(ghoulish playful music) - Boo!

It's our Halloween spook-tacular.

- Can we please not scare off the viewers before we even get started with your terrible puns?

- Well, I tell you what, the rest of the show we've got more treats than tricks.

- "You Gotta See This".

(upbeat festive music) (upbeat festive music ends) (tranquil hypnotic music) - I think I recognize this getup.

It's a co-worker of ours, isn't it?

- It is, indeed.

I do love trash and I do love telling people to scram the most.

- And you're often grouchy, like Oscar, so that makes sense.

- Well, what exactly are you?

- I am a Viking princess or maybe Pippi Longstocking gone rogue.

I don't know.

I had to throw this together at the last second but I promise ya, in just a bit, I've got a really good costume or a really weird costume for "8-Track Time Machine" and we're gonna count down the spookiest all time classic rock hits.

(tranquil hypnotic music continues) - Slimy just told me his very favorite story is coming up next.

- Why is that?

- It's "Dead Man's Curve".

He loves to curve.

- I get that, kind of, kind of.

We're also gonna check out this film, this cult horror classic.

No one from around here has heard of it hardly but it's set in Central Illinois.

You're not gonna believe this.

- But first, if you dare, (Julie and Phil, laughing wickedly) we take you on the Peoria Historical Society's Haunted Peoria Tour.

Check it out.

Peoria has a long history of ghostly hauntings.

You just have to know where to look and listen.

- There are lots and lots of places around Peoria that are haunted or where people have seen swirls and orbs.

People have heard disembodied voices, strange occurrences.

- [Julie] Is that scary?

Depends on your viewpoint.

- People get a big kick out of hearing about strange occurrences.

- [Julie That's why every year the Peoria Historical Society offers the Haunted Peoria Bus Tours.

Guides offer spooky stories regarding other worldly sightings and mysteries citywide.

- Whether you believe in ghosts or not, it's certainly entertaining.

- [Julie] So you gotta see this, caught up with Corey Curtis, a volunteer guide on the tour.

Curtis says ghosts can raise a ruckus, but what do they want?

Let's take a look.

George McNear Murder.

Some ghosts want help.

In the 1930s and '40s, George McNear owned the TP&W Railroad.

- He had constant union fighting and battling and union strikes during the time that he owned it.

- [Julie] On March 10th, 1947 after watching a Bradley Braves basketball game at the Armory, he walked towards his home on Moss Avenue.

At High Street, a car stopped and a gunshot blasted McNear.

Trying to get home, he staggered for a hundred yards, then dropped dead.

The murder is still unsolved.

And some say George McNear is still on Moss Avenue.

- So one of the apparitions that people report is around the anniversary of his death in March, they see a shadowy figure slumping over, trying to get to his house.

It's thought that after he was shot he was headed in that direction.

That's where he was going.

So it's thought that when people see this dark shadowy figure kind of stumbling down Moss, it's George McNear trying to head to his house, trying to get help.

- Julie Soldiers Hill at Springdale Cemetery.

Some ghosts want to scare.

In 1862, the first soldier was laid to rest at Soldiers Hill.

The area remained quiet until one day about 10 years ago when a group of teenage girls visited the hill.

- They're hanging out, having a picnic.

Cemeteries are always good places for picnics.

- [Julie] Maybe, until the sun went down.

- One of the girls looked over the other girl's shoulder and saw this green mist forming.

And as they all looked at it, it started appearing in this humanly body shape.

They started getting up and it formed into this union soldier.

When it looked at 'em, its eyes were dark.

And at that point in time, they had had enough and they started running off.

One reported that when she looked behind her, the apparition had already disappeared but they were done with the whole situation.

They were pretty scared and I'm sure they did not come back for have picnics anymore.

Maybe they chose a different place to have a picnic.

- [Julie] The 1887 Great Chatsworth Train Wreck.

Some ghosts want relief.

- So in 1887, there was an old train station in this spot and there was a group of tourists who wanted to go to Niagara Falls.

- [Julie] A TP&W train pulled out of Peoria with 500 passengers heading east.

They got 70 miles away, just past the town of Chatsworth.

- When they came across the bridge, the train went off the bridge and collided into the hill.

Everybody in the front of the train died instantly.

- [Julie] That day, 81 people died in one of the 19th century's worst railway accidents in America.

Soon, some of the dead and injured were taken back to Peoria on the same rail line.

- So it's reported that if you're around this area, you can still hear the cries of people finding their loved ones who were deceased.

- [Julie] Pettengill-Morron House.

Some ghosts want to leave a calling card.

1212 Moss Avenue was built in 1868.

It's now a museum run by the Historical Society.

The first owners were Moss and Lucy Pettengill.

He died there, so did she.

So did at least one other owner.

They, or someone, didn't go quietly.

- So in speaking with the house manager she has reported numerous occurrences in the house.

One being that she had just left, let some guests out and she heard the water running from upstairs.

So she thought maybe a guest left the water running.

So she went upstairs, turned it off.

And she heard it running again.

And when she went upstairs, the water was back on which she thought was odd because she was the only one in the house.

- [Julie] That's not all the house manager noticed was amiss.

- She's also reported the smell of smoke in the house.

The last owner, Jean, she smoked.

So she always, the house manager always thinks that maybe that's the Jean just coming, checking on her house when she can smell the smoke in the air.

- [Julie] For more on haunted tours go to PeoriaHistoricalSociety.com.

- [Phil] It's called The Mother Road as well as Main Street USA.

Route 66 was one of the first federal highways stretching 2500 miles between Chicago and Santa Monica, California.

It's been a setting for television (brief 1940s music) and celebrated in song.

(jazz piano music) ♪ Travel My Way ♪ That's the highway that's the best ♪ ♪ Get your kicks ♪ On Route 66 - [Phil] The interstate system took much traffic off Route 66.

But for Romantics of the road, much of Route 66 is still out there, including a big slice through Illinois.

But in the land of Lincoln, in the early heyday of the route, there was a big bump in the road.

Welcome to Towanda and Dead Man's Curve.

The village was founded northeast of Bloomington-Normal in 1875.

In the ancient American Indian language of Nanticoke, Towanda means burial ground, an interesting coincidence regarding Dead Man's Curve.

- This stretch of road here, the original Route 66 was laid in 1927, pretty thin, as you can see.

It's only 16 feet across, that was pretty normal.

And so the Route 66 who came in from that way, zipped down here and then went yonder.

Now in '54, the Route 66, the bypass from this curve went through the town over there.

And then in '77, 55 took most of the traffic over that way.

But what we still have left is this chunk of the original Route 66, along with Dead Man's Curve.

- [Phil] For southbound travelers, Route 66 would come in from the north, then hit a brutal dog leg in Towanda.

It was especially startling to motorists from Chicago on their first drive south on Route 66.

- But it comes down here and whips down what along now is called Jackson Street and goes straight down to there and then whip around the corner.

Now there used to be houses over here where you now have some bean fields, okay?

And at the apex of the curve, these houses, they'd be constantly getting pound, pound, pound by cars.

There were wrecks all the time here, a lot of injuries, a lot of nasty stuff happened on this Dead Man's Curve.

And the houses just kept getting pelted.

In fact, there was one that got hit over and over again until the day a semi hit it, and then boom, knocked off its foundation, no more.

In fact, none of those houses are left on the curve.

- [Phil] From the late 1920s to the early '50s, wrecks were typical and nasty along Dead Man's Curve, as attested in roadside markers and signage.

- [Phil] Now we're good so far, you're coming from the north and everything's good.

Then Imagine you're going 40, 50, 60 and all of a sudden that's a 90-degree turn to the left and that's dangerous.

Around the curve, lickety-split.

Beautiful car, wasn't it?

- [Phil] In 1954, Route 66 was realigned in Towanda.

It became a straight shot through town bypassing Dead Man's Curve.

Accidents became rare, even rarer when Interstate 55 opened north of town in 1977.

But if you don't mind a detour off the main road and into yesteryear, you can still get your kicks on Route 66 and take your chances on Dead Man's Curve.

(rock music ends) (soft dreamy music) - [Phil] The Cat's Meow Cafe, peddles pours and purrs.

You can get coffee or tea with a side order of cats.

- Welcome to the Cat's Meow Cafe.

Let's go meet some friends.

Come on over.

This is Alaska.

Aren't you so cute?

- [Phil] In addition to dishing up food and drink, the Bloomington cafe provides cats to adopt or you can just cuddle and chill.

- I just think that people like the serotonin of coming in and petting a new friendly kitty and just having some place to relax.

- [Phil] The order counter is separate from the cat space, which guests can visit for $5 apiece.

Some visitors bring along their drink or snack as well as other accompaniments - People do their homework in here.

They meet up with their gal pals for a coffee or a pastry and it's just a nice place to hang out.

- [Phil Cat Cafe started in Japan in the 1990s, then began popping up in America about a decade ago.

Meins encountered her first cat cafe a few years back in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

- And they have a cat cafe there called Naughty Cat Cafe.

And they have a big sign that says, not a strip club.

I thought that was so funny.

- [Phil] She also thought it was a good business idea.

She could open the first cat cafe in Central Illinois.

But there was a snag in her copycat plan.

Meins, who owns a hair salon and clothing boutique had no other business experience.

- And so I have no background in coffee shop, restaurant or animal care in any way.

So it's been quite the learning curve.

- [Phil] She found a partner in Pet Central Helps, a not-for-profit, no-kill pet shelter.

- And up here in the cat perch we have Linda.

Linda's one of our newer residents.

She's a tiny kitten.

Linda likes to take naps up here in the sunshine.

She's very sweet.

- [Phil] The cafe area is walled off from the cat space, which at any one time has hosted anywhere from seven to 16 felines.

- We've had as few as seven.

It just depends on how fast they get adopted.

- [Phil] Indeed, some guests come with the aim of adopting a cat.

But for others, such as residents of apartments that don't allow pets, the cafe provides a rent-a-cat opportunity.

That's pretty much the situation for Matilda Rogozinski of Bloomington.

The 15-year-old said her parents don't want to keep cats at home, so she gets her feline fix at the Cat's Meow Cafe.

- Some of them are very friendly.

some of them like to cuddle, some of them do not.

But they're fun to hang out with and nice to be around.

- [Phil] Most visitors stick around for about 20 minutes.

- [Lauri] Enjoy time with your friends and social time, and community.

- [Phil] The bonding time helps cats socialize with people.

- [Lauri] I think the cats love it.

I mean, it's a wonderful opportunity.

- [Phil] Just don't mix the food and the felines.

- No, no, no feeding the friends.

Nope, they're here for visits only.

Visits and cuddles.

- [Phil] And keep your eye on your snacks and drinks.

- Don't leave your food unattended.

Yeah, they're still animals.

And that's all for today.

Thanks for visiting.

(soft music ends) (upbeat jazzy dance music) (upbeat jazzy dance music continues) - Boo!

And welcome to Spooky Worth Township and my garage for another episode of "8-Track Time Machine" where we look at the songs and the sounds of the eight-track era.

And today, it's Halloween time, right?

Which is why I've got my costume on.

And I know this sort of thing is less boo than moo, and it's udderly ridiculous.

But you know what, I bought this thing for about $10 in, I don't know, 25 years ago, and it's still staying together.

And I say, why ruin a good thing, right?

So we stick with the cow costume.

And the costume makes perfect sense for this episode, as we present for Halloween, "The Spookiest Songs of the 8-Track Era".

(Phil laughs wickedly) (Blue Oyster Cult music) Blue Oyster Cult included "Don't Fear The Reaper" on their 1976 album "Agents of Fortune".

It was written by lead singer and songwriter, Buck Dharma.

And he got the inspiration when he thought about something.

well, a lot of people sometimes think about when they're young, what if I die young?

What'll happen?

What's that all about?

(Blue Oyster Cult music) ♪ Come on baby ♪ Don't feat the reaper ♪ Baby take my hand ♪ Don't fear the reaper - Well, he'd needn't have worried.

Buck Dharma is now 75 and still fronting Blue Oyster Cult.

The single did great, it hit number 12 on the charts but it didn't totally surprise the band 'cause the in the studio, they nailed it in one take.

Now that's pretty good, but you know what, things can always be a little better.

(studio audience laughing) - Guess what?

I got a fever.

And the only prescription is more cowbell.

(studio audience laughing) - And you know who likes a lot more cowbell?

Cows.

(Warren Zevon piano music) Appropriately, "Werewolves of London" has a really weird backstory.

Follow me here, 'cause this is how songs become hits and you just never know what's gonna happen.

Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers watched the old black and white movie "Werewolves of London".

This was in around 1975.

It's an old, old movie.

And he goes to his friend Warren Zevon and says hey, you know what you should do?

Write a funny song that creates a dance craze.

That's kind of a tall order, but Zevon had this reputation for a darkly comic song.

So he goes, okay, I'll do it.

And he and some collaborators took all of 15 minutes to crank out the song.

But when they were done, they're like, that's kind of funny, let's shove it over here.

So the song's dead but then one of Zevon's buddies, Jackson Brown, notices it.

And he says, what's this thing?

This looks pretty good.

I bet I could do something with this live in concert.

And he does.

And then so does another singer, T Bone Burnett.

And finally, Zevon's like everyone else is doing something with my song, maybe I'll try it.

So he puts it on the 1978 album "Excitable Boy" and it becomes his biggest smash of all time, hits number 21, and is on the charts for quite a few weeks.

(Warren Zevon piano music) ♪ Ah-hoo, Werewolves of London ♪ Ah-Hoo - And then a few years later in 1986, who puts it back on the charts?

Tom Cruise, when he sings and dances to it in "The Color of Money".

(Warren Zevon piano music) - And his hair was perfect.

(Warren Zevon piano music ends) - Ah-ooh, I like that.

Although a cow might do it, ah-moo.

('70s rhythm guitar music) - For "Spooky", three times, indeed was a charm.

It originally was an instrumental in 1967.

The next year, though, James Cobb he was the guitarist for the band Classics Four decided to add some words to it, especially some words about a spooky little girl, if you remember that.

('60s easy rock music) ♪ Love is kinda crazy ♪ With a spooky little girl like you ♪ - That version zoomed to number three on the charts.

And then a few years later, Cobb joined Atlanta Rhythm Section, and in 1979, they put out their own version of "Spooky" and it went onto the charts, too.

And we picked the song especially for this part.

(Atlanta Rhythm Section music) ♪ Just like a ghost ♪ You've been a-haunting my dream ♪ ♪ That I proposed to you on Halloween ♪ - I mean, who gets engaged on Halloween?

Monsters and freaky people, that's who.

(Blue Oyster Cult music) (Blue Oyster Cult music fades) (soft guitar music) - Oh, hello there.

I'm Kayla, one of the producers here on "You Gotta See This".

And welcome to this spook-tacular segment on all things pumpkin spice.

Yes, you heard me right, I love pumpkin spice.

Now, I love it so much that I've been tasked to tell you all the pumpkin spice things.

But I love a good challenge, so I'm gonna give myself only 30 seconds.

So without further ado, let's start that timer.

Frozen meatballs, Chapstick, ultra strong trash bags hot chocolate, shampoo and conditioner, socks, protein powder, Twinkies, cream cheese, Hostess cupcakes, Werther's, Goldfish, car detail spray, Oreos, Frosted Flakes, Frosted Mini Wheats, cups, honey, edible crickets, popcorn, Cheerios, latte, Pop-Tarts, donuts, butter hats, shirts, Squishmallows, books, Halloween costumes, coffee creamer, coffee candles, cookies, ice cream, whipped cream, sugar scrub.

(chime dinging) Looks like my time is out.

Well, some of those things were a little bit interesting.

Well, anyways, I hope that this inspires you to get ready for the upcoming Halloween season, and I hope you try some of these pumpkin spice items.

Now we hope you have a fa-boo-lous Halloween.

Keep it spicy, my friends.

(gentle music ends) (soft eerie music) - [Phil] Horror movies are set in creepy locations like the Bates Motel.

(car motor running) (wipers slapping) - [Phil] And, (terror music) (arrow whizzing, thudding) - [Phil] Camp Crystal Lake, and, Galesburg?

Galesburg, Illinois?

That's right, the slasher flick "Strange Behavior" didn't grab much attention when released in 1981, but since then, it's become a campy cult classic.

- Stop the car, just pull over.

(tense music) - [Phil] And set 45 miles northwest of Peoria in Galesburg.

Brian Godsil grew up in Galesburg, but, like most people, he'd never heard of the movie for most of his 45 years.

But Godsil is a horror fan.

He even hosts the podcast "I Like It Spooky".

- And I watched 300 and some movies in a year.

I just got bored and I was like, what am I gonna do?

So I just started down this rabbit hole of horror movies and I stumbled upon this movie.

- [Phil] What grabbed him first was the movie poster for "Strange Behavior".

- Didn't know about it until I saw the poster which is pretty iconic.

It's a guy laying in a bed.

And all you see is his head, really, but there's a needle coming right at his eye.

- [Phil] Godsil went online and looked for the movie.

Then he found a trailer.

The Galesburg native was blown away by what he heard.

- [Movie Narrator] In the peaceful Midwestern town of Galesburg, nothing much ever happens.

- [Phil] Much of the action takes place at the local university, known in the movie as Galesburg College.

- That has to be Knox College because at the time, there was no other colleges in Galesburg.

- [Phil] The plot is simple.

The son of the Galesburg police chief attends Galesburg College where he and a pal decide to make a little extra money at the science lab.

- [Movie Narrator] With a few harmless experiments.

- Two sessions, two days, a hundred bucks a day.

- [Phil] But the experiments turn creepy and fatal.

- Wait a minute Wait a minute, like, I'd like to know a little more about what's going on before you start.

- This is a very, very exciting experiment.

- And weird stuff starts happening.

And people start going missing.

And there's someone killing the kids of Galesburg, Illinois.

The whole movie is horror.

And there are parts that, you know, you'll cringe.

And you may hide your eyes if you're not a horror fan.

But there's so much camp.

(girl screaming) It's a total throwback to that '50s, '60s horror experience.

(1960s rock music) (shotgun blast) (Frankie Valley music) ♪ Lightning striking - [Movie Narrator] Dead kids, they'll scared the.

- [Phil] The movie includes actors whose faces you've maybe seen before.

One that especially will catch your eye, is none other than Louise Fletcher.

Six years earlier, she won an Oscar for her iconic performance as Nurse Ratchet in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

- And he's dead, and the dead don't come back and take revenge.

- [Phil] Here's another curiosity about "Strange Behavior".

It was the first horror movie filmed in New Zealand.

Why?

The flick's backers had connections in that part of the globe.

- At the time, once they got their money together it would've been winter here.

So they moved it to Australia.

It did not look Midwestern enough so they moved it to New Zealand.

- [Phil] So now you know all about the movie except for a key question.

Why Galesburg?

The thing is, there's no definitive answer.

Writer-director Michael Laughlin died two years ago at age 82, and he never publicly explained Galesburg as the story's setting.

And almost nothing has been written about the movie.

Now, Laughlin was born in Central Illinois, but on a farm outside the Woodford County Town of Minonk.

That's 70 miles east of Galesburg.

- So the only thing that we can figure out is his father was a farmer and had a lot of land.

And he was born in '38.

So Galesburg in the '50s and '60s was a booming community still a pretty big railroad community.

So we gather he either had family there or he visited there a lot, maybe with his dad for business.

- [Phil] It's as good a guess as any.

After all, in many horror movies, secrets vanish into the grave.

And with this campy cult film, the biggest secret is Galesburg.

- It's just one of those things that I guess we're blessed with?

We'll never know, it's a mystery.

Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.

Maybe he's like, I'm not telling anybody.

Even if somebody asks, I'm never gonna tell anybody why I put it here.

(tense music) - John, do you want me to call Donovan?

Do you want me to call the state police?

(crashes) Do you want me to call anybody?

(tense music intensifies) (tense music peaks, ends) (orchestral music) - You know, that was a pretty good show and it doesn't make me grouchy at all.

- It was a lot of fun, except for we forgot to do one thing.

- What's that?

- Boo!

(tranquil hypnotic music) - Ugh.

- Sorry, I love Halloween.

See you next time on.

- "You Gotta See This".

(tense music) (beep) (ghoulish playful music) - We're like a parade in reverse.

People drive by and we wave at them.

(ghoulish playful music continues) (beep) - You gotta see this?

(ghoulish playful music continues) (ghoulish playful music continues) (ghoulish playful music continues) (ghoulish playful music continues) (ghoulish playful music continues) (ghoulish playful music rises, fades)