opinions about visiting a site that was on U.M.

[yost]

I have a dilemma and was wondering what some other people might think... a few weeks ago i was talking with some friends and the conversation somehow got to me talking about, in my opinion, the scariest U.M. story ever:the blind river, ontario rest area murder. after i told the story, one of my friends said he would give me $500 if i drove to blind river and spent one night at that rest area in my car. i don't think i'll do it for two reasons; first, i feel like it would be making a game out of a situation where two people were brutally murdered, and second, i don't think i'd have the guts to go through with it.

i was wondering if others would take that offer if someone gave it to them. i'm a student so $500 is a lot of money to me..blind river is about 400 miles from my home in michigan so we're talking about $100 in gas which would equal a $400 profit for about 24-36 hours of my time. not bad at all...but am i right to question the ethics of the offer? and, would anyone here have the courage to actually spend a night, alone, at that rest area? i'd appreciate anyone's 2 cents, thanks...

[crystaldawn]

I wouldn't spend a night at any rest stop because the thrill of doing it wouldn't be worth your life and you never know who is lurking there. I'm sure Gordon McAllister regrets that they chose a rest area that night as well.

I assume your friends are just trying to see if you have the guts to do it. I personally think it would be in poor taste. I mean the fact that you're pretty far away. It would be different if you lived nearby and wanted to drive there just to check it out, but the fact you would be doing it for a lot of money and spending the night as some of the victims did would be making light off of what those poor people went through.

Just my two cents though. :)

[Opal]

i was wondering if others would take that offer if someone gave it to them.

:eek:

NO WAY!

[Goofyman]

$500 to stay at a rest area where people were murdered? I mean, unless you have terribly bad luck, it sounds like a good way to make money. I'm sure your friends would even break your door down in the middle of the night and pretend (or really) kill you. :eek:

Just doing it because they were murdered though is kind of wrong.

[KyooMac]

I say you should do it! Take a OUIJA board!

[dynoguy88]

I live in Michigan as well. I think the major question is - is your friend REALLY going to give you $500 for doing that? Because my friends and I often joke with each other saying things like "I'll give you $$$ if you do this and that. I'd hate to think you made that long trip for nothing. I would make sure your friend is serious about paying you before you decide on what you're going to do.

I actually don't think it's in too much poor taste to do it. I mean, all you would really be doing is spending a night at a rest stop. It's not all that different from the kinds of dares teens and younger folks have been doing for years and years. 400 miles is a really long trip, however.

I myself wouldn't have the courage to spend the night there all by myself but I think I would be O.K. if I had some of my friends with me. No way I would go by myself though.

Side note - Is it just me or does there seem to be a lot of posters on here from Michigan? Nice to know there are other Michiganders here on the forum.

[yost]

I think the major question is - is your friend REALLY going to give you $500 for doing that? Because my friends and I often joke with each other saying things like "I'll give you $$$ if you do this and that. I'd hate to think you made that long trip for nothing. I would make sure your friend is serious about paying you before you decide on what you're going to do.

actually, i do trust him, and we got into specifics about what the course of action would be...we'd drive up together and go straight to the rest area...he'd show me the $500 in cash, he'd note the mileage on my odometer, and then he'd get a cab to take him to the nearest hotel or motel...the next morning, he'd get a ride back to the rest area and we'd drive home. if my odometer hadn't changed since the previous night, i 'd get the money.

thanks for everyone's thoughts...the chances of me actually going through with this are pretty slim but i was just curious as to what other U.M. fans would think...

[justins5256]

I say do it. What do you have to lose aside from gas money and time?

[KyooMac]

Amd the major points you'd get for not being a "chicken!" You could always say to your friend, "Well, we know I'm not yellow!"

[Awsi Dooger]

I missed this interesting thread two years ago. Apparently yost didn't go through with it, due to lack of a followup post.

I wouldn't have contemplated five seconds, especially at student age and financial situation. Try to negotiate every aspect more toward your favor, then do it. I guess it's because I love the nonsense that something is more likely to happen there than a different area or rest stop, which is the main reason the friend would make the proposal in the first place. He's basing it on a sample of one. Yeah, you could weigh the factor of profiting at a scene of such a tragic event, but in my case the knowledge that I was getting much the best of it due to my friend's stupid dare would trump that a thousand times over.

I spent several nights in my car at rest stops while driving cross country in the '80s, and also on Friday and Saturday nights during a period I was visiting Las Vegas on weekends from Los Angeles, before moving here. No way I was paying the ripoff weekend hotel rates.

The way yost described it in his second post in this thread, sounds like he had it made. You could just stay up listening to the radio, or whatever.

Regarding the Blind River case, it strikes me that it's another where the initial age estimate was way off. A sharp poster on Websleuths emphasizes frequently that it's a very common problem, people unable to correctly judge age and therefore the authorities improperly narrow the field. When I saw the UM segment I remember saying out loud that the computer generated likeness looked more like 45, even though Robert Stack was saying the perpetrator was believed to be about 30. If Ronald Glenn West was indeed responsible, he would have been about 44 in 1991.

[Mr. Fuji]

I'd definitely do it for $500. You know what would be really scary though, is if his friend snuck up to his car at around 2 o'clock in the morning and started banging on his door or something like that. Now that'd just about scare the pi$$ right out of me. Otherwise, it wouldn't be so bad.

[SP4CE INV4DERZ]

The only place I have entertained visiting from UM boardcasts is spending a night at the St. James Hotel. Hell I'd do to for free if someone would pay my airfare. I wish I had the means to do it and if I where living in the US, that's something I'd love do in my life. ;)

[Dislimb]

I'd spend the night there for 50 bucks and a 12 pack of Coors Light.

[Kane]

If this topic includes visiting filming locations, I suggest visiting some in my hometown of Arlington, Massachusetts.

A bank robbery reenactment was filmed there for the 1989 segment about then-wanted fugitive Katherine Power. Although the actual bank robbery and fatal shooting of Boston police officer Walter Schroeder occurred in Brighton, both crimes were filmed on Massachusetts Avenue. The robbery scene was filmed at Arlington's Coolidge Bank, and the shooting of Officer Schroeder is reenacted just outside the bank, near the adjacent parking lot. The Coolidge Bank was located on Massachusetts Avenue, on the corner of Mystic Street. That bank is no longer there, so it made sense to describe the filming location. That way, should you consider visiting the filming location, you'll know where it is.

Another UM segment has some scenes filmed in Arlington, MA: the segment on Ira Einhorn (even though it was a Pennsylvania case). One of the reenactments in the segment was shot in Arlington's Regent Theater.

[swtgrl4321]

I don't see any difference in staying the night at that rest stop and people staying in places like the Borden Bed and Breakfast. Considering I can't watch UM and sleep without all of the lights on, though, I would take $100 and give it to someone to stand guard with a cell phone and a can of mace.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

LOL. I second that. I think I could stay at a location like the Blind River Rest Stop... but sleep would be SO out of the question.

[Fletch]

I spent about three hours last night on Google Earth looking for the site of the Jenny Pratt assault in Carlsbad, CA and was unable to locate it (I was going off of still of the UM segment and what street the Detective said it occured on - Rancho Santa Fe Road). Carlsbad is about 30 minutes away from me and I go down there for a couple weeks every Summer.

I don't think there's anything "wrong" with going to the scene of a crime....if I do find the Jenny Pratt site, I will probably reflect on it for a bit and then say a prayer that one day the person or people are brought to justice.

[Fletch]

I missed this interesting thread two years ago. Apparently yost didn't go through with it, due to lack of a followup post.


Or maybe he did go through with it and he's...............


:eek:

;)

[Corky Kneivel]

Before clicking on this post i was convinced that it was going to be some ethical question about visiting WEBsites mentioned on UM. Only after opening it and reading it was I reminded of the fact that for a good part of UM's existence, Al Gore hadn't gotten around to inventing the internet yet.

Weird how that now when I hear, or in this case read, the word "site"...I no longer instictually define it as a physical place.

On the topic of the post: Man his friend was a commited gambler to be planning out all of those contingencies, including spending the cash on a hotel and cabfare. I wonder if the friend offering up the bet was going to win anything if yost didn't go through with it. I once knew a guy who made a pretty sizable amount of money, as well as wracked up some really nice possessions, by taking crazy bets and dares. Like the guy who got fake boobs, this guy I grew up with "Seth" once lived in another friends' spare bathroom for a month. We were on Summer break, he was broke and didn't know how he was going to get books or a place for the next year, and he ended up taking 3 grand back to school with him for his troubles. Actually he made more than that over the summer but the bathroom thing was for 3 grand. I guess it beats working?!?

[tiddlywinks950]

hell no.......that segment scared me to death.....I wouldn't spend the night in there if you paid me a million dollars.....

i think that segment was the only one to actually keep me up......seriously if you have an exam to study for and you have to pull an all nighter and you need a way to keep you up, just watch that episode......you'll be up for days.

[Not A News Broadcast]

Bumping this thread a bit.We used to have dares like this all the time when I was a teenager but the place in question was always the Waverly Hills Sanitorium right here in Louisville.I had ALWAYS wished UM would've done a piece on this regarding the hauntings and whatnot.A truly frightening hulk of a building.As for the original poster and his dare regarding the Blind River rest stop please consider this challenge: Not only spend the night there but bring a portable dvd player with you and WATCH the Blind River piece right before beddy-bye time. Game,set and match my friend!:eek:

[leafygreens]

i dare you to spend the night in room 1408. :eek:

[Titan826]

I would do it if I had a gun with several rounds with me to defend myself, just in case. It would be pretty damn scary though.

[Tap Dancer]

I wouldn't spend a night at ANY rest stop. :eek:

[kamy]

I live a few miles from Darlie Routier's house and my hubby and I are going to drive by so I can say that I've been to a place on UM! Yay! I'm such a nerd :lol:

[PlasmaFiend(sic)]

Hey guys.Im new here by the way.i live in nyc .so i see murder sites all the time.just yersteday we drove by a wendys where they killed 6 people a few years ago.Also had a horrible expirence when i was 18.I went to a freinds house.and walked right into him hanging from a ceiling beam.and in the corner was his mom.turns out he killed her and killed himself.Id never ever forget what i saw.

[crystaldawn]

Also had a horrible expirence when i was 18.I went to a freinds house.and walked right into him hanging from a ceiling beam.and in the corner was his mom.turns out he killed her and killed himself.Id never ever forget what i saw.

First off, welcome to the board. Wow, that is so sad that you had to see your friend like that. I'm sure its a picture you can't get out of your mind. :(

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Hey guys.Im new here by the way.i live in nyc .so i see murder sites all the time.just yersteday we drove by a wendys where they killed 6 people a few years ago.Also had a horrible expirence when i was 18.I went to a freinds house.and walked right into him hanging from a ceiling beam.and in the corner was his mom.turns out he killed her and killed himself.Id never ever forget what i saw.


Holy crap. For lack of a better term... that sucks! I'm sorry to hear you had to go through that... :(

[PlasmaFiend(sic)]

First off, welcome to the board. Wow, that is so sad that you had to see your friend like that. I'm sure its a picture you can't get out of your mind. :(

yes it was.Most messed up thing about it was that i saw cop outside and asked him what happened.and he said theres been an accident. he said i can go see if i want.thinking it was a broken leg or somthing.he could of warned me.lol thats the nypd.

[Tretsy]

Is that Allen Texas? or Plano?

[kamy]

Is that Allen Texas? or Plano?

Are you talking about the Routier home? If so, it's in Rowlett.

[compulsive dvd]

I just visited Kingfisher County, Oklahoma last week. It was exciting to be in the place where the guy kidnapped the woman he was stalking who'd left him and then she got away at the restaurant. I never remember people's names. I think my girlfriend's dad mentioned that a lot of people have escaped from the local jail there, as I recall happening on UM. Also, the local sheriff at the time has a brick in front of one of the city buildings. He was in the UM segment.

[StackTime]

Does anyone know if the site of the Blind River murders is on Google Earth?

[MissFit29]

I'm not sure....it's on Highway 17 or something, right? Most rest stops are marked on highway maps.

I've heard you can find the ATV murders site on Google Earth.

Rest stops aren't always the best place to be - just ask Dwayne McCorkendale and Dexter Stefonik.

I just drove by the building that has the parking garage where John Grundhofer was "efficiently" abducted about half an hour ago, so I guess I've been to an UM site too! Although, I have no idea what rest stop in WI they went to - I can't think of one that is that close that looks like the one they filmed at.

[Apostapler]

I wanna sleep in my parked car next to Lake Pontchartrain. ;)

[everybodylovesrs]

Or maybe he did go through with it and he's...............


:eek:

;)

Exactly what I thought. Do you realize how many UM (and other shows) have cases where people agree that they'll get X amount of dollars for something and they'll show the cash when they give the item, and the guy pulls out a gun and they're history. Just watch the "Tom Johnson" case where the woman got murdered when they were trying to sell the $20,000 computer.

[Mastermind]

Or maybe he did go through with it and he's...............




(Robert Stack voice) "Who knows..perhaps someone... maybe you may hold the key to this baffling mystery...

:D

[SageSlowdive]

I wouldn't mind visiting the rest stop, just not a night.

I would NEVER spend a night at ANY rest stop.

[TracyLynnS]

I know this is old now, and who knows what happened to the original poster, but I read in one of the threads here that the McAllister case prompted the entire country of Canada to prohibit any overnight stays in a rest area.

Anyone from Canada (or anyone who's less lazy than me and wants to look it up LOL) know if it's against the law to stay over in a rest area now?

[SageSlowdive]

I believe it is - but I haven't been in Canada in years.

[Jason K]

Semi-boring, but my great grandmother lived near (and is buried at) the cemetery a submariner is buried from a reincarnation episode. It's in Jacksonville, AL, not far from the local university.

The headstone has curiously been moved and now faces a new direction between the 2nd and 3rd visit (about a year apart). Perhaps they found the body (a body was not originally buried, as the body was never recovered)?

[TracyLynnS]

Wow! Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing. :)

Do you think they maybe moved that headstone to a family plot after relatives of the guy passed? Or maybe it was stolen and recovered? Another possibility is that they needed the space for an interment and moved the headstone to a different location.

Or is the headstone in the same place as before, but just moved to face a different direction? Did they recently place a military stone behind the original? Hard to tell from the pic.... very weird about it being moved, tho.

[Jason K]

Do you think they maybe moved that headstone to a family plot after relatives of the guy passed? Or maybe it was stolen and recovered? Another possibility is that they needed the space for an interment and moved the headstone to a different location.

Or is the headstone in the same place as before, but just moved to face a different direction? Did they recently place a military stone behind the original? Hard to tell from the pic.... very weird about it being moved, tho.

I think it's been moved in a new direction and is now at the opposite end of the grave. Not sure about a "military stone;" I'm unfamiliar with that term.

[TracyLynnS]

I think it's been moved in a new direction and is now at the opposite end of the grave. Not sure about a "military stone;" I'm unfamiliar with that term.

What I mean by "military stone" is a grave marker that's provided by the government of the military that the deceased served in.

I don't know if they are standardized, but here in MI they are usually brass colored metal markers that are flat on the ground. Sometimes they are the only grave marker and sometimes they are used in addition to one provided by the family.

I've also seen military grave stones that are vertical and white with dark lettering. The stone right behind the original headstone looks like it could be that type. It made me wonder if the cemetery had turned the original headstone to face a different direction, then placed a military headstone in sort of a back to back arrangement. That could explain why the original stone was moved.

Here is an image of the vertical style: http://danbeauvais.com/images/stories/clarence%20p%20harrison%209229%20display_700wm.jpg

Image of the flat style: http://www.veteransmemorial.us/bios/vwall/uploaded/image/portraits/Hudgens-Memorial%20Hdstone%20at%20National%20Cemtery%20of%20Arizona.jpg