Bizarre curiosities, forsaken motels, abandoned cities, underground music, macabre festivals and two

W hile we here at MM are NOT Juggalos ourselves, we WERE hired to write/photograph the Gathering of the Juggalos in Cave In Rock, Ill. It s about an 11-hour drive from Grand Rapids, Mich., where we all lived at the time, so we decided to stop and stay for a night in Louisville, KY. I was worried that we wouldn t find a gross enough motel in the city of the Kentucky Derby, but fear not we did.
The Louisville Manor Hotel is a popular cruising spot, according to Craigslist posts. Right on the Dixie Highway after a flutter of cash advances and strip joints, the Manor is hard to miss. On the front of the lot is an adult super store, complete with an adult theatre and peep booths, and it s lit up with large XXX signs on the roof. It was also the home of an actual murder, when a guy strangled a dancer london cheap hotels apartments to death during an accidental sex game . He served his time, then blew up his own meth lab a couple weeks later.
When you pull in, a decal on the door lets you know that hardcore porn is included in your room fee which, for four people, london cheap hotels apartments is $65 for a night. You can also rent in three-hour blocks, and the jacuzzi suites you can ONLY rent in three-hour blocks. Also, no children, NOT EVEN BABIES, london cheap hotels apartments are allowed london cheap hotels apartments here.
So, the four of us approach the concierge, who immediately london cheap hotels apartments wants to know why Mary is taking photos. I tell her we re on vacation. We can t even get through her telling us there s a $20 deposit for the three remotes she s about to hand us when a strange man bursts in and starts asking Jason questions about whether or not he s a football player. Do you like loud sound systems?! he demands.
We take our key and enter the cleanest room we ve seen yet since launching MurderMotels.com. Vacuumed carpet, clean sheets, nothing left in the shower, no baggies of crack. We set down our things and immediately peruse the porn. 180 channels and it s all terrible. All gross, oozing, sloppy, pockmarked, pimply porn. But what it lacks in finesse it makes up for in diversity. Gay, straight, she-male, cuckold, bi, every race, every age group, S M, fetish, etc. We thought about making a guide for the next person to come along, but that s when the phone rang. The clerk tells us there s a strict policy that for our safety, we have to shut our door and the shades.
london cheap hotels apartments There s only so much porn a person can take, so we decide to check out downtown Louisville. Now, here s a nice, clean place with nothing disgusting. BORING. We get some food and a beer at the Bluegrass Brewery and check out a little punk/metal joint called Third Street Dive. Shawn had visited Louisville london cheap hotels apartments before in his days as a truck driver and says the only thing that looks familiar is some dark alley. Curious, Shawn. Very curious.
Back on the Dixie Highway, we discover a bar called DT s where the bartender spins a giant wheel to determine london cheap hotels apartments the price of the drinks. london cheap hotels apartments Currently, they re a dollar. And, you can take them outside and smoke, london cheap hotels apartments which delights those of us who do both those things. We hang out there until nearly 4 a.m. We were approached by a guy whose name I think is Dave who indicated that we should come and hang out at his house versus london cheap hotels apartments staying at the Louisville Manor. Shawn and Dave also had a rousing argument about who had a more difficult time finding clothes that fit well.
The bartender tells us that we need to shut our doors, else the prostitutes will think we re interested. As much as our new best friend wants us to stop over, we have a mission, which is survive the night.
london cheap hotels apartments The easiest night thus far, we all sleep pretty well. Which means we get up bright and early and visit the adult book store. Dildos, porno, blahblahblah. Oh, and probs. Which I think was supposed to be probes.
london cheap hotels apartments We were gonna take off but the manager INSISTED we go into the adult porno booth. We could split up into two and two, or all cram in there. And for some reason, the idea of going into a pitch black area, from which the only sound was something wet dripping on the concrete floor and ominous moans of porno, a pitch black area he was able to lock from the outside, SOUNDED LIKE A GREAT IDEA.
For those of you who have never ventured into an adult theatre, there s usually one big room with a bunch of ratty furniture and tissue boxes where guys like Fred Willard and Paul Reubens become legendary for doing the only sensible thing to do when you pay real money to sit and watch a porno. The porn projected on the screen is usually a pretty shitty one, like the kind of film that comes in a three-pack and has no discernible stars. It s also probably ten years old, but not old enough to belong in the Golden london cheap hotels apartments Age of Porn.
Then there s a bunch of little booths where you sit and watch a video usually the screen will have buttons via which you can select one of several and do your thing in private. And sometimes, there will be holes in the wall that separates you from the neighboring booth and you can put things in those holes. Unless
Oh, no! The Board of Health is cracking down! You can t even be complicit in the making of a glory hole, let alone make one yourself. london cheap hotels apartments All the glory holes here have been boarded up with plywood. But for two guys who are presumably standing next to each other and for some reason can t just give each other a good time in the same booth, but who must do it with a wall in between them with a hole carved in it (that s a Mormon thing, right?), THE GLORY HOLE WILL FIND A WAY. They will stand up and say, NO, Board of Health (if that is your real name), we WILL suck anonymous wangs through holes in the wall, even if we have to pry off this janky ply wood with our bare hands!
We exited the theatre london cheap hotels apartments where the clerk strongly advised we come on back and see him again. We loaded up in the car, ate breakfast at Lynn s Paradise Cafe (which contained no glory holes, only good food and an overwhelmingly quirky decor) and got on the road. It would be a long drive to Cave In Rock, Ill., the secluded, cop-free oasis of Juggalo pilgrimage. But to get there, we d be driving through God s country
Bizarre curiosities, forsaken motels, abandoned cities, underground music, macabre festivals and two fists deep in the strangest of subcultures, Murder Motels is an unending roadtrip through the underbelly of America.