Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Louisville, KY may be one of the most well-known haunted places in the state, but have you ever heard of Bobby Mackey’s Music World? Located in Wilder, KY, just on the other side of the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Bobby Mackey’s is known as “the most haunted nightclub in the United States.” This bar may be home to a fun honky-tonk atmosphere with live music, but it also might have some of the most terrifying ghost stories that even rival Waverly Hills.

When you first enter Bobby Mackey’s, it may just look like any other bar you’ve ever visited.
Flickr/Tabitha Kaylee Hawk
Live music might be playing with people dancing around the stage, games of pool could be going on, and they even have a mechanical bull.
Flickr/Tabitha Kaylee Hawk
Flickr/Tabitha Kaylee Hawk
Yelp/Grace W.

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However, Bobby Mackey’s is said to be so haunted that they offer paranormal tours and investigations and have even been featured on the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures.”
Flickr/Tabitha Kaylee Hawk
So what makes this place so haunted?
Flickr/Tabitha Kaylee Hawk
In the 1850s the site was a slaughterhouse. In the basement, a well was dug to dump waste - blood and guts - from the slaughtered animals. This spot is now said to be the "gateway to hell." The slaughterhouse closed in the 1890s, but stories say that Satanic rituals took place here, mainly around the well where the waste from slaughtered animals was dumped.
The Murder Of Pearl Bryan
TripAdvisor/Lori G.
In 1896, a young woman named Pearl Bryan was supposedly murdered and decapitated, and she and her killers are now said to be some of the spirits that haunt Bobby Mackey’s. The story goes that Pearl was pregnant by her boyfriend, Scott Jackson. Jackson urged Pearl to come to Cincinnati to get an abortion, but Jackson and his roommate Alonzo Walling tried to do it themselves. The procedure went wrong, and Pearl died.

They decapitated her so it would be harder to identify her body, and dumped the corpse in a field 2.5 miles away. Some versions of the story say her head was never found. Other versions say they dumped the head down the well inside the building. Jackson and Walling were eventually caught and hanged. Right before his execution, Walling vowed to haunt the surrounding area forever.
The Death Of Johanna
Flickr/Tabitha Kaylee Hawk
Another tragic death that took place at the site happened in the 1950s, when the building was a nightclub called the Latin Quarter. The night club owner had daughter named Johanna, who was a dancer there. The story says she became pregnant by a singer who often performed there, named Robert Randall. Apparently Johanna’s father was so angry that he had Randall killed, and Johanna retaliated by killing her father and then taking her own life. She is reported to be one of the spirits that still haunts Bobby Mackey’s.

Besides these hauntings, Bobby Mackey’s Music World is said to have a lot of demonic activity. People have reported seeing full-bodied apparitions, including that of a headless woman that could have been Pearl Bryan. Others have reported unexplained cold spots, taps on the shoulder when no one was behind them, and even leaving the place with scratches.

They offer regular tours, so you can investigate for yourself whether or not you believe all the ghost stories. At the very least, you’ll enjoy a drink or two in a casual atmosphere with country music in the background. For more information on how to book a tour, visit their website. Bobby Mackey’s Music World is located at 44 Licking Pike, Wilder, KY 41071.

Has anyone experienced anything strange at Bobby Mackey’s? Is anyone brave enough to see for themselves?

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