THE RED RIVER SAGA: NEWSCENTER

BOBBY MACKEY'S MUSIC WORLD
(Continued from NEWSCENTER)

Bobby Mackey's Music World is a bar and dance club located in Wilder, Kentucky just a short distance from Cincinnati, Ohio.
From the outside, it appears to be like any other night club. This building, however, sits near the site of one of the more sinister
acts in Kentucky history.

We shall begin, as they say, at the beginning. The year is 1896. A beautiful young girl named Pearl Bryan is the youngest of
12 children from the influential Bryan family of Greencastle Indiana. Pearl is very much in love. Pearl was introduced by her cousin
to a handsome young dental student named Scott Jackson in the spring of 1895. The love Pearl felt grew and by Jan. 31, 1896; she
found herself almost 5 months pregnant. Under the ruse of telling her parents she was going to Indianapolis to visit friends, Pearl
set off for Cincinnati to meet Scott and to have an abortion.

When Pearl arrived in Cincinnati, she was met at the train station by her love Scott Jackson and his dental school roommate Alonzo
Walling. Unfortunately for Pearl, she had given her love unwisely. Scott Jackson was a cold calculating predator. When Pearl
arrived, Scott drugged her using cocaine, took her to a field near Fort Thomas and beheaded her with the help of his roommate.
Scott and Alonzo claimed that the abortion went wrong, Pearl died and they were disposing of the body. However, the defensive
wounds on her hands and the massive amount of blood found at the site indicate she was very much alive when the cutting began.

Scott and Alonzo were found guilty of murder and hung on March 21, 1897 for their crime. There hanging was the last public
hanging in Campbell county Kentucky.

Pearl's head was never found.

Some speculated that the head was dumped down an old well at a nearby slaughterhouse. The well was used to dispose of the
animal remains and blood from slaughter. Bobby Mackey's Music World is constructed on the slaughterhouse site.

During the prohibition years, a speakeasy and popular gambling joint was there. Several murders were said to have occurred
there during its tenure.

After prohibition, a nightclub was operated there. In the 1950,s, the then owner had a young daughter Johanna who fell in love
with a singer. Her father did not approve. According to legend, she took her own life in the basement. She was 5 months pregnant.

Bobby and Janet Mackey purchased the building in 1978 with the intent of starting a country bar. They got more than they
bargained for. The first employee hired by the Mackey's, Carl Lawson, began to report unusual phenomenon. Lights would come
on by themselves, doors would unlock themselves and the jukebox would play despite the fact that it was unplugged. Soon
Lawson began to see entities. Lawson claimed he could actually speak to the spirit of Johanna.

The Mackey's didn’t believe any of the occurrences until Janet Mackey herself had a frightening experience. While in the
basement, something grabbed her and pushed her down the steps. She was 5 months pregnant at the time–Coincidence?

Once Janet admitted her experience, others came forward. Many reported seeing a headless ghost in clothes from the
turn of the century. Pearl?

This appears to be a very active area due to its sordid past. While the history is very interesting, this is not a place I would
advise amateurs to seek out. There are many reports of physical activity. In fact, one patron sued the Mackey's in 1994
claiming he was attacked by a ghost in the restroom. This is also an area that may have a demonic presence. Reportedly,
an exorcism was performed there in 1994.

In closing while doing research for this article, I came across a folk song written about Pearl Bryan’s death.
I'll leave it as my last thought.

Young girls, if you’ll listen, a story I’ll relate
That happened near Fort Thomas in the old Kentucky state

On Jan 31st the dreadful deed was done
By Jackson and by Walling; how cold Pearl’s blood did run!

But little did her parents think when she left her happy home,
Their darling girl just in her youth would never more return

How sad it would have been to them to have heard Pearl’s lonely voice
At midnight in that lonely spot where those two boys rejoiced

And little did Pearl Bryan think when she left her home
The grip she carried in her hand would hide her head away

She thought it was her lovers hand she could trust both night and day
Although it was her lovers hand that took her life away

The driver in the seat is all who tells of Pearls sad fate
Of poor Pearl Bryan away from home in the old Kentucky state

Of her aged parents we all know well what a fortune they would give
If Pearl could but to then return her natural life to live

In came Pearl Bryan’s sister and falling to her knees
Begging to Scott Jackson, “My sisters head, O please!”

Scott Jackson he set stubborn not a word would he proclaim
“Ill meet my sister in heaven, where Ill find her missing head”
In came Wallings’s mother, Pleading for her son

Don’t take my son, my only son, From him I cannot part
O please don’t take him to prison; it would break my poor old heart

The jury gave a verdict, and to their feet they sprung
For the crime these boys committed, they surely must be hung

Next article: Haunted Mammoth Cave
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