Route 66

Kit takes a road trip down Route 66 and crosses onto the mysterious Route 666

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Welcome to Kitts Myths and Mysteries, listened to in all 50 states and 39 countries. Stories from a world you thought you knew. Today we're taking a road trip. If this is a summer vacation time for you, you might consider Highway 66 or Route 66, or the Main Street of America, or whatever you want to call it. Route 66 was created November 11, 1926. It covered 2,448 miles and ran from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. It ran through eight states and three time zones. It was removed from the state highway system, though, in 1985. In Steinbeck's classic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, it was the route taken by those fleeing poverty in the Dust Bowl. Although I personally have feelings of nostalgia about the route that I'll talk about a little bit later, there are a number of myths and mysteries connected to the old highway that carry the theme of this podcast. Along the route you can see the hideout for the James Gang, Body and Clyde's hideout at Baxter Springs, Kansas. Driving along the route you'll unwittingly see the site of the Staffelbeck Murder Bordello, something you don't want to miss. I remember my father taking us along the route where we would stop at snake pits, usually places like gas stations, sometimes homes that sold trinkets. I eventually ended up working at the Grand Canyon Caverns along the route twenty two stories down, totally dry. The old highway has a creepy side. Route six sixty six is the sixth branch of Route sixty six, and its long stretch of road has been responsible for countless ghost stories and encounters. The scariest might come from Linda Dunning, who wrote about an incident with her husband. Apparently the man was driving down Route six six six late at night, and in the distance saw a burning truck flying toward him with no signs of stopping. He pulled quickly off the road and walked into the desert about twenty feet from the car in order to let the flaming truck pass. Then, after it had raced by him, he got back in his car and continued the drive like nothing had happened. Go figure that one. If while driving the route you must stop, avoid the hotel Monte Vista, according to haunted Route sixty six, ghosts of American legendary highways. From their reports you can see restless spirits on the hotel hallways. Yen you especially want to avoid the second floor, which is supposedly haunted by so many spirits the hotel management can't put pets on the floor because they freak out. The basement also reports have come in of babies crying over and over and over again. If you take the trip along Route sixty six in Arizona, you will inevitably come across old business ventures that once entice tourists to visit and break up the monotony of the long journey. There are always somewhat mysterious experiences. Just why and when did the Indian trading post go under? What were those tumbled down buildings part of? What else was there beside the sign that declares Route sixty six mountain lions? And what happened to the mountain lions? Just east of Holbrook, Arizona, for a distance of some two miles, large plastic dinosaurs appear on either side of the road in the thin desert scrub and red dirt just standing there. More or alone solitary dinosaurs with teeth bared and clearly not in the mood for company. Among these there is one group shot consisting of a Tyrannosaurus Rex pinning a triceratops while warding off a smaller but aggressive predator. The triceratops appears the least bothered of the three. And these are not small, these are large twenty foot plastic dinosaurs. Then you see a boarded up building to the south with a dinosaur in the front. All the signs are also boarded up, as are the billboards that once invited travelers to whatever dinosaur extravaganza there was there. Few dinosaurs appear along the route, and then nothing. It all slips behind you with no explanation as to what happened to the dinosaurs. Today much of Route 66 has been paved over by a new interstate. But there are still stretches with sites that will tickle the imagination. This is definitely something that you might think about if you've got some time and want to take a road trip. Route 66. The Mysteries of Route 66 was produced here at Night Owl Sound Studio and brought to you by Booksavvy Studio, Lost Lodge Press, the Rogue Valley Metaphysical Library, and Owl Creek Press and Rider's Retreat. This is Kit Crumb. Thanks for listening.