Bobby Mackey's Music World

Bobby Mackey's Music World is a nightclub located in Wilder, Kentucky. For many years, it has been subject to visits from curiosity-seekers, tourists, paranormal investigators and media reporters. It stands on the site of an old slaughterhouse that was closed down in the early 1890’s. Only a well in the basement remains from the original building, and was believed by police to be the resting place of the decapitated head of Pearl Bryan, a woman who was murdered by her boyfriend Scott Jackson, and his friend Alonzo Walling. Pearl’s head was never found and legend has it that it was used during a satanic ritual at the slaughterhouse. The ghosts of the victim and the murderers are believed to haunt the building to this day.

The nightclub is owned by Bobby Mackey and his wife Janet. They purchased the building in 1978 with the intention of turning it into a country bar. Mackey was a well-known singer in northern Kentucky and had recorded several albums. He actually scrapped his plans to record in Nashville in order to renovate the old tavern. Once the bar was opened, it immediately began to attract a crowd.

The first employee of Mackey, Carl Lawson, was one of the first to witness the hauntings. He lived alone in an upstairs apartment in the building. "I’d double check at the end of the night and make sure that everything was turned off. Then I’d come back down hours later and the bar lights would be on. The front doors would be unlocked, when I knew that I’d locked them. The jukebox would be playing the ‘Anniversary Waltz’ even though I’d unplugged it and the power was turned off," he reported.

One night while cleaning in the basement, he discovered a diary belonging to a person named 'Johanna', who supposedly also haunted the building.The haunting seemed to be the most prominent in the basement, around the sealed-up well. This was the location where police suspected that Pearl Bryan's head was hidden. Lawson decided to sprinkle some holy water into the well, but the activity in the building began to escalate. Mackey did not believe Lawson's claims until his wife admitted that she herself had once been violently pushed down a flight of stairs by what she believed to be a ghost. She reportedly looked up the stairs and heard a voice scream "Get out!". At the time of this encounter, Janet was, like Johanna and Pearl Bryan before her, five months pregnant.

Carl Lawson was possessed by a ghost after a psychic inspected the building. The entity that possessed him reportedly claimed to be Alonzo, one of the murderers of Pearl Bryan. Lawson was given an exorcism by a local priest to dispel the spirit.

Author Douglas Hensley wrote a book entitled 'Hell's Gate' about the hauntings at the nightclub and has been a part of many of the investigations. Strange activity continues to occur at the nightclub and several individuals have been physically assaulted by spirits. One customer even tried to sue Bobby Mackey in 1994, claiming that he was attacked in the restroom by a ghost. The case was later dismissed.

The nightclub remains one of the strangest haunted sites in the Midwest and one that has proven to be a major attraction for ghost hunters and enthusiasts alike.

References

* Douglas Hensley, "Hell's Gate: Terror at Bobby Mackey's Music World", (Outskirts Press, 2005), ISBN 159800011X
* National Geographic Channel, "Is it real?" about hauntings.

External links

* [http://www.bobbymackey.com Official Website]