My Adventures at Zak Bagan's Haunted Museum

Chapter 5-Odd Fellow Chapel/Kevorkian's Van

Chapter 5 Odd Fellows Chapel/Kevorkian's Death Van

We walked across the hall into a black painted room with a stained glass gothic glass window frames propped up and lit against the wall. It gave the whole room the feel like you were walking into a chapel. Chairs were set up as if for a funeral, and a long coffin was at the front of the room on a dais. You could see a skeleton inside of the coffin.

People carefully filed in, each choosing their seat carefully whether they took an aisle seat, sat at the front, in the middle or in the back. I was cautious and chose a middle seat. I sat on the folding metal chair, ready for anything. The tour guide took her place at the front of the room.

"As you can see, this is one of Zak's creations. A chapel to honor his collection of Good Fellow items. The stained glass windows are from Europe, and as you can see, that is a real skeleton in the coffin. It comes from New York, and was found in one of the old buildings that were once used as an Odd Fellows Temple. It is rumored that it was used in one of their rites, where you had to stare into the eyes of the skull of a former members. It was like facing the fact that everyone would face death eventually." Then she smiled, waving her hand at us. "Who would like to try to stare down death, and look into the eyes of the skeleton?"

Everyone looked around at each other, no one in particular wanting to take the challenge yet. So, I raised my hand. Why not? Couldn't hurt to stare death in the face? The tour guide waved me up, and stood next to the coffin near the skull, leaning over to look in the eyes. It was just a creepy skull, but creepy because it was a real skull. I sat back down, and others had started to raise their hands once I had gone.

The girl behind me whispered, "Hey, did you feel anything."

"No, just a creepy skull. You can give it a try if you want. I don't think it's too bad." She raised her hand just as the last guy gave it a go. I watched her walk up, not feeling much in here. I thought of a question. "Hey, do people get married in here?"

The tour guide answered, "We were offering weddings for awhile, but Zak has stopped it for awhile. But we did have an engagement happen in her not too long ago. He seems to be focusing on that for now."

"Probably takes less time than a wedding. Less tours have to be stopped," said a guy sitting near me.

Some of us nodded as one last person took their turn to look at the skull. With that last look, the guide asked if anyone else wanted a try, and with no one acknowledging they did, she asked us to follow her to the next room. We all began following her filing out like we'd just attended a funeral.

We came into the hall again, and walked down into the foyer of an office.

"This is the entrance to Dr. Kevorkian's Death Van. It was sold for parts in 1997, but some reason, it wasn't destroyed. Pictures of the original van have been compared to this one to verify it is the same vehicle." As the tour guide went on about the work of Dr. Kevorkian and his suicide assistance done in the "death van", I looked around at the walls, and didn't feel much different. I was waiting to see if I'd recognize it, because I had a dream of the van a few months before coming here.

What was unusual about my dream was that I'd talked to a woman in it named Sarah. She had told me she had died in the van, and not to be scared of it. That it was a creepy place, but very peaceful and positive. I could picture the room, and the side of the van she stood on. I was wondering if it would be the same.

We stood in a mock office, with pictures on the walls and a video of Zak welcoming to see the van. Then, it was our time to walk in. And I was hit by a sense of peace I'd never felt before. The van was in a dark, black room, with a wall up on one side so you could only view part of the back. Inside, a mannequin was where I person would be if they were attached to the Doctor's "Mercitron", the death machine he invented for assisted suicides. It's rumored over 130 critically ill people were assisted by "Dr. Death" in dying humanely.

I stared at the mannequin, wondering what it would feel like to be in that position. So sick, that you'd need to have someone assist you in ending your life. I started to get the creeps about it, and that's where I felt a presence. It reminded me of the woman in my dream. That it was all peaceful and all right. Not to be scared or creeped out, but the van was a blessing. I left the room as the guide lead us to the next stop on the tour feeling a bit out of sorts. It was a weird place to feel at ease and at peace, next to a rusty, creepy death van.