Over the years, Bobby Mackey's Music World has played host to countless real-life horror stories and a string of criminal activity. The site has been the location of death and destruction since the nineteenth century, including illegal lynchings and a bridge collapse killing forty-one men. Illegal gambling and liquor abounded when it later served as the Bluegrass Inn. In more recent years, mafia bosses turned it into a nightclub known as the Latin Quarter.
Beginning with the caretaker who fell under a demonic possession to more recent encounters between patrons and the paranormal, author Dan Smith revives the chilling stories that make it the most haunted nightclub in America.
Over the years, Bobby Mackey's Music World has played host to countless real-life horror stories and a string of criminal activity. The site has been the location of death and destruction since the nineteenth century, including illegal lynchings and a bridge collapse killing forty-one men. Illegal gambling and liquor abounded when it later served as the Bluegrass Inn. In more recent years, mafia bosses turned it into a nightclub known as the Latin Quarter.
Beginning with the caretaker who fell under a demonic possession to more recent encounters between patrons and the paranormal, author Dan Smith revives the chilling stories that make it the most haunted nightclub in America.
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Overview
Over the years, Bobby Mackey's Music World has played host to countless real-life horror stories and a string of criminal activity. The site has been the location of death and destruction since the nineteenth century, including illegal lynchings and a bridge collapse killing forty-one men. Illegal gambling and liquor abounded when it later served as the Bluegrass Inn. In more recent years, mafia bosses turned it into a nightclub known as the Latin Quarter.
Beginning with the caretaker who fell under a demonic possession to more recent encounters between patrons and the paranormal, author Dan Smith revives the chilling stories that make it the most haunted nightclub in America.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781625846983 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The History Press |
| Publication date: | 10/20/2018 |
| Series: | Haunted America |
| Sold by: | OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED - EBKS |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 145 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
Origins
A strange and unfamiliar sound slowly leaked through the walls of a quiet bedroom. As the commotion continued, a man gradually opened his eyes and went into a full stretch across his bed. With his arms and legs shaking while stretching, he opened his eyes wider and became aware of his surroundings. As he lay there, alone in the darkness, a perplexed look came over his face. The sound of music continued to pour over him as he slowly sat up in the bed.
He stood up from the bed and walked calmly down a set of stairs, coming closer to the source of the sound. The wooden steps creaked beneath his feet as he stepped off the staircase and rounded the corner. As he approached the sound, it became increasingly clamorous and filled the entire room. Looking around, the man witnessed the nightclub that he lived above. The space, however, was indeed different than he had left it before retiring to bed. Lights that were turned off now illuminated the bar and stage. Standing in front of the source of the sound, the man stared in disbelief at what his eyes were seeing. A jukebox inside the nightclub was proudly and emphatically playing an old-fashioned tune through its speakers, filling the club with the sounds of days gone by. The man listened as the tune belted out words of love and desire. The song playing was the "Anniversary Waltz."
Pressing buttons in a panicked attempt to stop the music, he quickly gave up and unplugged the machine. The man gazed around with an intense look on his face, swiftly turning his eyes from one direction to another. He fully expected to find some unauthorized person lurking in the club. Instead, he found only an empty space filled with an eerie silence. Stopping in his tracks, his eyes looked back and forth while his head was unmoved. Suddenly his voice rose from the silence. "Leave me alone!" he screamed. He then moved toward the light switches, turned them off once again and hastily returned back up the stairs to his apartment. He threw himself on his bed in disgust, feeling both inconvenienced and panic-stricken. Lurking in the shadows was a force so strong and so evil that it would soon take hold of the man's life entirely. The man was Carl Lawson, and he had no idea that the long list of events he was experiencing would take their toll on him and forever change the way he viewed the world. Soon, he would be completely consumed by the evil force and would endure the most terrifying experience of his life when he fell under a demonic possession.
First Views
On July 9, 1755, a group of British soldiers were engaged by a party of French and Indians near modern-day Pittsburgh. Although outnumbered roughly four-to-one, the French and Indians struck with such force and surprise that nearly all of the British were killed. It would become known as Braddock's Defeat. In a letter home, a twenty- three-year-old man told his mother of the slaughter in his own words. He wrote, "I was the only person left to distribute the General's orders, which I was scarcely able to do as I was not half recovered from a violent illness that had confined me to my bed and wagon for above ten days." The letter came from George Washington, who would later become president of the United States. The defeat was devastating and left the survivors suffering horrific nightmares of the slaughter that occurred. Among the few survivors at Washington's side was Colonel James Taylor.
In the fall of 1779, the land office in Virginia opened for the sale of land warrants. Colonel James Taylor acquired 5,333 acres in Virginia. His son, General James Taylor Jr., would become responsible for clearing the land and laying out roads. A portion of this land was in Virginia on the banks of what would become known as the Licking River. It wouldn't become known as Kentucky until 1792.
The Taylors were a prominent family of Virginia, having been related to both former president James Madison and Zachary Taylor, who would go on to become president. On April 1, 1792, twenty-two- year-old James Taylor Jr. set out from his father's plantation with three slaves. They were headed to the newly formed state of Kentucky and wouldn't reach the area known as Newport until June 20.
When arriving, the group stayed at Fort Washington in Cincinnati. During that summer, the three slaves, Humphrey, Adam and Moses, worked clearing acreage along the banks of the Licking River. As the men worked clearing trees and brush, they could never have imagined what the future would hold for the land on which they stood. James Taylor Jr. went on to be an important figure in getting the city of Newport and Campbell County approved through charter. Standing on the banks of the Licking River, Taylor would look out proudly over the land that was being cleared. His first views of the area held hope for a bright future. As time would tell, the fight to maintain that hopeful feeling would be challenged at every turn.
The use of slaves was a normal and accepted occurrence in that time. The rewards that Taylor gained from the work of the slaves were immense. It would prove to be the first example of the battle between good and evil on these hallowed grounds.
Wretched Sounds of Disembodied Souls
After the settling of Newport, the population boomed, and soon even the outskirts of town were being developed. New residents began settling an area on the banks of the Licking River. As the area grew, Marcus Finch was tasked with plotting out the land. The area he plotted became known as "Finch's Subdivision." Eventually, the settlers in the new area called the place Finchtown. During the 1870s, a slaughterhouse was opened on the extreme southern edge of the property line that Bobby Mackey owns today. At the time, Finchtown was a small settlement complete with a hotel and two slaughterhouses. The small meatpacking business that sat on the property was called Winstel's Slaughterhouse.
For years, legend surrounding the club has been that the hole that remains in the basement is where the blood and refuse from the animals was funneled. This drainage ditch was connected directly to the underground runoff tunnels and would wash away the refuse into the Licking River. After much digging, however, I was surprised to find information that said otherwise. There was, in fact, a slaughterhouse on the extreme southern edge of the property. The small home that was used for slaughter was nothing near the scale of a commercial slaughterhouse. It was rather a local butcher who would offer slaughter service to local residents of Finchtown. The area of land where the house sat is several hundred feet south of the club today. As history tells us, the hole that remains in the basement of Bobby Mackey's today was used for an entirely different purpose, as we will soon explore.
During the years after the Civil War, the area along the banks of the Licking River was used to perpetrate revolting crimes. Southern whites were resolute in ending the voting rights of blacks. Furthermore, they were unhappy with the civil rights shown toward blacks following the completion of the war and the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Newport was home to many "hanging trees," where angry mobs would act out their lynchings. The area where these macabre trees sat includes the site where Bobby Mackey's sits today. According to a Kentucky Post article, the strip of land from Monmouth Street to the Licking River and then south was the site of so many hangings that it became known as "Gallows Gap."
As early as 1865, people reported encountering ghostly apparitions when passing through this region. The extreme southwest corner of the Newport city boundary, in the exact area of Bobby Mackey's Music World, was home to at least twenty hangings. The article makes a point of saying that only one hanging was done legally. This was also the area of the first public gallows in Newport, near the banks of the river.
People would report strange occurrences in this area, and some would wait until a train passed through to venture into this area, so as to not hear the wretched sounds of disembodied souls. Nearly 150 years later, the reports of ghosts in this area still persist.
Rockets in the Night Sky
As Finchtown continued to thrive, so too did its expansion. In 1876, work was completed on a sprawling set of distillery buildings owned by George W. Robson. The warehouse sat across Licking Pike, but the production buildings themselves lined the banks of the Licking River. As part of its production of whiskey, the distillery received permission to dig three tunnels below the train tracks that led out to the Licking River.
The tunnels were meant to serve two purposes. They would drain away rainwater that could possibly wash out the train tracks. Secondly, and more importantly, the tunnels were dug in order to pump water from the Licking River up into the buildings for use during the distilling process. The tunnel opening that remains in the basement of Bobby Mackey's today was one of three used to pump water into the distillery. Contrary to popular belief, it was not used by the slaughterhouse to wash away blood from the killing floor, but rather to aid in the production of whiskey. A little known fact is that all three tunnels still exist in the basement of the property.
The massive distillery produced large amounts of whiskey, with the warehouse readily holding twenty-eight thousand barrels. The business was known as Geo. W. Robson, Jr. & Co., later as Licking Bourbon Distilling Co. and finally as Old 76 Distilling Co.
On September 4, 1888, the citizens of Finchtown experienced a rude awakening when an explosion rocked the small town. At around 10:00 p.m., George Ulrich was making his rounds as the night watchman. Just as he entered the condensing room on the third floor, he was blown back by the blast. The force of the explosion collapsed the south wall of the distillery onto the boiler shed. Ulrich suffered horrific burns on his face and neck but ultimately survived the incident. Luckily, no other injuries were reported.
The distillery continued on with a successful operation following the explosion. Things ran smoothly until fire struck again on January 24, 1907. At about 9:00 p.m., the night watchman Henry Hampton came across the fire, which quickly began to spread out of control. As the fire grew, the flames spread to William Mittemiller's saloon and Nestley's Drug Store, which were also located on the grounds owned by Bobby Mackey today. Both the saloon and the drugstore were total losses.
To add insult to injury, the saloon and drugstore were looted before the fire overtook them. Residents scrambled to help carry furniture and valuables out of the buildings but kept walking and stole the items. The fire burned fiercely, gaining momentum toward the area where the barrels of whiskey were stored. The storage area was at maximum capacity. As the flames engulfed the storage area, the barrels of whiskey exploded like rockets in the night sky.
The only death that occurred was that of Louis Buerger, a Newport teenager who was known to have heart problems. When the fire broke out, he began running from his home at Tenth and Columbia in Newport out to the scene of the fire. During his run, Buerger fell to the ground, dead from an apparent heart attack.
The Old 76 Distilling Co. was eventually lost to Prohibition in 1919. The buildings, complete with all the distilling equipment, were sold off, and the massive structure was torn down.
Given the history of the site being home to saloons, nightclubs and illegal liquor during Prohibition, it seems fitting that the area was first home to a distillery.
CHAPTER 2Scandal
Though the story of Pearl Bryan's murder is still sensational today, its link to the site of Bobby Mackey's Music World has come into question. According to popular legend surrounding the club, Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling were involved in occult activity at the site of the old tunnel from the distillery. Some have theorized that the two were giving blood sacrifices to Satan there on the site. The fact remains that there is not a shred of evidence to support these claims. The distillery was in business during the time period in question, which squashes the theory of Pearl Bryan's head possibly being thrown into the abandoned hole in the ground.
Over the years, however, the infamous murder of Pearl Bryan has continually crept into the legend surrounding the haunting of Bobby Mackey's. There is absolutely no evidence connecting the site to the Pearl Bryan murder. We will, however, briefly cover the topic in order to give you the full scope of the legend surrounding the club.
At around 11:00 p.m. on the evening of January 31, 1896, Fort Thomas resident Josephine O'Brien heard the screams of a woman coming from the direction where a body would be found the following morning.
At 8:00 a.m. on the following morning of February 1, 1896, twelve-year-old John Hewling was cutting across the property of John Locke, a farmer in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. While passing near a ravine, the young boy made a horrifying discovery. Lying in a pool of blood was the lifeless, headless body of a woman. Too startled to investigate further, Hewling immediately ran to the farm and summoned the help of Mike Noonan, a workman on the ranch. Noonan went to view the body himself and returned with the news to the farm owner John Locke. When the body was found, it was not damp. It had rained in the area the night prior until about 9:00 p.m. The body being found dry corroborated Mrs. O'Brien's story of hearing screams around 11:00 p.m.
After notifying Commander Colonel Cochran at Fort Thomas, officials started showing up, including Sergeant Phillips of the Newport Police and Coroner Tingley. Photographs were taken of the body and surrounding crime scene. The woman's dress was thrown up over her shoulder, and her corset had been torn from her body. A clean and bloodless clump of vibrant red hair was found on the victim. Upon further examination of the body, the coroner noticed that the neck had several jagged cuts that changed direction. The head was severed below the fifth vertebra. According to a Kentucky Post article, "The lacerated neck shows that the torture was inflicted with a hack-knife or other instrument not sharp enough to overcome resistances readily." While processing the crime scene, the coroner made a gruesome discovery. Blood spurts were found as high as six feet up into the surrounding trees. Blood was found soaked three inches deep into the soil under the body. The coroner concluded that because of the large amount of blood at the scene, the girl was most certainly alive during the beheading.
After the body was removed, two police detectives, Crim and McDermott, were sent to process the crime scene. When the two arrived, they were shocked to find the area flooded with dozens of gawkers, souvenir hunters and soldiers from Fort Thomas. The crowd was taking everything with blood on it, including tree branches and dirt. For a time after the murder, farmer John Locke allowed gawkers to pay him to visit the area where the body was found. He also charged ten cents for citizens to view pictures he had taken of the crime scene. Interest in the murder reached such sensational levels that locals soon began speaking of Mr. Locke's growing frustration with curiosity seekers. In order to keep his crops from being trampled, he eventually began lying to visitors about where the crime scene was and sent them in a direction away from his crops.
During the investigation, Arthur Carter from Indiana arrived with three bloodhounds to aid in the search for clues. The dogs found so many scents from the trampled area that they sent twenty men to jail as suspects. One scent that the bloodhounds picked up on led to the Covington Reservoir nearby. The entire reservoir was drained at the cost of $2,000. Investigators found nothing.
The body was put in the care of Undertaker W.H. White in Newport. National newspapers touted it as "the crime of the century," but police had little to go on. Upon hearing the news, a large crowd began to gather outside the morgue in Newport. Anybody who claimed to have any knowledge of a missing woman was allowed to view the corpse. The body was dressed in a green checkered housedress "of the very cheapest material," a blue flannel underskirt, black stockings and cloth-topped shoes. Because of the cheap clothing, many believed the woman was a prostitute who was visiting the soldiers at Fort Thomas.
Emil Ester and William Hess positively identified the headless body as one Mrs. Markland. The two found Mrs. Hart of Cincinnati, the mother of the victim. The mother and father came to view the body. Upon viewing it, they both broke down in tears. The mother said that the shape of the legs and breasts were the same as her daughter's, who had been missing since New Year's Eve. Police quickly tracked down the lead only to find Mrs. Markland alive and working in Cincinnati. Several other people positively identified the woman. Each time the police investigated, they found the person alive and well.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Ghosts of Bobby Mackey's Music World"
by .
Copyright © 2013 Dan Smith.
Excerpted by permission of The History Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements,
Preface,
Introduction: The Most Haunted Nightclub in America,
The Scope of the Haunting Explained,
I. GENESIS,
1. Origins,
2. Scandal,
3. Downfall,
4. Family,
5. Unrestricted,
II. DIABOLICAL,
6. Acquisition,
7. Johana,
8. Dominion,
9. Imitation,
III. AFTERMATH,
10. Pursued,
11. Crooked,
12. Deception,
13. Malignant,
14. Possibility,
15. Revelations,
Bibliography,
About the Author,