For reasons passing understanding, I found myself deep in research for a screenplay having to do with the following subjects. Gigantipithicus, Waverly Hills Sanatorium, and Fort Knox.
It all started innocently enough. I decided to leave for work early today, and then found myself entranced by The History Channel. This happens often. If it's not The History Channel, it's The Food Network. If it's not The Food Network, it's FitTV, mainly because I have a very unhealthy obsession with Namaste Yoga. I dare you to turn on a show where three hot chicks do hot yoga poses in a relaxing environment, and then try to change the channel, it's fuckin impossible. The History Channel had a special on The Gold Bullion Depository in Fort Knox, the design of the place, the history, the mystery, and the background of the Depository itself as well as Fort Knox Military Base next door. I'm a sucker for almost any show on building and design or military history and training and weapons or any kind of conspiracy, and this show had all of that goin on. So I popped in a tape and let it record as I left for work.
I had told my wife when she got home to just stop the tape, because the show should be finished by the time she got home. I went to work, got off work, got a bit of shooting done for some needed dialogue scenes for something I shall speak of later, and then got home after midnight. Did the usual, kissed the wife good night (she has to get up early), ate, showered, and then got on the computer as I rewound and watched the recorded program. And this is what happens often. I record a program on Discovery or History, and then I end up recording 4 hours worth of stuff because the tape doesn't get turned off til later. In this case Juli didn't get home til later, so the Fort Knox documentary was not the only program on the tape. It happens all the time with me. I watch the program I initially intended to watch, and then I continue to watch the following programs, and then somehow in my head I try to connect all of the programs subject matter into a story.
It never fails. I learn a bunch of stuff and immediately my brain goes, "Now how can this be turned into a script?" Ask me some other time about when I watched the show on Mega Freighter Ships and then watched that show on the History of licorice, yeah, it was a pretty fucked up plot. What normally happens is, I write a few notes down, and then forget about them as I get back on track with the business at hand. Not this time. For some reason I just couldn't get this little twisted plot out of my head.
It popped into my brain as I was watching the documentary on Fort Knox. Great stuff in this little doc. Covered everything from what is known about the depository, like how much Gold it may hold and how secure and guarded the area is, to what is not known, like speculation on the security measures of the place and whether or not the building is holding the Roswell Aliens. They also talked about Fort Knox Military Base, the training facility and how many modern day weapons are tested there. This was already turning all sorts of wheels in my head. I won't tell you details, because I hardly ever discuss scripts I work on. It's that whole birthday wish syndrome again. If I tell you it won't happen.
Suffice it to say I had this great visual story goin on and I was getting very excited with every intriguing detail from this doc. I will say that I'm thinking of something horror sci-fi based. And along those lines, it clicked in my head. Fort Knox, Kentucky. What else do you think of when you hear the word Kentucky Patrick? CHICKEN! How about a horror movie about Fried Chicken in Fort Knox? Ya know, like the Roswell aliens come to life, escape Fort Knox and turn all the soldiers into killer alien buckets of fried chicken?
OK not really.
What I did think of was, Waverly Hills Sanatorium. I started to wonder how far apart these two locations were. Was Fort Knox anywhere near Louisville where Waverly was located? I got REALLY curious. If you know nothing about Waverly Hills Sanatorium, all I will say is that most people call it THE MOST HAUNTED PLACE ON EARTH. Now click this link for more info. Pretty creepy stuff.
My brain started trying to tie the two subject together. Fort Knox conspiracies, Waverly Hills ghosts. Did some digging. Fort Knox wasn't too far away from Waverly, but they weren't right next door to each other. Still, close enough for me to put something together. And the plot I was conjuring in my head was just insane. It screams, action, horror, sci-fi. Very much along the lines of an old movie called The Keep. I would say go rent this movie, but it's extremely hard to find. It's a heck of a cast, and it's a Michael Mann horror movie.
So I've pretty much got a whole plot in my head just based on what I've got. But of course I continue watching the tape. What comes up next? A documentary on Fried Chicken. Just kidding.
It was a documentary on Gigantipithicus. Jeez, am I even spelling that right? Let's just call him G. G was basically the real life King Kong. A gigantic ape that lived ages ago. A relic of the past. The show did talk to people who believed there was some connection between G and Sasquatch. Fuckin Sasquatch. I swear to God I just can't get away from him. I attract it, I do. I can't turn on the TV without running into a show on Bigfoot. And I have to watch it. Monster sightings and conspiracies are like candy to me. I don't buy into the majority of it, and I'm more inclined to NOT believe in Bigfoot's existence, but I love this stuff anyhow. And more so lately because alot of what I'm trying to do with the Monster Cops movies is based on monster sighting footage. I'm obsessed with creating Monster Sighting footage. Can't wait to show you the next movie.
Anyhow. So now my brain is trying to cram Sasquatch into a supernatural, military, movie that takes place in Kentucky. Might as well throw in a subplot about The Colonel's Fried Chicken.
Part of it is just me trying to avoid the research I have to do on Video Compression and Mpeg2 DVD creation, yadda, yadda. It happens. I can't work on 1 thing. I have to work on 5 things. But seeing as how Haunted Fort Sasquatch is now number 6, looks like this goes on the back burner. But I'm getting back to it though. I REALLY like this plot I've got goin.
Great, now I want some fried chicken.
Oh yeah, try locating Waverly Hills Sanatorium on Google Maps, and see if you get creeped out like I did.
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