After we got to the place we were staying and Ron & Janet arrived Jim asked if they had seen the museum on their way in. They said yes and I suggested we go visit sometime. I was shocked when Ronnie said he wanted to go see it too. I asked Janet if he was serious and she said that he was. I still wasn’t convinced so I asked Ronnie again until he yelled at me that he wanted to go. When the Smiths got there they agreed to join us.
We went Saturday morning and we joked that we were afraid it might be closed and we weren’t sure how much the entrance fee would be so we decided to just wing it. When we got there we were a little leery because there was nobody there. We started walking around, afraid that we were trespassing until we saw a sign that said we should take a look around but the haunted train would not be open until October. We proceeded to tour the area and what a sight it was! We couldn’t decide if it was a junkyard or a train museum. There was crap everywhere. There were a lot of grave headstones and we wondered where they came from because they certainly aren’t cheap. Janet suggested that maybe they were headstones that had mistakes on the names or dates and John Baker had bought them cheap. There were several railcars, cabooses, train depot stations and railroad crossing signals. And let’s not forget all the concrete skeletons and other gory stuff lying around.
There was a box that said free on it so we took a flyer and learned more about John Baker. It seems he was a disabled veteran with bone cancer that had bought the property & started his railroad museum back in 1976. He worked on the museum for nearly 20 years when a new neighbor moved in across the street and vowed to get his museum shut down and his property cleaned up. John proceeded to have problems with the “Commmie planning & zoning pinheads” and he spent $100,000 and nearly lost everything in auctions he was forced to have to make money in order to finance the ensuing court battles.
You can read his rambling story at http://www.bakersjunction.com/ and even though he seems pretty eccentric, after reading his story I felt sorry for him. It seems to me the new neighbor should’ve found another piece of land because there’s plenty around there. Anyway, leave it to us to find such a unique place to visit. Hey, at least it wasn’t another cave!
P.S. In case you’re interested if you visit the website, John Baker has a human finger for sale.
1 comment:
I love the Bakers Junction Haunted Train. It is so cool and interesting. John has gone through so much and he is a really cool and amazing person. Even though he only has 9.5 fingers and one leg he is still kicking it hood style and doing everything by hisself with a little help when needed. I am proud to call John Baker my uncle!! I think you guys should go through it again when its open but this year because it has changed so much!
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