Remnants of Long Run Baptist Church

Long Run Cemetery, located off Old Stage Coach Road near the Jefferson-Shelby County border, contains what's left of the old Long Run Baptist Church. That's not much, unfortunately - just a stone foundation.

The church's remains can be seen clearly on Google Maps here.

This area was the site of the "Long Run Massacre", described by the historical marker sign as "undoubtedly the bloodiest in Kentucky". Huron and Miami indians killed 76 settlers and soldiers during a two-day period. Those killed on the first day were en route from Squire Boone's Painted Station to the Falls of the Ohio, and those killed on the second day were militiamen dispatched to bury the victims from the previous day.

Forrest J Ackerman

It's not really Kentucky-related but I think a significant share of my readers can dig it: recently the great Forrest J Ackerman left this world at the age of 92.

Forry was best known as editor/publisher of the century-defining Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine during its heyday 50s to the 80s, but also for his "Ackermansion" which drew tourists daily to view his staggering collection of pop culture memorabilia accrued over a lifetime. (In later years, he had to sell off much of the archive and move into a smaller "Acker-mini-mansion", which I wasn't aware of until reading his obituaries. Sad.) He also was an accomplished writer, as well as a literary agent for many cutting-edge writers like A.E. Van Vogt, Ray Bradbury, L. Ron Hubbard, Charles Beaumont, Marion Zimmer Bradley and even Ed Wood.

I met Forry at an Atlanta Fantasy Fair in the early 80s and we corresponded for awhile by mail for a zine project that never came to fruition. Even then, in my youth and thinking of him then as "old", I was amazed at his energy and enthusiasm. And now, years later, reading his obituaries, I'm impressed that at the age of 92, he was still managing his own MySpace page by himself.

Meanwhile, a new incarnation of Famous Monsters magazine is available, keeping Forry's freak flag flying into the new millenium.

Raven Run

The Raven Run nature preserve is way off the beaten path, and not well known. For this reason, it's one of my favorite places to visit in Kentucky for a nature hike. It's over 10 miles of wooded hiking trails containing over 600 species of plants and 200 species of birds. Among the preserve's ultra-rare endangered species are Soft-hair Marbleseed (Onosmodium molle), Downy Arrowwood (Viburnum rafinesquianum), Hispid Falsemallow (Malvastrum hispidum) and Nodding Rattlesnake-root (Prenanthes crepidinea).

Since Raven Run is a serious nature sanctuary and not merely a park, you have to sign in at the front desk and strictly observe their rules, such as no bikes, no pets, no alcohol, no weapons, no fires, no camping, no picnicking, and for that matter, no touching anything if you can possibly help it.

Because of its remote location, the sanctuary is popular with local astronomers, and stargazing events are often held there with the Bluegrass Amateur Astronomy Club. I've heard claims that the land upon which Raven Run rests has had more than a few ghostly and paranormal happenings, but my attempts to pin anybody down on useful details has so far turned up zippo. Every Halloween, they host a "mysteries of the night" hayride, but I have yet to check that out.


To visit Raven Run, get on U.S. 25 between Richmond and Lexington, and turn at Jacks Creek Pike by Judy Ray's Food Mart. Follow it about 6 miles and watch for signs on your left.

The Metal Man of Clayvillage

This fun folk-art metal ductwork robot can be found greeting passersby along Highway 60 in Clayvillage, KY. Ferrell's Air Conditioning and Heating, which operates in a nice old historic schoolhouse, constructed him to decorate their lawn.

Corner Service Station Update

Our reader Danny submitted these new pictures of Corner Service Station. It's still abandoned, but unfortunately someone's stripped all the cool old signs off it (yet for some reason they left the "Flats Fixed" sign behind, even though I suspect there's some ancient gas or oil logo hidden underneath that whitewash and stencil-paint).

The Dry Ridge Monster

From the Kentucky Post, August 27, 2001:

In July 1964 things were hopping in Grant County. The annual county fair was about to start its four-day run on the grounds of Grant County High School. Among the events were horseshoe pitching, baby show, Miss Grant County competition, Junior Woman's Club variety show and flower show sponsored by the Carlsbad Garden Club.

Then ''it'' was seen.

''It'' was described as big, dark, about 7 feet tall with shiny eyes. ''It'' was seen at a trash dump off U.S. 36. With each pasing night, word spread of the monster. Carloads of people came out to try to catch a glimpse of the beast. Some people reported seeing bear-like footprints.

One local farmer said the crowds were a nuisance, ''shouting and shooting.'' He asked people to stay away, saying there was no monster.

Making headlines daily in The Kentucky Post, the matter turned serious when two 17-year-old boys were accidentally struck by shotgun pellets fired by a group of teen-agers hunting for the monster. The injuries were not life-threatening.

Meanwhile, police were receiving reports of other monster sightings.

Finally, officers speculated the ''monster'' was probably just an eccentric man, well known to police, who tended to wander around after dark, but who was apparently harmless.

They also announced plans to begin citing the carloads of people, many from Kenton and Campbell counties, who continued to show up for the monster hunts. One night officers chased away 14 carloads, many of which had people ''running around half-cocked with shotguns.''

Five and a Half MPH?

Wait, what?

Saundra Curry Twist

Saundra Curry Twist's grave in Louisville's Cave Hill Cemetery has probably the most eye-catching of all the many beautiful statues there. Twist, a professional fashion model, was killed in an automobile accident in 1981, and her grave marker depicts her larger than life, with arms outstretched and a marble colonnade behind her. The inscription at her feet reads "God Always Seems to Pick his Prettiest Flower".

In 2000, Saundra's daughter Tonjua Twist committed suicide in her apartment in Marina Del Rey, California. Tonjua was a Hollywood fashion stylist who worked with many stars such as Cindy Crawford and Michael Jackson. The still-current trend of low-cut jeans was single-handedly started by Tonjua when she removed the waistband from a pair of Mariah Carey's jeans for a photo shoot in 1999. According to US Weekly, Tonjua swallowed more than 70 tranqulizers, antidepressants and sleeping pills.

The Peaslee Sphinx

The Peaslee family plot, located in Louisville's Cave Hill Cemetery, always commands attention with its huge Sphinx replica. The Peaslee Sphinx can be clearly seen on Google Maps here.

Although I'm fuzzy on the genealogy of it all, the Peaslees buried here are related to Louisville's former mayor Charles Rowland Peaslee Farnsley. Farnsley is also buried in Cave Hill, but this plot contains Ella Harper Harbeson Peaslee, Eleanora Harbeson Peaslee, and Charles Rowland Peaslee. This Charles Rowland, however, is neither Mayor Farnsley (who was born in 1907), nor is it Charles Rowland Peaslee Harbeson, who was born in 1910 and died in 1912.

Mayor Farnsley's much more modest grave can be seen here.

Charles Farnsley Statue

This statue of Charles Rowland Peaslee Farnsley (former mayor of Louisville and U.S. Congressional Representative) is seated on a bench on Louisville's Main Street, practically begging people to pose for photographs with him.

Jellystone, Kentucky?

I don't get why there's a Hanna-Barbera Jellystone Park resort at Mammoth Cave, since the fictional Jellystone of Yogi Bear cartoons was presumably in Wyoming like its satire source, Yellowstone National Park. But that's okay. Like Jack Burton, I was not put on this Earth to "get it".

The Eastern Accent

Does anyone recall the Eastern Accent, a now-defunct Eastern Kentucky University newspaper? It began in 1978 and only lasted a little over a year.

The Accent was sometimes rather idiosyncratic and primitive in its approach, with strange features like a regular column "written" by the editor's dog. The whole enterprise seemed especially quirky next to the comparatively slick Eastern Progress paper. (Why did anyone think a campus of EKU's size could support two school papers, when there was precious little news to report in the first place? I do not know the answer.)

The publisher, David Shew, just happened to be the son of Randall Shew, the publisher of The Richmond Register, the local newsdaily in Richmond. The Accent was reportedly printed on the Register's presses and, in fact, used identical fonts, layout, and style. It's possible they hoped to somehow eclipse the Progress and eventually become EKU's sole or primary paper. But it didn't happen.

But what really intrigued many of us about the paper was that they, in an apparent cost-cutting gambit, let a very young local elementary schoolkid from Model Laboratory School draw the paper's comics. Not once or twice as a cute gimmick, but on an ongoing basis. Most of the comics were surrealist swipes from Charles Schulz' Peanuts characters, but there was also "Fighto the Super Dog" and other oddities.




I recently spoke to that very same local elementary schoolkid, who is now in his 30s and operates from a bunker in an undisclosed location. On his early comics career, he had this to say:

"The Accent was hit with a "cease and desist" order… basically, the Syndicate didn't care that there was a nine year old boy who idolized Charles M. Schulz and was one of the biggest fans of "Peanuts" and wanted to express his love of the comic in this manner. It was infringing on the property of the Syndicate, and that was simply not allowed. However, since the newspaper wasn't really making money (it was given away for free) and it was, after all, being drawn by a nine year old who didn't quite understand the situation, certain changes had to be made if the comic strips were to continue: It could not be called "Peanuts" and the characters could not be named. I suppose they weren't too worried about the issue of the likenesses being infringed upon; my artwork wasn't that good.

And so, on January 29, 1979, a new era began … the comic strip known as "Weanuts". Hey, the Syndicate only said that the strip was not to be called "Peanuts"… this became a running gag for the next few weeks, as each week's strip had a different title, based on the theme of nuts … "Walnuts" … "Brazil Nuts" … "Spanish Nuts" … "Mixed Nuts" … "More Nuts" … apparently, the Syndicate was not amused, because they apparently griped enough that I was asked to do "something else" for the comic strip. And so, on April 2, 1979, my last "Peanuts"-inspired strip ran, the final part of a monumental three-part epic featuring Charlie Brown versus a fortune-telling vending machine that explodes on him, not once, but twice.

Unfortunately, the next school year, The Eastern Progress decided to go in a different direction and (wisely) decided not to bring me back as a regular feature. Oh well."

Does anyone out there still have copies of the Accent? Please let us know!