Historic Bobby Mackey Kentucky Nightclub Demolished

The demolition of Bobby Mackey’s Music World, often called the most haunted nightclub in America, began Tuesday morning.

After nearly 50 years of live music from owner and country singer Bobby Mackey, as well as national attention from shows such as “Ghost Hunters” and “Ghost Adventures,” the venue in Wilder, Kentucky, is in being demolished. Mackey and his wife, Denise, plan to rebuild a new one-story bar on the land by 2026, The Enquirer previously reported. But this date is subject to change.

“It’s a mixed emotion, of course, but I was very bothered by the old building for so long,” Mackey, who opened the venue in 1978, told The Enquirer in March. “It’s going to be bittersweet because it’s been great for almost 46 years that we’ve been here. But it’s just one of those things that – time flies.”

In the meantime, Bobby Mackey’s has temporarily relocated to the former Mugbees Biker Bar and Restaurant location in Florence at 8405 US Highway 42.

The venue’s beloved mechanical bull, country music memorabilia, Bobby Mackey’s stage costumes, a 2004 Ford Thunderbird, items related to the venue’s paranormal folklore and much more were sold at public auction during the ‘summer.

History of the musical world of Bobby Mackey

The land where Bobby Mackey’s calls home was once the site of a 19th-century slaughterhouse, which was later demolished. In the 1930s, entrepreneur Buck Brady opened a nightclub on the grounds called the Primrose Club, which was allegedly taken over and run by the Mafia.

The nightclub was renamed Quartier Latin and eventually closed in the 1950s before reopening as Hard Rock. After Hard Rock closed in the 1970s, country singer and Kentucky native Bobby Mackey opened Bobby Mackey’s Music World in 1978.

Mackey told The Enquirer that he knew the folklore surrounding the place, but never paid attention to the haunted rumors until he met Carl Lawson, an 18-year-old who lived on the street . Lawson was hired to be the caretaker of the facility.

While tending to the property, Lawson, who lived above the nightclub until his death in 2012, began having paranormal experiences.

He is said to have unearthed the diary of a pregnant singer named Joanna, who committed suicide by poison after her father murdered her lover and hanged him in the dressing room. Lawson even participated in an exorcism performed by the “Ghost Adventures” team, which was featured in the 2009 book “Exorcism of Carl Lawson” by Douglas Hensley.

Over the years, the nightclub cultivated a fan base invested in both Mackey as a local country music legend and the ghost sightings said to have occurred at his establishment.