Hell's Gate By DougLas Hensley
At 44 Licking Pike in Wilder, Kentucky... just across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio... lies, what has been called "the most haunted place in America." Bobby Mackey's Music World, a country/western bar and nightclub, is well known for it's mechanical bull. It is better known for more violent encounters with spirits than anywhere else in the US. Visitors and staff members report everything from poltergeist-like phenomena, to disembodied voices and laughter, to actual physical attacks by unseen forces. There are, on record, 29 sworn affidavits of sightings, several from police and clergy.
Paranormal Investigator Doug Hensley was called in to determine the causes for the strange occurrences. Mr. Hensley, author of Hell's Gate, made some startling discoveries.
"In twenty years of psychic investigations into ghosts, haunting, poltergeists and demonic like possessions, I have never encountered a more malevolent or destructive case than that which I experienced at Bobby Mackeys Music World in Wilder, Kentucky. Doug Hensley, in Hells Gate, has taken on the formidable and dangerous task of telling the story. Through his eyes can be seen the images of the dark side of human nature and how collective Evil insidiously breaks down the spiritual protection of those who challenge it naively. This is a very convincing story, but more than that, it is a nightmare of the real." -Dr. Peter D. Moscow Ph.D., MDSRad - President United States Psychotronic Association The owner, Bobby Mackey, denies any existence of ghosts at the nightclub, but he will not step foot in the place alone. At one point a customer, Claude Richard Lawson, a modern day cowboy, who had been attacked by a spirit in the bathroom sued Bobby Mackey. He claimed that Mackey was at fault for not having the ghosts "cleaned out" of the bar. The customer who sued Bobby Mackey still visits the nightclub in hopes that he will "see the evil finally run off." He will not enter the place until there is a crowd inside. Bobby Mackey's" wife, Janet has refused to come back inside the club. She has not stepped foot inside the place for over two years," reports Hensley.
The building itself has a dark history. At one time, the structure was a slaughterhouse, and a deep well was dug in the basement to collect animal blood and body fluids. When the slaughterhouse closed, Satanists used the well of blood for rituals.
In 1896, two devil worshippers beheaded a woman named Pearl Bryan and used her head in their ceremonies. After they were caught, before they were hanged, the men were offered life sentences in exchange for disclosing the whereabouts of the missing head. Both men refused. They claimed that to do so would bring down the wrath of the devil himself.
The cursed building was a speakeasy in the 1920s. Several unsolved mob murders added more violence to the already tainted past. Sightings, Encounters, Real Ghosts, and Sally Jessie Raphael have investigated this place. They all conclude that the place is haunted. So many people are skeptical. Mr. Hensley himself never experienced anything paranormal before Investigating Bobby Mackey's nightclub. When asked what he saw he said, "I didn't expect anything big. I have seen several things happen inside the nightclub. I saw a door open and close, the juke box come on unplugged and once saw a garbage can fly violently behind the bar. If someone does not believe in ghosts they need to read my book then visit this nightclub, if they dare."
Mr. Hensley still writes (mostly fiction now), he has several movie deals signed and several new book deals pending. We'll keep our eyes open.
To read the entire story of the ghostly attacks behind Bobby Mackey's nightclub purchase the book, "HELL'S GATE", by DOUGLAS HENSLEY, on line at Amazon or Barnes and Noble Books. But be prepared to read the most compelling documented story of a true haunting for the first time in your life. If the Amityville Horror scared you this book will TERRIFY YOU.
JR. WATKINS Paranormal Investigator
Legend of Black Annie By Barbara Meyer
Warrick County , where I live, is full of folklore and unexplained phenomenon. None more than The Legend of Black Annie, for it has endured the longest and seems to be based on true facts.
Along about 1920, people in rural Boonville, Indiana, reported hearing the blood-chilling screams of a woman coming from deep in the woods that is now known as Scales Lake State Park. Local authorities combed the area many times and found nothing. Others reported driving down the Old Tennyson Road after dark in horse and wagon and having the horses stop as if frozen in their tracks, refusing to budge. One man, General Moss, had just such an experience, recalling it as "it was like the hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up". He says he could hear the footsteps on the gravel road, but could see nothing in the bright moonight. After the footsteps had died away in the direction of the old cemetery near Crosstown subdivision, the horses took up their gait and continued on towards town.
During the 1930's, people reported seeing a woman, dressed all in black, from head to toe, walking up and down that same road. Many thinking it was someone in distress, stopped to offer a ride into town. But the person behind the black veil never answered or even looked up. My father in law, Buddy Meyer, was driving his old couple late one night after visiting his parents on the Old Tennyson Road. As he drove towards town, suddenly, out of the darkness, a figure dressed in black , jumped on the running board of his car. Just before it jumped off, a puff of wind blew the long black veil aside and he could see that the figure had no face!
Over the years, there have been many other "sightings." One woman told me of a time just recently when she and her husband were building a new home about a half mile from the cemetery. She had been sitting in the dirt, tarring the basement of their new home when it became dark. Standing up , she felt a hand brushing the dirt off the back of her jeans. Thinking it was one of her children, she whirled around and found that she was alone. At the same time, she saw her husband and two children backing the car out the drive, going for sandwiches.
The first time I wrote about this was during the 1980's. Since then there has been so much publicity and interest in the subject, I have been the guest of honor on a television show when we went live to the scene and did the broadcast. I also have been contacted by The National Archives of Indiana Legend and asked for my permission to reprint the story. This past week, the Scales State Park held its first annual "Evening With Black Annie", which was a smashing success.
The legend goes that there once was a wealthy doctor named Travis D. Scales and his wife, Emma, who built a lovely, two-story home deep inside the wooded area that is now Scales Lake State Park. Scales was not only a prominent physician, he was a banker, he owned the largest underground coal mining operations and he served as Mayor of Boonville from 1911 to 1914. He and his wife never had any children, but did employ hired help. While the two of them were in town one evening at a social event, their home burned to the ground. Rumors persisted that one of their young hired girls died in the fire. Some oldtimers insist that they recall the girl was murdered before the house was set fire to. Either way, she met a sudden and violent death. The general assumption is that the young girl's name was "Annie."
After the devastating fire, the Scales donated the land to the State to be used as a place where families could swim and boat and picnic together. The foundation is the house can still be seen in part.
The "sightings" of "Black Annie" are always in the same area. From the old cemetery down to what was once called "McLemore Hill". The figure never goes any further than those boundaries. A search of the tombstones in the old cemetery did not turn up anyone by the name of "Annie". However, that is not significant, as it is an abandoned, isolated cemetery and it is evident that many are buried there without markers.
