Tag: kentucky

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Why You Should Visit This Kentucky Haunted Hotel

While we were writing The Haunting of a Bourbon Town, Jeff Waldridge told me that he tried to warn a previous tenant about turning the Anderson Hotel into a haunted attraction. When you bring people into an environment that already has paranormal activity and scare them, it tends to make that activity worse. The ghosts feed off that fear, and the potential for real ghostly encounters escalates.

So what’s Jeff doing this Halloween season? He’s turning the Anderson Hotel into a haunted attraction, of course.

Not every ghost inside the Anderson Hotel, Lawrenceburg’s top haunted attraction, is on the payroll. Some checked in decades ago. They simply never checked out.

Come see what frights are in store this Halloween season at the historic, and very haunted, Anderson Hotel. Featured on Paranormal Lockdown and Talk is Jericho, the hotel is located right on Main Street in Lawrenceburg, and just a short drive from Four Roses and Wild Turkey.

For information on tours, visit the Anderson Hotel website.

Click here to order your signed copy of The Haunting of a Bourbon Town.

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How to Get Your Signed Copy of The Haunting of a Bourbon Town

John Cosper and Jeff Waldridge at the Anderson Hotel in Lawrenceburg

I paid a quick visit to Lawrenceburg, Kentucky this weekend. In addition to paying my respects to the architect of the 46 Defense, who is buried right off Main Street, I met with Jeff Waldridge. The first copies of our book The Haunting of a Bourbon Town arrived Saturday, and we signed a bunch just for you.

You can order your signed copy here at Dead Park Books. Read all about the bourbon kings, the hobos, the voodoo woman, Ol’ Albert, the Burning Man, the Grunge Boy, and the other oddballs who made history in central Kentucky. You’ll also learn about how Prohibition impacted the community, the strange architecture of the haunted Anderson Hotel, the filming of The Flim-Flam Man, and the two dogs who were sentenced to die in a trial by jury.

Click here to buy now!

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Spirits of All Kinds Abound in This Bourbon Town

The Anderson Hotel in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky

My friend Jeff Waldridge is ex-wrestler, a documentary filmmaker, a Bigfoot hunter, and an all around expert on the paranormal. He comes by his interest in the paranormal honestly. He grew up Lawrenceburg, a quiet Kentucky town with an extraordinary number of haunted spaces.

If you’re a fan of Talk Is Jericho or Paranormal Lockdown, you’ve heard of Lawrenceburg. You’ve also heard of the Anderson Hotel, one of the most active haunted spaces in America. The hotel is certainly the main attraction, but it’s hardly the only place with secrets. The mansions of the bourbon kings up the street, the courthouse down the block, even the distilleries outside of town have ghostly residents.

The Haunting of a Bourbon Town by Jeff Waldridge and John Cosper

Jeff and I spent close to a year compiling his research into The Haunting of a Bourbon Town. Part history, part chronicle of the unknown, the book will introduce you to Lawrenceburg’s past as a bourbon town. You’ll read stories of crimes and misdemeanors, of vagrants and hoboes, of Confederate guerrillas and a phony voodoo women.

And then, there are the ghosts.

The grunge boy. The burning man. The drunk. The man and woman in the newspaper building. The tall and imposing T.B. Ripy. And don’t forget Ol’ Albert at the courthouse.

Jeff knows this supernatural community better than anyone. The Haunting of a Bourbon Town will make you put Lawrenceburg on your travel itinerary. Just think twice about visiting the Anderson Hotel after dark. Not every spirit in this decrepit old hotel is friendly.

We are now taking pre-orders for SIGNED copies of the book. Books should be in stock by September and ship by September 15.

Click here to preorder your SIGNED copy.

Can’t wait that long? No problem. Amazon can get you an unsigned copy in a few days.

Click here to buy now from Amazon.

And don’t forget to book your own ghost walk in Lawrenceburg! For information, visit Jeff’s website:

Kentucky Ghost Tours

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First Time at Scarefest

I took off from my day job last Friday so I could meet up with a wrestler named Gregory Iron in Lexington, Kentucky. Greg and I are working on his autobiography, and he was planning to hit Scarefest that night to meet Robert England. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out as planned, and Greg couldn’t make the drive. We did a Zoom call so we could still get more audio recorded for his book. After we hung up, I drove to Lexington and went to Scarefest because… well, I had already bought a ticket!

Scarefest is definitely one of the most organized events I’ve ever attended. Admittedly, some events have set that bar really low, but they clearly have a good handle on what they’re doing. The “Staph,” as they call them, do an outstanding job.

I got to see some old friends Friday. The lovely couple that runs Karnivorous Creations had a booth, and it was great catching up with them. I saw the cryptid artist Holly Wholahan too, and I picked up some 5 x 7 pieces of the Grafton Monster and the Kentucky Goblins.

I stopped by the Blood Moon Pictures booth and spoke with P.J. Starks, whom I haven’t seen in forever. P.J. and company are doing some cool things in indie horror, and their latest feature is nearly funded on Indie Go-Go.

While waiting to talk to P.J., I got to meet Rob Mello, who was on a panel about indie horror with P.J. Rob played John Tombs in one of my favorite horror series, Happy Death Day. Of course Rob called me a liar for saying it was one of my favorites, but it’s the truth. I’m a horror-comedy guy. I adore those two movies, and I put them right up there with several other horror-comedy favorites: Ready or Not, Cabin in the Woods, and the Babysitter movies from Netflix.

I got to meet a Facebook friend, Christina Cannon, who was working the sound board on the main stage. Christina and I became acquainted when I cast her in the teaser trailer for Dead Park Plaza, and we’ve become buds over the last year. She’s also become one of my beta readers, which means any fiction of mine you read going forward, she’s read it first. And you’ll see her on the cover of the next Dead Park book as her character from the trailer takes center stage in a brand new story from the halls of that evil office building.

I just happened to find the main stage right at the time when Aidan Fisher was taking the stage. Aidan was the hands ‘stand in’ for Eddie Munson in season four of Stranger Things during that awesome “Master of Puppets” scene. He played the song from the show, and then he followed it up with his rendition of “Eruption.”

I said hello to Roni Jonah and gave her a copy of Zombies of Oz. Roni was part of a creative team that attempted to get a movie of that story off the ground years ago. She was going to be Dorothy, so if you’re wondering why Dorothy is a redhead in the book, wonder no more.

I had a backpack full of books that I brought to network and give away, and I handed a few of those out to some podcasters. Hack from Hack’s Horror Show was one, and the guys from We Watched A Movie were another. Super nice folks all around.

There were some cool cars and photos ops at the show, including the Jeepers Creepers truck and one of the original Christine’s from the movie. I was a bit more drawn to the oddities from a creepy museum in Knoxville, especially the two headed lamb that was once part of P.T. Barnum’s traveling show.

Oh yeah, I also saw Mad Man Pondo walking around. No surprise there. The man is the biggest horror fanatic I’ve ever known. He got some face time with Robert England that night, his co-star in the underrated 2001 Maniacs.

I didn’t get to meet Robert in person, though all accounts I’ve read said that he’s one of the nicest folks you’d ever want to meet. I did experience a cool “Freddy” moment, though. I was walking past the curtains blocking off the professional photo ops area while they were doing group pics with the Nightmare on Elm Street 4 cast. I heard a very familiar face shout out, “SMILE FOR THE BIRDIE, BITCH!” That alone was worth the price of admission.

I picked up some other cool things from vendors before I headed home.  Can’t post some of them here since they are family Christmas presents but… I got a really cool Addams Family pillow for ten bucks.

I’m admittedly late to the party in becoming a horror fan, but I certainly enjoyed Scarefest. I may look into attending as a vendor next year, when I will have at least two more Dead Park books on the table. If you’re within driving distance of Lexington and you like the scary movies, this is an event well worth your time!