More Tombstone Junction Images

Many thanks to Linda Tarter for emailing us some fantastic scans of old Tombstone Junction photographs!







For more information about Tombstone Junction, consult your copy of Weird Kentucky, page 160.

PETA Coming to Corbin

The Cult of PETA, in their blind zeal to use KFC as a scapegoat for their radical and sociopathic agenda, have done it again.

They had no problem with proposing a "crippled chicken" statue emblazoned with a libelous "KFC Cripples Chickens" motto, but now they're preparing to organize a protest rally over a statue of Harland Sanders in his hometown of Corbin.

Previously, PETA has pulled such morally tasteless stunts as sneaking a fake gravestone into Cave Hill Cemetery near Sanders' grave.

PETA don't seem to understand that all of the things which they wring their hands about regarding KFC's business practices today, even if they were true (which they aren't), have nothing whatsoever to do with Colonel Sanders, who sold the small company in 1964. Though Sanders' likeness is still used to this day as a cartoonish mascot for the brand, this is no reason to cast aspersions on this man's reputation, and to hound him posthumously for alleged events that, even if true, happened long after his watch.

PETA has also blanketly insulted the entire city of Louisville, calling it the "Cruelty Capital" - just because KFC's parent corporation, Yum! Brands, happens to be headquartered here.

World's Largest Skillet

It may not look a whole lot like a skillet (they have a detachable handle that they put on it for photo-ops) but it certainly counts as one - and man, is the chicken dee-lish. I haven't been to London's annual World Chicken Festival lately and probably won't make it there this year either, but I miss it greatly. Next year. It's there that you'll find this amazing monument to man's devotion to fried birds.

The World Chicken Festival was originally held in Corbin, but they moved it to nearby London as the event grew and became far bigger than anyone dreamed. There's plenty of flea-market vendors, musical acts, and other entertainments, but the real centerpiece of the Festival to me is the World's Largest Skillet. Who can say it isn't beautiful?

It's 10 feet 6 inches in diameter, and it weighs 700 pounds. It can cook 885 quarters of chicken at one time, and requires 300 gallons of peanut oil to do so. They also use approximately 375 pounds of flour, 75 pounds of salt, 30 pounds of pepper, and 30 pounds of paprika. On average, 8,000 pieces of chicken are prepared each year on the giant skillet.

Former Lawrenceburg mayor and Harland Sanders lookalike Colonel Bob Thompson (seen below at the Derby) is a regular guest at the Festival.


(photo of the superskillet is by Daveblog.)

The Bridges of Kentucky

For those of you who have an unexplainable obsession with bridges - and I know you're out there - the "street view" feature on Google Maps can be quite a handy toy, allowing you to traverse Kentucky's bridges virtually.

Madison-Milton Bridge, Milton, KY

Cumberland River Falls Bridge, Whitley County, KY

Boonesboro Bridge, Boonesboro, KY

Sherman Minton Bridge, Louisville, KY

Clark Bridge, Louisville, KY

Gordon Hill Pike Bridge, Corbin, KY

Paducah Bridge, Paducah, KY

J.R. Miller Blvd Bridge, Owensboro, KY

Lake Barkley US 68 Bridge, Cadiz, KY

Clays Ferry Bridge, Clays Ferry, KY

Ironton-Russell Bridge, Ashland, KY

Roebling Suspension Bridge, Covington, KY


And while Google currently doesn't let us street-view the William H. Natcher Bridge in Daviess County, we do get to go underneath it, at least:

Remains of Tombstone Junction

Just for a moment, let's turn our minds back to Corbin's late and lamented tourist attraction Tombstone Junction.

Tombstone Junction simulated a down-and-dirty western town, right down to the actual functioning in-house railroad and grimy train-robber actors who never broke character. It's always been one of our most popular entries on the old site, and now two readers have forwarded us brand new photographs of it - or rather, the spot where it used to be. All that remains of Tombstone Junction is apparently an empty parking lot, one crumbling shack, and some decaying bits of what once was their billboard.


Photos above by Jonathan Meadows, and photo below by Adam Sulfridge. Thanks to both gentlemen for their contribution and their enthusiasm.

For more information about Tombstone Junction, consult your copy of Weird Kentucky, page 160.

Sanders Cafe

Corbin, KY is home to Sanders Cafe, which was the first Kentucky Fried Chicken establishment, opened by Colonel Harlan Sanders in 1940. It originally functioned as the built-in restaurant for Sanders' motel, which sadly no longer exists, but don't panic: the museum has a meticulously detailed scale model diarama of the entire block as it appeared back in the day.

The museum (which is registered as an official historic site) is filled with all manner of figurines and busts of Sanders and all variety of bric-a-brac with the Colonel's likeness, no matter how trivial and peripheral (even the original paraphenalia issued to advertise the museum's opening in 1990 is enshrined as if antique).


The look and feel of Sanders' original restaurant is maintained for the most part, but the effect is somewhat killed by having a completely modern and glitzy KFC serving counter in the midst of it all.

U.S. 25

Kentucky's own "Route 66" of paranormal weirdness is Highway 25, running straight down the center of the state. An inordinate amount of our pieces here take place very near U.S. 25, making it an ideal roadtripping destination for those of you visiting from elsewhere.

Highway 25 begins at the KY/OH border, and from there it winds its way south, spending the next couple hours running alongside I-75. In Corbin U.S 25 splits into two, one going East (25 East), one going South (though for some reason they call it 25 West). Both 25E and 25W have their points of interest, but it's 25E that has that good ol' U.S. 25 feeling all the way to the Tennessee border.

And if it's an East-West drive you had in mind, U.S. 25 delivers you directly to access points to the Blue Grass Parkway (which will get you to Hopkinsville and Mammoth Cave), the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway (which will get you to Red River Gorge), and the Daniel Boone Parkway (which will get you to the Hazard area).

Tombstone Junction

Tombstone Junction was a Wild West themed amusement park featuring an actual internal railroad system of its own (not one of those miniature choo-choo rail cars like you see in some zoos). Tombstone Junction was located outside of Corbin, KY and entertained countless happy tourists until it burned down in not one, but two fires: one in 1989, the last in 1991.

Today little is left of Tombstone Junction, but it lives on the memories of those who saw it in its glory days. Tombstone Junction still commands an enthusiastic following to this day, judging by the volume of e-mails I've received about it over the years.

According to Karl Lusk, retired Executive Director of the Kentucky Railway Museum, the trains actually survived the fire, were auctioned off, and are still out in circulation, albeit in piecemeal fashion:

"I was at that sale, working for Ford Bros. auctioneers, Somerset, as rail equipment consultant and auctioneer. The two small steam locos were purchased by John Caperton, a rail enthusiast from Louisville. The larger loco was purchased on behalf of the Big South Fork Scenic Railway at Stearns, where it is currently undergoing restoration to operating condition. The cars, in bad repair, were, I believe scrapped, and the shop equipment, parts, etc. sold to a number of buyers, including the KY Railway Museum, Tennessee Valley Railway Museum, Diversified Rail Services, etc."

We've received many photos of Tombstone Junction that had lain dormant in the old vacation photo albums of several families, and will show some of them here soon. We always want to see more, though, so if you have Tombstone Junction photos, feel free to scan them and send them!


For more information, turn to page 160 in your copy of Weird Kentucky.

Skeeter Davis

Like many stars of the Grand Ole Opry, Skeeter Davis was born and raised in Kentucky before reaching fame and fortune in Tennessee. And like many good Kentucky folk, her story is one riddled with peculiarities:

First and foremost, her name wasn’t even Skeeter Davis. It’s hard to fathom someone deliberately choosing “Skeeter” as a stage name, but there it is. Apparently it was her grandfather’s affectionate nickname for her, and she thought it would be a great idea to adopt it permanently. Her real name was Mary Penick, and she was born in Dry Ridge, KY in 1931.

The “Davis” name comes from her dead former partner, Betty Jack Davis from Corbin, KY. Skeeter and Betty sang together as a duo, billing themselves as The Davis Sisters. That they weren’t sisters and that Skeeter’s name wasn’t Davis didn’t seem to matter. Ms. Penick began calling herself Skeeter Davis to fit their story, and soon they had a hit record with RCA, “I Forgot More Than You’ll Ever Know” which reached number one on the Country charts and hit the Top 20 pop charts.

The two were in a late-night car accident in Cincinnati in 1954, killing Betty instantly and injuring Skeeter. Rather than dissolve the duo at a time when their hit record was climbing the charts, it was decided that Betty’s sister Georgia - a real Davis sister - would be sent out on the road to take the dead one’s place singing with Skeeter. The hope was that the average listener wouldn’t notice the switch, but evidently they did - the duo bombed without Betty.

Skeeter dissolved her partnership with Georgia in 1956 and went solo, using the latest multi-tracking technology to overdub harmonies with herself. Now Skeeter was her own Davis sister. She began a long string of hits as a solo artist throughout the next decade, most notably her apocalyptically oddball pop-crossover hit “The End of the World” (which many people assume is Lesley Gore when they hear it on oldies stations).

The 1970s were not as kind to Skeeter. In 1973 she was banned from the Grand Ole Opry for making a “political speech” complaining about the recent arrests of members of a conservative Christian group. It was noted by some that Roy Acuff had, only the week before, made an onstage plea to reinstate the death penalty after the murder of Stringbean, which was just as much a political statement as Skeeter’s yet received no fallout. Skeeter was allowed to return to the Opry in 1975, but the damage to her career had already been done and the hits had stopped coming by then.

As years went by, Skeeter gradually morphed into a sort of eccentric and spacey southern hippie character, and her onstage patter provided some of the more spirited - surreal, even - moments onstage at the Opry. Having been a second-tier member of the ensemble for much of her previous tenure there, her personality and charisma tended to dominate and shine above the non-entities she was forced to share the stage with in later years.

She died in 2004 at the age of 72, leaving behind a legacy of albums that range from the majestic (Singin’ In the Summer Sun) to the puzzling (Skeeter Davis Sings Buddy Holly).