Wilder Kentucky
Bobby Mackey’s Music World
Pregnant women beware!
This place is home to a host of spirits, some not so nice; evil in personality.
HISTORY/DESCRIPTION
The building originally constructed on this site was a slaughterhouse in the 1850s. It remained standing until the late 1800s. The sealed well in the basement was used to wash away animal refuse, among other more sinister activities, some think.
It is commonly thought that after the slaughterhouse moved, it was used for occult worship, utilizing animal and human sacrifices. Handicapped children were “sacrificed back to the Devil.”
The abandoned slaughterhouse was eventually torn down, but it was replaced by a speakeasy and illegal gambling joint run by the mob in the 1920s.
In the 1930s, Buck Brady bought the operation, calling it The Primrose, making it into a successful, above-board casino and bar. The mob of course wanted to take over, and wound up forcing Buck Brady out. He killed himself in the end.
The building was then reopened as a mob-controlled Latin Music night club, called The Latin Quarter, which began its long stint as a place for musical entertainment, even though shady people were running the place. The wall-space by the stage still has pictures of dancing Latina women hanging there. Illegal gambling continued, off and on throughout the 1940s and ’50s, until the police finally put it out of business in 1955.
On the positive side, the building itself has had a very long history as a music hall/tavern, and is the longest continuing promoter of local musical talent in the Cincinnati area. Other music bars have moved into the building over the years. In the early 1970s, it became The Hard Rock Cafe, but it was closed down after some fatal shootings on the property.
Bobby Mackay, an accomplished recording country music artist himself, bought the property in 1978, continuing to offer musical entertainment. While it is a funky looking wooden structure which has seen better days, it is a beloved spot for people to gather to hear country style musical entertainment, for both the living and for entities of the afterlife. On weekends, patrons are treated to Bobby Mackay and his band’s music. People seeking ghosts and paranormal experiences also love to visit as well. Bobby Mackay is taking advantage of the paranormal activity by selling a DVD for ghost lovers!
HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS
Bobby Mackey’s Music World is thought to be the most haunted night club and bar in the United States. Because of its bloody and sordid history, one can see why. There is a sign posted on the door, warning patrons about the possibility of paranormal activity and to enter at their own risk!
There are many possible sources for this unique gathering of ghosts, who can be rather rowdy.
Mentally handicapped children were once sacrificed to the devil in the basement.
Murder victims from the speakeasy, illegal gambling operations, and the relatively recent 1970 shootings, still occupy the building, still want justice, and still aren’t ready to move on just yet.
Entities of Pearl, Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling: Three ghosts are connected to a rather gruesome incident here. In southern Indiana, a young woman by the name of Pearl fell in love with a dental student, Scott Jackson, who was rumored to be an occultist, a satanic worshiper who was a member of the slaughterhouse satanic cult. When she became pregnant, Jackson and another medical student, Alonzo Walling, drugged her sarsaparilla drink with cocaine, after she refused to have an abortion. She thought that Scott Jackson would marry her. They tried to perform an abortion on the drugged Pearl, who was then five months pregnant, but failed.
Since they didn’t have the dead fetus, Jackson and Walling decapitated poor Pearl while she was still alive, for there were signs of a struggle, and lots of blood at the crime scene.
Popular legend says that they used her head in a satanic ritual, and it was dropped down the well in the basement of the slaughter house. Pearl’s body was found not far from the abandoned slaughterhouse. That’s one version of the story.
Others say Jackson and Walling disposed of her head at the dentistry school, in the basement incinerator. Whichever story is true, in the end they were caught, tried, and hung for this horrific crime. They were offered life in prison instead of the hangman’s noose if they told authorities where the head was located, but they insisted they were innocent of her murder. Some others think they just didn’t want to suffer at the hands of the devil.
They may be haunting Bobby Mackey’s Music World not because they were satanic worshipers, but because they died a death of slow strangulation over a ten minute period. They blame Pearl and are haunting her, as her spirit is said to have found this building appealing, as it was the nearest place to where she died.
The entity of Buck Brady – The Cincinnati mob of course wanted to take over The Primrose, and wound up making life rough for Buck Brady, eventually forcing him to sell his business to them. He then committed suicide.
The entity of a little boy – An unknown little boy is said to have annoyed the mob thugs when The Latin Quarter was in operation. They threw him down the stairs, killing him.
The entity of a little girl – Died in this building somehow, perhaps just a dumb kid accident, or maybe she was a sacrifice victim.
The entity of Johanna, daughter of one of The Latin Quarter owners – She fell in love with a singer at the club, and became pregnant. Her father had her beloved murdered. At five months pregnant, she tried to poison her father, and then killed herself in the basement.
MANIFESTATIONS
Apparitions have been seen, and other occurrences point to unseen presences.
The entity of Alonzo Walling has appeared.
The apparition of a headless woman (Pearl) has appeared to people.
A psychic has seen Scott Jackson yelling at the headless Pearl, saying that it is all her fault. Pearl is fretting, as she holds her head in her hands, “My head, my head!”
The entity of the little girl appeared in the basement, and threw rocks at the living.
The entity of the boy, victim of the vicious thugs, appears in the basement as well.
The entity of Joanna has been seen by the living on stage, right behind Bobby Mackay when he is performing with his band. She has been seen in other places too. Her floral perfume is an aroma experienced by the living.
Water faucets turn on and off by themselves. Lights have a mind of their own as well.
When the wife of an employee walked into the building, the unplugged juke box began playing, “The Anniversary song,” which wasn’t even in the juke box. A romantic entity at work? Perhaps Pearl?
Some spirits have been known to be bullies, rabble-rousing and downright menacing.
Many rough characters visited or worked here while alive, and death hasn’t improved their behavior.
Pregnant women have been picked on by Johanna. Right after Bob and his pregnant wife, Janet, bought the building, she became the object of harassment by Johanna, to the point that she almost miscarried. In one incident, she was grabbed around the waist and thrown down to the ground. Something pushed her from behind as she scurried down the stairs. She heard a disembodied female voice yelling at her, “Get out, get out, get out!”
Carl Lawson, a former caretaker, was possessed by the spirits and underwent an exorcism in the early 1990s. Ghosts have been seen by psychics hanging around the mechanical bull area and the caretaker’s apartment.
Entities have been known to start fights in the night club by poking, touching people and pulling hair.
It is certainly true that Bobby Mackey’s Music World has quite a few strongly opinionated, sometimes rowdy spirits who let the living know when they disapprove of changes made, or music presented, or even outfits worn by patrons, in very blatant ways.
The sign posted at the front door warning patrons about the ghosts was advised by Bobby Mackey’s Music World’s lawyers after a patron’s clothing was ripped in the bathroom by a disapproving entity, dressed in a cowboy hat.
When a set up person accidentally dropped a chair, a pounding noise from the catwalk continued until she fled. What an unforgiving peanut gallery!
A loud, animated band irritated the entities, who showed their displeasure by throwing things from the ceiling. A long-time patron began to get phone messages on his cell phone. A disembodied female voice pleaded for the band to leave! He saved the messages and turned them over to a paranormal investigation group.
STILL HAUNTED?
Yes indeed!
Quite a few paranormal organizations have come to investigate this building and have come up with evidence to support the host of ghosts who dwell here.
LOCATION
44 Licking Pike
Wilder, Kentucky 41071
The Wilder city area is right across the river from Cincinnati, Ohio.
Bobby Mackey’s Music World is located on a main artery road which is an exit off of the 275/77. Turn left and go north on Licking Pike, which runs parallel to the Licking River. The road goes by a golf course, by the turn off for downtown Wilder, by the left side of Wilder proper, by the suburbs and finally ends in Newport. When you are nearly to the outskirts of Newport, but still in Wilder, you can see the rather funky, long rectangular wooden structure on the left side of the road. That is the home of Bobby Mackey’s Music World, a tavern and night club, with a rather violent past.
Our Haunted Paranormal Stories are Written by Julie Carr
Our Photos are copyrighted by Tom Carr
Visit the memorable… Milwaukee Haunted Hotel
SOURCES INCLUDE
- Ohio Organization of Paranormal Studies List of EVPs
- Cincinnati Ghosts
by Karen Laven
pg. 207- 233
Schiffer Publishing
2008 - Bobby Mackeys entry on PrairieGhosts.com “America’s Most Haunted Places” page
- The National Directory of Haunted Places
by Dennis William Hauck – 2002
Our Haunted Paranormal Stories are Written by Julie Carr
Your Paranormal Road Trip
VIDEOS TO WATCH:
Ghost Hunting At Bobby Mackey’s Music World!
The Untold Story Of The Demonic Bobby Mackey’s – Kentucky
Investigating Bobby Mackey’s Music World | Portals to Hell | Travel Channel
Archives: The haunted history of Bobby Mackey’s nightclub in northern Kentucky
Evidence Captured At Bobby Mackey’s Music World By Ghost Adventures Crew
A Night Hunting DEMONS At Bobby Mackey’s | (Ghost Adventure) | THE PARANORMAL FILES
(ATTACKED by a DEMON) The “REAL TRUTH” About BOBBY MACKEY’S Music World