Carry On Wayward Son: Death Tour 2012 - Episode Companion

Greetings, and welcome back to a very special Beyond the Veil Podcast Episode Companion!

The newest episode has been up for some time now, but if you haven't checked it out yet, you can get it through iTunes or through the link below.

http://beyondtheveil.libsyn.com/episode-18-carry-on-wayward-son-death-tour-2012

This edition is going to be a little bit more like a travel journal than a normal companion, since the main focus of this episode was the amazing trip we took to some of the haunted places in the upper Midwest. So here goes. Enjoy!

June 7th, 2012

They buy MOST things of value

Murder room? You be the judge

We began our journey bright and early on Thursday morning, with our sights set on our first destination: Brookings, South Dakota. Gassing up my car (henceforth called by his name, Leo. Short for Leonidas) at a Holiday near Medina, we purchased some essentials. I got some Arizona Green Tea, Blair got some chocolate milk, and Marc and Mr. B got some Jalapeno Beef Jerky (which smelled like fucking bull shit). We set out on the open road, we banged out some sweet tunes and we bonded. 4 short hours later, we arrived in Brookings with hunger in our hearts and urine in our bladders. We had a place in mind to eat at; the kind of place that you could order a huge burger and ask them to slap a fried egg on that sumbitch. It was called the Ram, and it was fucking closed. C'est la vie, as the Japanese would say. We entered a small pawn shop to piss and contemplate our next move. This store was cool, and pretty creepy actually. We decided to go to a small pizza place to eat, and had some great food.

To deter shoplifting...

Bonus points for the Titanic print

After that nice little pit stop, we went full bore south, heading toward our next destination: Blair, Nebraska. No relation to Blair Byrnes. Let me start by saying that South Dakota doesn't have a lot going on. Dusty roads, open plains, and occasionally a cool hill or two. Also, we had a fucking SD Highway Patrol car follow us for 20 miles and I had no clue what the speed limit was. Fucking bullshit. Either way, we made it safely to Blair right around dusk, and checked in to our sweet motel. We unpacked, and headed out to Freemont, Nebraska for some food and our first paranormal stop on our journey. After filling our bellies at the local Village Inn, we headed to Barnard Park, which was reputed to be haunted.

Barnard Park

This park was much smaller and less remote than we thought. It's about one city block in size, and is surrounded by the busy main drag of the town, so we never had a silent or private moment even in the middle of the night. So we investigated the park and the grounds, and took some pics for good measure. We could see this park being very creepy, but with all the people around, we just weren't feeling it.

Creepy gazebo

Supposedly haunted bench.

Blair takes the carousel for a ride

Kind of ominous...

Feeling underwhelmed, we returned to Blair to get ready for bed and plan our next move. After a long day of driving and eating, we fell asleep quickly and with excitement in our hearts for what lay in store for the next day.





June 8th, 2012

As the bright Nebraska sun beamed through our window on Friday morning, we had our plan firmly in place. Head to Hummel Park in Omaha, grab a bite to eat downtown, and hit the road for the rest of day.


Hummel Park

Looking down the mystery stair

Now this was the exact opposite of Barnard Park. It was enormous and we got seriously lost looking for the staircase of death. For those who don't remember us talking about it previously, this staircase will apparently give you a different number of steps going up and going down. Well, we found this was true; but by no means is this supernatural. The staircase is HUGE. It tires you out, and counting almost 200 steps while tired is just asking for your memory to fuck you up a little bit. Myth busted. It was still cool though.

Looking up the mystery stair

Looking... down? I can't really tell

Downtown Omaha was one of the coolest places we ended up going. It was just awesome. The skyline was cool, the buildings were nice and the restaurant we went to was incredible. It was called the Upstream Brewing Company, and holy shit, was it fantastic. Anyway, after food, we headed out for our next destination, Lawrence, Kansas.

The drive to Kansas was quite scenic. There were lots of cemeteries on high hills along the roadside, and it was amazing to see. We tried to stay at a motel right on the highway in Lawrence, but it smelled like a hobo's asshole, so we packed up and headed for the Best Western. The room we booked there was excellent. As the daylight waned, we headed west to Stull, to see the supposed gateway to Hell.

Stull Cemetery

Delightful

Look at how nice this goddamn cemetery is...

What we found instead was a beautiful graveyard that was immaculately tended and brightly lit. It exuded absolutely no menace at all; it was a place that I would want to be buried one day.



I have no clue how the rumors of this place started, but I'm almost certain they are unwarranted. Nice place. If that's a gateway to Hell, my afterlife may be more pleasant than I was led to believe.

Gateway to Hell? Or Gateway to Delight?

Back in our motel room, we prepared for the biggest stop on our journey that was just a brief sleep away. With ambition and excitement powering our souls, we drifted off into sleep.


 June 9th, 2012


 After we excitedly packed and wished Lawrence our best, we began the long drive to Villisca, Iowa where our ultimate destination awaited: The Villisca Murder House.

Villisca Murder House

Main bed. Husband and Wife murdered here

 We pulled Leo into a parking spot in a small park in the center of Villisca, and right away, something wasn't right in the town. It was early Saturday afternoon, and not a single soul could be seen downtown. Everything looked closed; indeed, that may have been the case.

Under one of the kid's beds

Attic, where the killer supposedly hid

We stopped into a tiny dinner called TJ's and had some very good (and very cheap) food, and hoofed it to the murder house. When we got there, the house looked down at us and filled us with a slight sense of dread. Nothing outrageous, but something was definitely 'off' about the place. We paid our money to tour the house, and set off inside.

 The house was tiny, and it was filled with items that were authentic to the year 1912, when the grisly murders of 8 people occurred inside it. It was hot, claustrophobic, and I can't say I was a big fan of the feelings I got while inside it. Of all the places we visited, this was one that did not disappoint. It filled me with dread, and the feeling of looking at the beds where small children were bludgeoned to death will stay with me for quite some time.

With our main mission now complete, we decided that we weren't quite done with this death trip yet, and we remembered another thing we covered in a previous episode; the Black Angel in Council Bluffs. Being only an hours drive away, we couldn't say no.

The house from the front.

When we finally arrived (after being lost in the city of Council Bluffs for a fair amount of time), the Black Angel towered above us and filled us all with a sense of wonder. There was nothing evil or malevolent about this statue; it was beautiful beyond belief. After some quiet reflection, we got back inside Leo and made our way back Home.

The Black Angel

I don't think we'll ever forget that trip. It was a great bonding experience for all of us. We got to grow as individuals and as a group. The experiences we had and the changes it helped facilitate will only strengthen our resolve to make the best damn Paranormal/Comedy/Random Shit podcast ever recorded. Thanks again to all of our fans. You guys are what keeps us going and putting the work into making this happen.

Much love,
-The Beyond the Veil Crew


Music From This Episode

"Carry On Wayward Son" - Kansas

"Stand By Me" - Ben E. King