Camp Blood

The Story of the 13th Street Morgue

2009-10-19T07:57:00.004-05:00

Be sure to check out www.13thstreetmorgue.com and come out and visit us this Halloween haunt season.

The story of the morgue, its strange legends and tales, date all the way back to 1915, when a man named James Sharp built his house in the then remote city of Red Oak. James Sharp was a prominent Texas oil pioneer and banker who was partnered with Howard Hughes Sr. in the famed Sharp-Hughes Tool Company. The manor was actually the second house on the property, the first one, made of wood, was hit by lightning in 1915, and killed at least two men inside. After the first house burned, James decided to build a new house on the same spot. It was actually an exact replica of his then current residence in Oak Cliff, a stately red brick manor house, virtually fireproof, and even after all these years, both the house in Red Oak and Oak Cliff are still standing. Before the completion of the second house in Red Oak, James was found dead in his home in Oak Cliff, shot just behind his left ear. Speculation says he was shot by his jealous mistress, though suicide seemed to be a far more likely option.

Official cause of death.....the loss of two to three ounces of brain matter, according to his death certificate. The property in Red Oak was then passed down to James' son, Matt, who not only completed the house but between 1918 and 1928, built three barns, a pump house, generator house and coach house. All of these would help accommodate the raising and breeding of race horses, which he did very successfully for several years. Matt lived on the property with his wife during that time until tragedy once again struck, just after the Great Depression in 1929. Matt's wife was found in the house, poisoned in the dining room while he was found hanging in one of the three barns. It's assumed that he did the poisoning and then hung himself, but with no witness, its really anyone's guess as to what might have happened. Some have speculated that it was a suicide pact, or she forced him at gun point to commit suicide and poisoned herself later. Other stories abound as well, that Matt was a womanizer, a heavy drinker and abusive, though there is no actual evidence of these claims. The most far fetched, but entertaining of these claims told by local residents is that Matt Sharp had a mistress in addition to his wife, and when the two discovered each other, they joined forces in a jealous rage, killed Matt, cut up his body and hid it in the attic. Far fetched maybe, but indeed well within the realm of possibility.

This my friends, is where the Morgue comes in.

In the year of Matt's death a man named Jonathon Maybrick leased one of the barns for his residence and funeral parlor, which he named the "13th Street Morgue" while at his first address in Alvarado, Tx. He selected the largest of the three. While no one knows for certain, its stands to reason that he leased that particular building because he might have gotten it cheap, the stigmata of a building that someone committed suicide in is hard to ignore in a small town. It was, and still is, tall and imposing, constructed of the same red Ferris brand brick the manor house was built with, with windows that face East to view the rising sun. He turned the South part of the barn into storage for the hearse, converted the North section into a home and turned the second story over the center section into the funeral parlor and embalming facility. It does seem strange at first glance to put a funeral home on the second floor, but logistically it made the most sense since the North and South ends of the building were simply too small to accommodate the funeral parlor's needs. Though the construction budget was not sizable, Jonathon was able to turn the former hay barn into a state of the art embalming facility including a Turner Port-A-Boy embalming machine which still exists to this day. It also had the only crematory in the area, something quite revolutionary in those days, though much more common today. The land to the west of the building was used to bury people too poor to afford a plot in the city cemetery and there are still sizable tax discounts on the property for using some of the land for charity, though these tax breaks benefited the property owners more than the renters. Most of the stones in the graveyard are blank, if they ever had an inscription it has long since worn away, and most are cast of simple concrete. As of this date, no one has found any records of who might be buried there so it's really anyone's guess, but the locals who remember have stated it was graves for the poor or unclaimed and that a vast majority of the burials associated with the 13th Street Morgue actually took place at the regular city cemetery.

Jonathon, his wife Velma Sanders-Maybrick, and his two children, David and LeAnn Maybrick moved into their new home on the Spring of 1936.

The Maybrick's did very well in their new business. The next nearest funeral facility this well equipped was all the way down in Waxahachie, so Jonathon's demographic was fairly large and wide spread, both geographically and socially. He even did the funerals of the Governors' mother in law, and nephew. His most well known and notorious funeral was of a criminal who incidentally shot Ms. Abigail Helm. She was the 16 year old daughter of a farmer, Alfred Helm, a widower who religiously kept his 3 children indoors, and never saw much activity. Alfred had sent Abigail to the bank one afternoon however, and in a strange twist of fate, that happened to be the same day that the bank was robbed. The perpetrator shot and killed both the bank teller and Abigail, for seemingly no reason, though it was suspected that the teller had resisted the robbers attempt. The shooter's name was Raymond Reynolds, an out of work railroad employee. As he tried to flee, Raymond was shot dead by the towns only police officer. His death certificate showed him to be 38 years old.

Two days after the shootings, Raymond Reynolds' mother came to the 13th Street Morgue to arrange the funeral for her son. Jonathon at first refused, organizing and carrying out the funeral of a murderer was sure to have its negative repercussions, even in the largest of cities, much less a small town such as this. But, due to the mothers pleading and promising to keep the profile low and the sheer fact that he needed the money, Jonathon agreed. But, even with their best efforts to thwart it, the worst of news travels the fastest, and it wasn't long before the rumors began to circulate about the Reynold's funeral.
And this, ladies and gentleman, is where the story takes a dramatic twist.
Alfred Helm was not pleased to hear the news that the murderer of his child was getting a nice funeral, while he had to lay his slain daughter to rest on his own land with his own shovel. Jonathon was concerned he might show up at the funeral and cause a scene, but the day of the funeral, all was quiet.
A few weeks passed, and the Reynolds funeral was making its way to the back of most people minds. It was Christmas time, and despite being financially destitute, most people were determined to enjoy the holidays.
All but Alfred Helm.
In the earliest part of the morning, at 1am, on December 13th, Alfred cut the phone line and broke into the 13th Street Morgue, dressed as Santa Clause to fool the children if they awoke. As it turns out, no one awoke that sunrise. Alfred had strangled both of the small Maybrick children, Jonathon's wife, and finally Jonathon himself. After his grim business was finished, he set himself in a chair in the Maybrick's living room and shot himself in the chest. The police found a note that simply read verbatim, "please watch after my children they are the product of an unholy mind."

You can listen to the actual KWPR radio news bulletin HERE.

Jonathon and his family were laid to rest in the graveyard out front of their home, and Alfred's body was reluctantly picked up by his younger brother, and buried in Tulsa.

Thus should end our story......
However, it does not.

The barn still stands as tall and as stately as ever. It has never been rented or purchased, though the deed to the property has been made available for purchase by many of the distant relatives who have held it. Most all of the Maybrick's house still remains, as well as Jonathon's former embalming shop. Even the horse drawn hearse is still there to this day. No one lives there, though the spirits of the long dead still haunt the halls of the former mortuary and the cemetery outside. The most chilling of these is the transparent specter of a man seen in the barns mid section, with his feet not touching the ground. The building has been investigated by two reliable paranormal investigators and it is indeed deemed to be the 2nd most haunted place in Texas, 2nd only to the legendary Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. But even these seasoned ghost hunters, will not venture in after sunset......

*******************************************************

The 13th Street Morgue is proudly located at Reindeer Manor.
410 Houston School Rd, Red Oak, TX 75154
From Interstate 20 and Interstate 35:
Exit Interstate 35E south, through Desoto to Bear Creek Rd Exit
•Turn left on Bear Creek Rd, and proceed to Houston School Rd
•Turn right, and go just past Reindeer Rd to 410 Houston School Rd
•Look for all the FIRE
•If you get lost call 972-218-Rats

Tubes, Slides, Snakes & Cowpokes

2009-09-08T13:38:00.007-05:00

Craig & I drove down to New Braunfels a couple weekends ago. Went tubing on the Comal River, went to Schlitterbahn, the Snake Farm, ate at the Gristmill. Then of all places, we end up at a Gay Rodeo afterparty at a Quality Inn. That was fucking hilarious.

More pics here: http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g252/springparkslasher/New%20Braunfels%20August%202009/

Work Travels

2009-09-08T13:21:00.006-05:00

Been traveling a lot for work lately. Washington DC, White Plains, Indianapolis.... While in NY, I drove to Long Island to see my friend Slash Happy. And I drove from Indianapolis to Louisville to see my friend Brian. Good times.

More pics HERE HERE & HERE

Californication

2009-09-08T13:02:00.006-05:00

Back in July, Craig & I went to San Diego to hang out with some friends from HorrorDemons.com

It was great to meet up with Dawn, Kris, Ian, Ziggz, Candy, Mark, Lorraine, Sophie, & Bradley. The last 6 came all the way from England to hang with us.

We also went to a Duran Duran concert at the OC Fair. And I wore my Utilikilt to Six Flags Magic Mountain.

More pics here: http://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g252/springparkslasher/California%20July%202009/

OK, Time to catch up...

2009-09-08T12:04:00.001-05:00

Been crazy busy lately with traveling & getting ready for haunt season. I'm gonna try to update this blog with the recent goings on.

Camp Blood on Collector's Quest

2009-06-23T19:49:00.000-05:00

Hey guys, just dropping a link for Collector's Quest. My collection is being featured in their Horror Week starting today. Hope you guys can check it out.
http://www.collectorsquest.com/featured-week/horror.html

Also be sure & check out my new site www.HorrorDemons.com

iSlasher

2009-06-18T15:40:00.001-05:00

My iPhone screen. YAY!

Caddo Lake 2009

2009-06-15T10:38:00.010-05:00

Craig & I went to Caddo Lake this past weekend. I bought a new GPS app called Motion-X for iPhone that worked out very well. The first few pics are the results from the new app. The rest are from Saturday as we were exploring the swamp. Thanks to Crip's Camp as usual for the boat & breakfast.

You can view all of the pics HERE

Casket Races 2009

2009-06-05T07:49:00.005-05:00

Dark Friday Preview

2009-05-27T12:23:00.004-05:00

A friend of mine in Canada knows a guy who is working on his own Friday the 13th/Batman film called Dark Friday. Just throwing a little promotion his way. Thanks to Lycan over at ISeeDead.com for the introductions & thanks to Erik "XgreatvikingfilmsX" Dudley for the pics & vids.

Antique Morgue

2009-05-27T10:08:00.005-05:00

I've been playing around with an antiquing effect in Photoshop with my recent 13th Street Morgue pics.... click on the images for a larger view.

Ziggz Cam

2009-05-26T13:16:00.002-05:00

Here's a fun little vid my English pal Ziggz made...

13th Street Morgue

2009-05-26T10:25:00.013-05:00

This past Saturday I went to a BBQ at The 13th Street Morgue. As you may know, it is my favorite haunted house, so it was awesome to be able to explore it off season & get some very cool pics. It was great seeing everyone from the Morgue & other local haunts. A big thanks to Alex & Jen for having us all out there.

Here are my pics from inside The 13th Street Morgue. You can click on the pics for a larger view.

Garden

2009-05-11T09:06:00.004-05:00

Ms WaWa

2009-05-11T09:05:00.001-05:00

New Toys

2009-05-08T15:36:00.002-05:00

Tattoo Touchups

2009-05-08T14:24:00.003-05:00

Texas Frightmare Weekend May 09

2009-05-04T12:55:00.012-05:00

This past Saturday was a full day of horror & fun. That morning I went to Texas Frightmare Weekend. There were a lot of really cool guests this year. I mainly focused meet & greets with actors from the Friday the 13th franchise.

I met Dereke Mears from F13 09, America Olivo frm F13 09, CJ Graham from F13 pt 6, and Adrienne King from the original F13. They were all as nice as could be and very willing to chat & take pics.

There were a ton of other guests, but I ran out of money for autographs pretty quickly. I wanted to get pics with Alice Cooper, Karen Black, Tyler Mane, Marilyn Burns, & Tobe Hooper.... but just couldn't afford any more.

I ended up leaving with some pretty cool stuff. Like this autographed poster from Adrienne King that has some of Sean Cunningham's film notes.

Some fake blood....

Autographs for my Crystal Lake Memories book...

And this really cool original sketch of Jason....

There was also a Zombie Walk that morning, so lots of people in costume. Even a DEVO zombie!!!!

The local TROCARS Funeral Car Club had their Hearse & Shock Rod Show. There were a ton of badass cars there.

I also met up with some friends from The 13th Street Morgue. Great to hang out with Billy, Kym, Larry, & Dora. Extra special thanks to Larry for scaring the hell out of my by screeching up behind me scraping his huge battle axe on the pavement. That man always goes out of his way to scare the piss out of me. LOL

Later that evening I drove about 60 miles east to go to The Haunt House. We had the worst weather... Damn tornado sirens going off & monsoon fucking rain. I even got my car stuck in the mud on the way out. That was fucked....

But the crew at The Haunt House were just awesome! Even though the weather was lame & just a small crowd that showed up, they pulled out all the stops. I went through 4 times in normal mode, then a 5th time with ALL THE LIGHTS OUT!!!! That was so great! It was a ton of fun to hang with the crews from The Parker House & The Fear Factory. Good times indeed!

You can see all the pics from the whole day HERE and HERE

Happy Birthday Mr. The Shape!

2009-05-01T08:30:00.003-05:00

Just wishing a happy birthday to my good friend Brian over at ISeeDead.com. The Shape (aka Huckleberry aka Cockenwood aka Gangstaberry aka Bri aka You're Gonna Love My Nuts!)

Happy Birthday Bri!

14th Anniversary Part 2

2009-04-28T12:19:00.004-05:00

We celebrated our anniversary again this past weekend. This time we drove down to New Braunfels, Tx. W took our camper & stayed at Landa RV Park. On Saturday we went to Schlitterbahn. We had way too much fun, as you can see from the videos below.

Later that night we ate at The Gristmill Restaurant in Gruene, Tx. Awesome food & atmosphere. We go there at least once a year, if not more.

On Sunday we went tubing down the Comal River. It was a bitty chilly & overcast, but I still managed to get a light sunburn. I had 2 incidents on the river that day, both within 5 minutes of eachother. I went down the first tube chute & crashed into a kayaker. Then right after that, I went over a small fall & got sucked underwater about 15 feet away & my tube was stuck in the fall undercurrent. I kept trying to creep my way back to it, but the current was too strong. A nearby kayaker came by & went over the fall to rescue my tube.

On the way home we stopped back in Gruene & ate lunch at The Gristmill again. I also got these awesome shoes called Fivefingers:

Here's a few pics from the weekend...

You can see more videos HERE

And you can see more pics HERE

14th Anniversary Part 1

2009-04-27T14:39:00.009-05:00

Craig & I reached our 14th anniversary on April 23rd. It was midweek, so we decided to celebrate both the weekend before and after.

On Friday the 17th we went out for a great dinner then spent the night a boutique hotel called Aloft. It was pretty groovy, but not as cool as some other boutiques we've stayed in. We still had a great time. And we both got iPhones, which is awesome!

I loved the floor in the elevator. It had this blue liquid that squished around when you walked on it. It would have been so awesome in blood red. Very Dressed To Kill.

You can see more pics HERE

Six Or Eight Thousand Years Ago...

2009-04-24T10:45:00.001-05:00

Even More of My South Park Alter-Egos

2009-04-22T13:46:00.002-05:00

My South Park Character!

2009-04-21T13:41:00.004-05:00

R.I.P. Lux Interior

2009-04-16T08:06:00.003-05:00

I just read this morning that Lux Interior of The Cramps passed away back in February.... This news made me so sad. I've been a fan for so many years. I can't believe I just now found out. I will miss him.

R.I.P. Lux ~ October 21, 1946 – February 4, 2009