Bobby Mackey´s is said to be the most haunted nightclub in America; some might want to hide that their business is open to the undead. Not Mackey´s, they are proud and even state, "Come for the ghosts, stay for the music¨ on their website. The club has a bloody past, according to the owner, Bobby McKay, who has owned the nightclub since 1978.
Who is Bobb Mackey
Robert Randall, aka Bobby, has been a performer for over 40 years and is known as a local celebrity with his music and club. He learned to play guitar at 8, was a railroad brakeman, and played in bands.
When laid off in 1970, Bobby went full-time into music and performed in small nightclubs. By 1978, he was ready for his next adventure. He was married, had a baby, and decided to buy a place he could bring Nashville to him.
His friends invited him to look at 44 Licking Pike Road; he already knew the area. A place that gave him a strange feeling, but he never entered it until 1978, and when he stood on the stage, he saw a vision, and he and his wife bought the club. Without any idea what the future would hold.
The History of Bobby Mackey Nightclub and Tavern.
In the 1950s, there used to be a slaughterhouse at the exact spot where Bobby Mackey´s sits. When the slaughterhouse stopped, the building remained abandoned.
It was a perfect opportunity and location for a group of Satanic worshippers to take over the building secretly. The worshipers used the building at will, and during rituals, they killed small animals and dumped the remains in the well of the slaughterhouse.
Many believed the well was the portal to Hell and was used to drain the blood from butchered animals to the river. The Satanic worshippers remained a secret until two of their members committed murder.
Pearl Bryan
Pearl Bryan is a 22-year-old who fell in love with Scott Jackson. She was a farmer's daughter. He was on the path to becoming a dentist. While dating, she got pregnant unwed; they knew this would be an issue.
They decided it was best if Pearl had an abortion. Since Scott was in dental school, he decided he had enough medical knowledge to do the procedure with a friend, Alonza Walling. At this time, Pearl was unaware that Scott was a Satanic cult member.
Pearl was also five months along and agreed to the procedure since she was afraid of her father and what he would do to her if he found out she was pregnant. Except Scott and Alonzo had no experience with abortions and did not know what to do.
First, they tried to kill the baby with cocaine, which did not work. The second attempt was for Scott to use his dental school equipment. However, there are rumors that all the blood might have stimulated something evil in the men, possibly relating to the satanic worship and killing of animals.
Now they had a person, and the procedure was no longer an abortion. When Pearl was autopsied, it was noted that her head was severed with a tiny sharp instrument. The autopsy also revealed that she was still alive during the procedure.
When she was found, she was headless and only identified by her shoes; her head was never found. Rumors are that her head was put down the well. Scott and Alonzo were arrested and sentenced to death.
Destruction of the slaughterhouse
After the murder of Pearl, the slaughterhouse is said to have remained vacant until it was demolished in 1920. Once the building was gone, a cafe was built on the spot; it became a place of illegal gambling and drinking.
The days of prohibition also led to violence, and many murders occurred in the cafe. However, the local police did not want to deal with it or be questioned, so the bodies were dumped in different locations. In 1933, the shady dealings of the cafe were finally shut down, and it was sold to E.A. Brady, who turned it into a casino.
The casino was a success, and the mafia wanted a piece of the pie. However, Brady refused to sell and would not cooperate with the mafia. It left his casino vandalized multiple times, and customers were often beaten up in the parking lot. Brady eventually sold the casino, and in 1965, he committed suicide. But he had one last word and cursed the casino's location.
Mob Ownership
The mafia took over the casino and named it ¨The Latin Quarter¨. The building was turned into a casino and nightclub; however, it was a target for police raids. Eventually, the police closed the place, removing the gambling tables and slot machines. Some say that Brady's wish came true.
Death of Johanna
The facility was again sold, and the new owner operated it as a nightclub. The owner's daughter was Johanna, a dancer at the club. Johanna was having an affair with one of the performers at the club, and she got pregnant.
When her father found out, he was unhappy, and he made sure that Robert never came near his daughter again. When Johanna was five months pregnant, she drank poison and died. The club briefly was a Hard Rock Cafe, but after a shooting in front of the cafe, they sold it in 1978 to Bobby Mackey and his wife, Janet.
Hauntings
When Bobby and Janet bought the club, they hired a handyman, Carl Lawson, who lived in a small apartment above the nightclub. Carl was the first to notice weird things happening in the club; he reported that the jukebox would start to play even when unplugged.
He also said he saw an evil apparition behind the bar and reported talking to Johanna. When she was around, there was a strong smell of roses. Carl was labeled as crazy; even Bobby was a non-believer and feared Carl's stories would scare off customers.
Then Janet had her encounter.
One day, Janet was in the basement alone, and she was grabbed around her waist and did not see anyone around. Not only was she grabbed, but she was lifted and thrown a bit, almost as if she was being pushed toward the stairs.
As well as she heard a female voice shouting ¨get out, get out¨. Also, Janet was five months pregnant at the time. Janet began to talk about her experience with the staff, and all staff members reported strange events. However, no one talked about them because they feared being called crazy.
A bartender, Roger Heath, reported seeing two tiny handprints on Carl's back. He looked like he had been hugged; many others said seeing a headless woman. They had paranormal investigators at the club, which confirmed it was Pearl's ghost. Pearl has been reported near the well; at one point, Carl sprinkled holy water down the well.
However, when the holy water was sprinkled on the well, it was reported this angered the spirits. Bottles began to fall off the shelves; the club lights would go off and on continuously, even attacking employees by hair-pulling scratching.
The Mackeys even had the place excised in 1994, which worsened the situation. The spirits began pushing customers and employees and scratching them until they saw blood. After that, the Mackeys decided not to mess with the spirits and embraced them to live in harmony.
Reports these days are less intense, with an occasional weird feeling, a touch, but nothing malicious. They have all become one, no longer trying to run guests off. Occasionally, things fall off the shelves when the spirits do not approve of the music.
There are other reports, such as a car accident in the mid-90s. A car lost control and crashed into a telephone pole outside the club's front door. Those in the vehicle were killed immediately.
When policeman Larry Hornsby showed up at the scene, a woman dressed in an evening gown offered him a pair of tablecloths to lay over the faces of the dead. When he went to the club to thank her for her help, he learned that the club was locked up that night and no woman existed.
You can go to a show and dance the night away at Bobby Mackey's; just be careful your dance partner might not be living.
Located at
44 Licking Pike, Wilder, Kentucky 41070
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