Victim Photo Exclusive: Trestle of Death Claims A Monster Hunter

On Saturday, April 23, 2016, a young woman and young man tempted fate and one died off of Kentucky's Pope Lick Creek Trestle. I posted the news of this tragedy at my other blog, Cryptozoonews, in "Woman Killed Searching For Pope Lick Monster," (Coleman, 2016), yesterday. The woman has been identified as Roquel Bain, 26, and this appears to be her image.

In Roquel Bain's purse, investigators found a work badge at the trestle death site that indicated she had worked as a surgical assistant (Warren, . The photograph above, online, identifies this individual as "Roquel Bain, Surgical Technology," (photobucket, 2016).

The specifics of this incident at Pope Lick Creek is interwoven with twilight language, and deserves a look here, as well.

The Pope Lick Monster is one of the urban legends that are vaguely referenced in sightings and stories of Goatmen and Satyrs seen in various locations (e.g Fairfax County, Virginia; Plain Dealing, Louisiana; Lincoln, Nebraska; Pope Lick Creek, Kentucky), (Hall, 2005; Coleman, 2009).

At 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 23, 2016, the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Eighth Division responded to a report of a pedestrian struck in the 3100 block of South Pope Lick Road, off Taylorsville Road just outside of the Gene Snyder/Interstate 265. Bain had fallen 100 feet after being hit. (WAVE, 2016a, 2016b).

With the discovery of the body, an unfortunate story unfolded.

Roquel Bain of Dayton, Ohio, and an as-yet-unidentified boyfriend had purchased tickets to the 10:00 pm "haunted tour" of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium on Saturday night, April 23, 2016.

The Waverly Hills Sanatorium is a closed sanatorium located in southwestern Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky. It opened in 1910 and closed in 1961.

Waverly Hills has been popularized on the television show Ghost Hunters as being one of the "most haunted" hospitals in the eastern United States. The sanatorium was featured on ABC/FOX Family Channel's Scariest Places On Earth, VH1's Celebrity Paranormal Project, Syfy's Ghost Hunters, Zone Reality's Creepy, the British show Most Haunted, Paranormal Challenge and Ghost Adventures on Travel Channel. Also popularizing Waverly Hills was the film Spooked: The Ghosts of Waverly Hills Sanatorium, released in 2006, which purports to document paranormal sightings at the site.(Wikipedia, 2016a).

The popularity of the Waverly Hills Sanatorium and the associated tours has increased greatly by the location being featured in so many reality programs.

The boyfriend told officials he and Bain came to town from Dayton for a paranormal tour scheduled from 10 p.m. to midnight Saturday.

Brandon Barnes, a security guard at Waverly Hills Sanatorium, said Bain had purchased two tickets online for $25 each for Saturday night's guided tour, which was attended by 45 ghost hunters.

As Bain and her male companion were early, and waiting for the sanatorium tour, they learned of the local legend of the "Pope Lick Monster." (The 1988 indie documentary The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster is well-known locally.) They decided to go "check it out," and found the railroad trestle. Thinking it was an abandoned railway, they decided to go up on it and look for the "Monster," despite the warning signs on private property.

The couple was soon surprised by an oncoming train. Despite the best efforts of the Norfolk Southern train's engineer to warn them off the track by blowing the horn and trying to stop the train, the train struck Bain. The two, reportedly, decided to hang off the side of the trestle. Bain could not move fast enough, and was hit. After being struck, she was dragged 80 feet and fell off the trestle. When found by first responders, Bain was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:39 p.m. (No drugs or alcohol was involved in this situation.)

The deputy coroner said he personally has investigated a handful of fatal train incidents that ranged from a homeless person falling asleep on the tracks, to a thrill seeker misjudging the time they had to get off the tracks to someone committing suicide. He said this is the first victim confirmed searching for the monster.
During his investigation, Arnold said he has learned that the area is popular with teens and young adults - especially on New Year's.
One Instagram photo from 2014, which got 188 likes, shows an Eastern High School graduate and a friend with their legs dangling off the trestle and proclaiming, "The Pope Lick Monster didn't get us, but a train almost did!" (Warren, 2016)

The nickname of the site is the "Trestle of Death," and this appears to be linked to deaths from 1986 and 1987. The Louisville Courier-Journal of December 30, 1988, published a page one essay, in the lower left-hand corner, "Trestle of Death," which detailed these two incidents (Louisville Courier-Journal, 2012).

Jack “J.C.” Charles Bahm II, 17, a Spalding University student, was attempting to make it across the trestle when he was hit and killed by a train on February 18, 1987. Graffiti on the trestle appears, now and then, recalling that event with messages such as “JC we love and miss you” in spray paint. Nineteen-year-old David Wayne Bryant, 19, was injured severely in 1986 when he jumped from the trestle to dodge an oncoming locomotive. Bryant died in May 1987, from those injuries. (See more on the "Wayne name game," here.)

In the fiction play, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek by Naomi Wallace (Broadway Play Pub, 2000), the story of the trestle and death is set the 1930s.

Trestle is set in 1936 in a in a town so dull that the only thing young people can pit themselves against, the only thing greater than them, is the 7:10 train with its 153-ton engine and deafening roar. So we find Dalton and Pace, who becomes his girlfriend despite his repeated insistence that she is not pretty, making plans to test themselves by trying to outrun the train on a trestle a hundred feet above a dry creek bed. Another boy from their town tried it recently and died.... By the end, the play, like that train, has built up a full head of steam and we feel its power. --Anita Gates, The New York Times

Naomi Wallace, from Kentucky, was a 1999 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, the grant popularly known as the genius award. A published poet in both England and The United States, she has also received grants from The Kentucky Foundation for Women and The Kentucky Arts Council and a 1997 NEA grant for poetry.

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According to 2016 news accounts (see references below), either the Bain death is the only fatality directly associated with the hunt for the Pope Lick Monster, or it is one of many.

The surname Bain originates in Scotland/northern England, where it was originally a nickname meaning "bones." It is also from the Welsh ap Einws, (son of Einws = "anvil"). SE shared that Baine is derived from the Irish word meaning "pale or white."

But there are other meanings. It is said to be from Middle English bain, bayne, bayn, been (“direct, prompt”), from Old Norse beinn (“straight, right, favorable, advantageous, convenient, friendly, fair, keen”), from Proto-Germanic bainaz (“straight”), from Proto-Indo-European bhei-(“to hit, beat”). Cognate with Scots bein, bien (“in good condition, pleasant, well-to-do, cozy, well-stocked, pleasant, keen”), Icelandic beinn (“straight, direct, hospitable”), Norwegian bein(“straight, direct, easy to deal with”).

James Shelby Downard's research in King Kill 33 notes that Bain relates to Bane ("fatal cause of mischief"), and in Scottish legend, the Bain Fairy is a death fairy who is the keeper of the Bain Bridge. King Kill 33 noted the American battleship Bainbridge, which was dedicated by Lyndon Baines Johnson, is a harbinger of death, according to Downward, (Coleman, 2012a, 2012b, 2012c).

Author Jim Brandon (personal communication, 2012) shared his insights about Bane/Bain:

Question is, did James Shelby Downard anticipate the whole thing? In my “Sirius Rising,” right up-front is Downard's enthusiastic digression on the Baines / MacBeth angle behind the JFK hit. Now, checking back, I see that he may have picked up on this from the then-obscure satirical play MacBird, dating from 1967, which reportedly plays around with the onomatology.

Shelby seems to have had prescient dark suspicions about Lyndon Baines Johnson himself, whose curiously nicknamed wife (née Claudia Taylor) started the whole bizarre Bird business. Recently, new testimony against LBJ has emerged, from Jackie Kennedy and E. Howard Hunt.

I highlighted the location of the Pope Lick Monster, which is in the Big Lick Triangle, at this Twilight Language blog, as #6, here.

Our sincere condolences to Roquel Bain's family and friends for this tragedy.

References:

Brandon, Jim. 2012. Personal communication to Loren Coleman.

Coleman, Loren. 2009. "Goatmen and Satyrs," Cryptomundo, October 11. http://cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/goatmen-satyrs/

Coleman, Loren. 2012a. "Bane/Bain: Batman's Villain & Romney's Curse (Part 1)” July 15.
http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2012/07/banebain.html

Coleman, Loren. 2012b. "Bane/Bain Continues (Part 2)” Twilight Language. July 17.
http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2012/07/banebain-continues.html

Coleman, Loren. 2012c. "Bane/Bain Bursts Bare (Part 3)” Twilight Language. July 19.
http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2012/07/banebain-bursts-bare.html

Coleman, Loren. 2013. "Wayne Name Game." Twilight Language. May 13. http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2013/05/Waynesville.html

Coleman, Loren. 2015. "#6. The Big Lick Triangle, Indiana and Kentucky" in "
Top Ten American 'Bridgewater Triangles'" Twilight Language. August 30. http://copycateffect.blogspot.com/2015/08/10Triangles.html

Coleman, Loren. 2016. "Woman Killed Searching For Pope Lick Monster," Cryptozoonews, April 24. http://www.cryptozoonews.com/popelick-death/

Hall, Mark A. 2005. "Satyrs in Our Midst," Wonders, September. (dead link online, published as journal)

Louisville Courier-Journal. 1988. "Trestle of Death." December 30.

Photobucket. 2016. "Roquel Bain, Surgical Technology" http://s156.photobucket.com/user/anjay711/media/RoquelBainST.jpg.html

Wallace, Naomi. 2000. The Trestle At Pope Creek. Broadway Play Pub.  http://smile.amazon.com/Trestle-At-Pope-Lick-Creek/dp/0881451800/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461592430&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=pope+creek+trestle+of+death

Warren, Beth. 2016. "Tourist Dies On Search for Pope Lick Monster," April 24. http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2016/04/24/tourist-dies-search-pope-lick-monster/83470646/

WAVE News. 2016a. "Ohio Woman Fatally Struck by Train in Kentucky"  April 24. http://www.wave3.com/story/31802617/ohio-woman-fatally-struck-by-train-in-kentucky

WAVE News. 2016b. "Coroner: Ohio Woman Killed by Train While Investigating 'Goatman' Myth," April 25. http://www.wave3.com/clip/12386140/coroner-ohio-woman-killed-by-train-while-investigating-goatman-myth

Wikipedia. 2016a retrieved. "Waverly Hills Sanatorium."  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverly_Hills_Sanatorium

Wikipedia. 2016b retrieved. "Waverly Hills in entertainment." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waverly_Hills_Sanatorium#Waverly_Hills_in_entertainment

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BAIN, Roquel Age 26, died suddenly and unexpectedly in a tragic accident on April 23, 2016 while visiting Louisville, KY. Roquel had graduated from Springfield-Clark Career Technology Center in 2006 and Miami Jacobs Career College with a degree in Surgical Technology in 2009. She was employed at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, OH as a surgical assistant. Along with her many talents, Roquel was a brilliant artist and painter and an amazing multifaceted musician. Her warm, glowing personality and contagious laughter will be missed immensely by all those whose life she touched. Roquel is survived by her beloved son, River; her mother, Connie Brown; her father, Brian Bain; her brother, Devin Pontsler; her grandparents, Phil and Cindy Brown, Kenneth and Linda Rowlett, and Ann Bain; her aunts, Katie Brown and Betsy Bain; her uncle, Doug Brown and Carolyn; and her cousins, Clarissa Vanover, Ayden Teegarden, Zayne and Zoe Brown, and Eric Ratliff. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, May 1, 2016 at the JONES-KENNEY-ZECHMAN FUNERAL HOME. Friends may visit with the family from 1:00 until 2:00 p.m. Private burial will be held at a later date.
Published in Springfield News-Sun from Apr. 27 to Apr. 28, 2016

You're Fired or You're Dead? Reality TV Suicides

There is an angry reality television star running for President named Donald Trump.  Americans are beginning to wake up to this state of affairs. What are people thinking? Mr. Trump is well-known for his publicized abrasive personality.

There is an ugly little secret about reality television ~ from the design of the interactions to the hosts' external outbursts to the reactions of the viewership. All of this can be felt as extreme abuse to the people receiving the interactions. Some folks even kill themselves due to this supposedly acceptable use of force, threats, intimidation, and displays of aggressively dominating others. Suicides result from bullying, and in the test tube of reality television, it does happens.

Take the case of Charlotte Dawson, a New Zealand–Australian television personality. In 2012, she appeared as one of the "celebrity" contestants, raising money for her chosen charity, on the second season of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia. In 2012, Dawson was admitted to St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney after attempting to kill herself due to a much publicized battle with Twitter trolls and cyberbullying related to her television persona.

On February 22, 2014, Dawson died by suicide in her Woolloomooloo, New South Wales, Australia home. A real estate agent found her body when he arrived to inspect the property ahead of its auction. Police were called and confirmed her death at 11:18 am; there were no suspicious circumstances to the death. Toxicology reports state that she had overdosed on a drug, Baclofen, which, is mostly used to help muscle spasming in multiple sclerosis. Her friends were reported to be concerned when she did not update her Twitter or Instagram accounts in the previous 19 hours.

How common is this?

On February 28, 2016, reporter Dana Schuster wrote an article, "Dying for fame: 21 reality stars committed suicide in a decade." Please note, until I added her to the following list, Charlotte Dawson was not on this accounting. 

How many more reality television "celebrities" have died by suicide? 

Here is Schuster compilation, plus my addition of Dawson.

Reality TV Star Suicides: 22

2016: Alexa "Lex" McAllister, "The Bachelor" (prescription pill overdose)

 

2015: Mark Constantino (above), "Ghost Adventures" (shot his co-star wife, then himself)

2015: Anthony Riley, "The Voice" (hanged himself)

2014: Simone Battle, "The X-Factor" (hanged herself)

2014: Charlotte Dawson, “Celebrity Apprentice,” (Baclofen overdose)

2013: Gia Allemand, "The Bachelor" (hanged herself)

2013: Mindy McCready, "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" (shot herself)

2013: Mark Balelo, "Storage Wars" (carbon monoxide poisoning)

2013: Joshua Marks, "MasterChef" (shot himself)

2011: Russell Armstrong, "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" (hanged himself)

2011: Wesley Durden, "Next Great Baker" (shot himself)

2010: Joseph Cerniglia, "Kitchen Nightmares" (jumped off George Washington Bridge)

In 2007, Gordon Ramsay ripped apart struggling New Jersey chef Joseph Cerniglia on “Kitchen Nightmares,” screaming: “Your business is about to f - - king swim down the Hudson.” Three years later, Cerniglia jumped off the George Washington Bridge. Source.

The George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River, is among the most frequently chosen sites in the New York City metropolitan area for dying by suicide. In 2012, a new record 18 people threw themselves off the bridge to their deaths, with 43 suicide attempts overall. The Port Authority reports there were 16 suicides in 2013, 18 in 2014, and 18 in 2015.

Cerniglia was the second suicide from a Ramsey show. The first was chef Rachel Brown, of Dallas, who shot herself to death after an appearance on Ramsay's elimination series Hell's Kitchen in 2006.

2010: Julien Hug, "The Bachelorette" (shot himself)

2009: Ryan Jenkins, "Megan Wants a Millionaire" (hanged himself)

2008: Nathan Clutter, "Paradise Hotel" (jumped to his death)

2008: James Terrill, "Supernanny" (shot himself)

2007: Cheryl Kosewicz, "Pirate Master" (suicide in home)

2006: Rachel Brown, "Hell's Kitchen" (shot herself)

2006: Paula Goodspeed, "American Idol" (overdose) Source

2005: Najai Turpin, "The Contender" (shot himself)

2005: Melanie Bell, "Vega Elvis" unaired (jumped to her death)

2004: Kellie McGee, "Extreme Makeover" unaired (overdose)

Source.

h/t Sarah HP

If you — or someone you know — needs help, please call 1-800-273-8255 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. If you are outside of the US, please visit the International Association for Suicide Prevention for a database of international resources.

O'Day on Seahawks Shooting, 1 Dead

A former Playboy Playmate broke another shooting story this morning. (Click here for more on the concurrent East Coast shooting, "Webster Shooting: 2 Volunteer Firefighters  & Shooter Dead."

The Seahawks After Party at Munchbar Bellevue (in Washington State) was the site of a multiple shooting at 1:00 am, early morning Christmas Eve Day, December 24, 2012.

This occurred following the victory of the NFL's Seahawks professional football team vs the San Francisco 49ers, 42 to 13, clinching the Seahawks' berth in the playoffs.

One individual was reported dead, with, at least, three others injured. Rumors are circulating that another fatality has occurred.

All the Seahawks players there, reportedly, were said to be safe.

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Update: Bellevue Police have identified 19 year-old, Ja’mari Alexander Alan Jones as a suspect and obtained a warrant for his arrest. The shooter remains at-large, and is believed to be armed and dangerous, according to the Bellevue Reporter.

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A main source of inside-the-party events were first picked up by the media from the tweets of Aubrey Morgan O'Day (b. February 11, 1984). The former Playboy Playmate, and reality television and shorts performer (The Aubrey O'Day Show, All About Aubrey, Celebrity Apprentice, Making the Band 3 + 4, Ed Hardy Boyz 2: The Case of When That Hot Filipina Girl Lost Her Tramp Stamp at Mini-Golf, and others) was there with the Seahawks to celebrate.

It is intriguing in the days of Twitter, this social media exchange became a detailed reference point for the incident.

O'Day's tweets (@AubreyODay) moved from her descriptions of "dancing on tables in Hawks VIP" in a "Niners jersey" to the horror of the shooting.

O'Day wrote:

never been n a situation like that. Every1 was screaming on the floor, we had to crawl out the kitchen. Sea, someone tell me what happened?
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Shit is crazy. I'm telling you. Everyone was on the floor. People got shot. WTF.
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Seriously ppl just got shot n front of me. We hit the ground, never been in a situation like this. For real. Seattle, what's going on?!
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So sad.

Beside the Seahawks there, O'Day tweeted:

there as well as some WSU football players

O'Day said security got her out. As she describes, most people dived to the floored, and then crawled out through the kitchen. Others tweeting her told of a man on the ground, with "blood everywhere."

Update: A 30-year-year old Seattle man was said to be killed and other man wounded. The suspect escaped among the crowd of 600 at the Seahawks festive event.

At Seahawks shooting scene

Munchbar is a chain. Here's what the one in Las Vegas promotes as package experience:

*Guns subject to availability

Start your adventure on the gun range at Machine Guns Vegas, where you’ll fire the HK MP5, made famous by Her Majesty’s Secret Air Service, and the Sig P226, designed for the U.S. Army and carried by U.S. Navy SEALs.

You’ll be hungry from concentrating on targets as you send rounds down range, so we’ll take you over to Munchbar at Ceasar’s Palace, where you’ll dine on the best burgers in Las Vegas. Munchbar is located next to the Sports Bar and Pure Night Club in Caesars Palace, and combines culinary creativity and high-caliber ingredients with wholesome comfort food in an electric atmosphere.

$163.00 per person

Your MGV shoot includes:

Transportation to MGV and drop off at Munchbar

MP5: 25 rounds

Sig 226: 5 rounds

Targets: X3

T – shirt

Note: Some bloggers are incorrectly spelling the Bellevue bar/restaurant/music hotspot as "Munch Bar." Technically, it's name is"Munchbar Bellevue," and it adjoins the Mirror. The Munchbar is known locally as a regular gathering site for the Seahawks.

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More details will be updated as this story develop.