONS
Ghost Adventures Investigation
Ghost Adventures: The Return to Bobby Mackey's
SOURCES
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