Bobby Mackey’s Music World

This picture is the inside of Bobby Mackey's Music World. On the left several people are crowded around a pool table. To the right is part of the mechanical bull they have for entertainment. On the back wall is a large poster saying "Bobby Mackey's" in yellow ink. The bar is dimly lit.
Customers playing a game of pool in the backroom of Bobby Mackey’s Music World in Wilder, Kentucky. Friday, October 27, 2019.

This Public History in the Wild Post is just in time for “Spooky Season.” Traditional country singer, Bobby Mackey, purchased his bar in 1978, but the building’s history goes back further than that – making it “the most haunted nightclub in America.” In the early 19th century, the site was used as a slaughterhouse. They used the underground tunnels to drain the blood into the Licking River which flows behind the building. In 1896, a pregnant woman was murdered by her lover and his friend. Her headless body was found in Fort Thomas and it is said the men threw her head down the well in the basement of the slaughterhouse. In 1933, the slaughterhouse became a casino. Legend says “Johanna”, the daughter of one of the casino operators, had her lover killed by her gangster father. In return, she killed her father and herself inside the casino. Now strange occurrences are reported inside the bar – lights flicker, locked doors open, and the jukebox plays on its own. Today, Bobby Mackey plays live music at his music world every Friday. Get there early and you’ll have front row seats to hear him play “Johanna,” a song inspired by the murders.