Danustouch
September 10th, 2001, 10:32 AM
Sounds like it was/is a REALLY cool place to visit, too.
*******************************************
Monday, September 10, 2001
April fire was not the end of quirky Natural Bridge attraction
Phoenix already stirs among ashes of Enchanted Castle
Police have been unable to link any suspect to the fire, or even prove it was an arson.
By MATT CHITTUM
THE ROANOKE TIMES
NATURAL BRIDGE - He read the letter with the fire still glowing and the scent of smoke still in the air.
"We don't threaten you at all. God can and will do His job without any help with us. He has being known to take flesh to save the soul," the hand-scrawled note said. "Fire represents God's Judgement. Behold ... the Judge is standing at the door."
The unsigned letter was in a package with about 15 religious tracts and a picture of its recipient, Mark Cline, clipped from The Roanoke Times. The picture was burned around the edges.
Cline found the letter at 4:30 a.m. April 9, just a few hours after learning that his wacky roadside attraction, the Enchanted Castle, was ablaze. From that moment on, Cline has believed the anonymous author was involved in burning down his business. The letter called it "a mass of darkness ... put on an altar of Satan."
A state police investigation determined that a Glasgow man sent the pamp lets to Cline and more than 30 other people, said Rockbridge/Lexington Commonwealth's Attorney Gordon Saunders. But because the man is disabled, police doubt he could have started the fire, the prosecutor said.
A prominent Lexington business owner came forward as the courier for the package Cline received, but denies knowledge of the fire, Saunders said. The business owner failed a lie detector test in which he was asked if he was involved or knew who started the fire, according to Cline.
But police have been unable to link either of the men to the fire, or even prove it was an arson. line stored flammable chemicals in the building, and Saunders said it's hard to distinguish them from a substance an arsonist might have used.
If it hadn't been for the letter, the fire might not even have been considered suspicious, Saunders said.
But the letter did turn up, and for a time police considered whether Cline, 40, and his wife, Sherry, were involved.
The couple were questioned in separate cars the night of the fire, Cline said.
Cline later passed a polygraph test, Saunders confirmed.
"You look at everybody that potentially could have been involved and you start ruling them out," said Saunders. Cline sees too many coincidences for the package and fire not to be connected. Besides, he'd seen those pamphlets before.
"It all started with my monster on the back of my truck," he said. Cline had a fiberglass beast strapped into the bed of his pickup to promote a Halloween attraction called the Scarewitch Experience in October. One day he found a small white envelope containing three religious pamphlets left on the back of the truck while it was parked in Lexington.
More pamphlets showed up in the mail twice over the next few months. Cline said he grew concerned, but not scared.
Then came a call at 2 a.m. on a Sunday in April. The Enchanted Castle and his studio on U.S. 11 were on fire and burning fast.
Cline arrived in time to watch his life's work melt away, including $23,000 worth of sculpture and molds he used to create his fiberglass creatures. He carried only enough insurance to pay off the mortgage on the building, about $30,000.
With the fire still burning, Cline walked across the street to his mailbox and found the package. He opened it and showed it to a fire marshal with a television news camera rolling. It all looked suspicious, Cline realized even as it happened.
While the letter frightened him, such harassment was not new.
Cline helped plan a seance at a Salem Avalanche baseball game in 1998 at the team's invitation. The idea was to get rid of the bad vibes that had kept the team on a losing streak for nearly 10 years.
Christians called the team in protest, and local Christian radio stations urged listeners to boycott the team for promoting the occult.
Cline said he's not into the occult, Satanism or witchcraft. Every day since he was 17, he has prayed to God to "help me to make people laugh and help me to help folks."
His interest in monsters and things fantastic began with horror movies. Cline wanted to be an actor, but the most a local theater group would let him do was make props. That's where his career in sculpture began.
His first business in Natural Bridge was a monster museum he opened in 1982. "Not your typical Frankenstein and Dracula," he said. "I mean what you think is hiding under the stairs." The castle and studio came later.
He earns most of his money from fiberglass sculptures he makes on commission. His work is all over the country, from places like Six Flags theme parks to Franklin County, where a huge chicken he made for a miniature golf course is embroiled in a zoning controversy. He also operates a ghost tour in Lexington and another attraction in Virginia Beach.
The castle, a quirky tour of moving walls and visual tricks, was never much of a money-maker, Cline said. He had maybe 150 visitors a day in the summer. Mostly, it gave him a place to show off his work.
It's not the loss of that work that bothers Cline the most. He's more troubled by the loss of drawings he made as a kid and the surgical mask he wore when his first daughter was born. Those items also burned in the fire.
What compounds those losses is not knowing for sure if he was the target of an arson or the victim of an electrical fire.
"It gnaws at you," Cline said. "I would like to believe it was an electrical fire because I don't want to think anyone was that vile."
He's not sure the state police have been thorough enough in their investigation. He said they didn't question his neighbors about what they saw.
Cline is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the arsonist.
He also tried to get a local paper to publish an article in which he invited the Glasgow man who sent the pamphlets to meet him on the Glasgow ballfield one Saturday afternoon. But the article was never published.
Professionally, Cline has recovered. He built a new building to work in, and past customers have loaned him sculptures he made so he could re-create molds he lost.
Several people have sent him cash, he said, including $1,000 from a minister. Last week, a total stranger pulled off the road and handed Cline a $100 bill.
He's been able to keep working and is making a "real good living." He's also added security equipment around his workshop.
Tragic and costly as it was, the fire has presented the opportunity to build the attraction Cline always wanted.
He's already sketched out plans for a new Enchanted Castle and has made some of the sculptures for it, including gargoyles and a winged escape pod. It will be more than twice as big as the old one. "I guarantee you it's not going to be like anything you've ever seen.
"It's been liberating," he said. "I sure ain't going to thank the arsonist personally."
*******************************************
Monday, September 10, 2001
April fire was not the end of quirky Natural Bridge attraction
Phoenix already stirs among ashes of Enchanted Castle
Police have been unable to link any suspect to the fire, or even prove it was an arson.
By MATT CHITTUM
THE ROANOKE TIMES
NATURAL BRIDGE - He read the letter with the fire still glowing and the scent of smoke still in the air.
"We don't threaten you at all. God can and will do His job without any help with us. He has being known to take flesh to save the soul," the hand-scrawled note said. "Fire represents God's Judgement. Behold ... the Judge is standing at the door."
The unsigned letter was in a package with about 15 religious tracts and a picture of its recipient, Mark Cline, clipped from The Roanoke Times. The picture was burned around the edges.
Cline found the letter at 4:30 a.m. April 9, just a few hours after learning that his wacky roadside attraction, the Enchanted Castle, was ablaze. From that moment on, Cline has believed the anonymous author was involved in burning down his business. The letter called it "a mass of darkness ... put on an altar of Satan."
A state police investigation determined that a Glasgow man sent the pamp lets to Cline and more than 30 other people, said Rockbridge/Lexington Commonwealth's Attorney Gordon Saunders. But because the man is disabled, police doubt he could have started the fire, the prosecutor said.
A prominent Lexington business owner came forward as the courier for the package Cline received, but denies knowledge of the fire, Saunders said. The business owner failed a lie detector test in which he was asked if he was involved or knew who started the fire, according to Cline.
But police have been unable to link either of the men to the fire, or even prove it was an arson. line stored flammable chemicals in the building, and Saunders said it's hard to distinguish them from a substance an arsonist might have used.
If it hadn't been for the letter, the fire might not even have been considered suspicious, Saunders said.
But the letter did turn up, and for a time police considered whether Cline, 40, and his wife, Sherry, were involved.
The couple were questioned in separate cars the night of the fire, Cline said.
Cline later passed a polygraph test, Saunders confirmed.
"You look at everybody that potentially could have been involved and you start ruling them out," said Saunders. Cline sees too many coincidences for the package and fire not to be connected. Besides, he'd seen those pamphlets before.
"It all started with my monster on the back of my truck," he said. Cline had a fiberglass beast strapped into the bed of his pickup to promote a Halloween attraction called the Scarewitch Experience in October. One day he found a small white envelope containing three religious pamphlets left on the back of the truck while it was parked in Lexington.
More pamphlets showed up in the mail twice over the next few months. Cline said he grew concerned, but not scared.
Then came a call at 2 a.m. on a Sunday in April. The Enchanted Castle and his studio on U.S. 11 were on fire and burning fast.
Cline arrived in time to watch his life's work melt away, including $23,000 worth of sculpture and molds he used to create his fiberglass creatures. He carried only enough insurance to pay off the mortgage on the building, about $30,000.
With the fire still burning, Cline walked across the street to his mailbox and found the package. He opened it and showed it to a fire marshal with a television news camera rolling. It all looked suspicious, Cline realized even as it happened.
While the letter frightened him, such harassment was not new.
Cline helped plan a seance at a Salem Avalanche baseball game in 1998 at the team's invitation. The idea was to get rid of the bad vibes that had kept the team on a losing streak for nearly 10 years.
Christians called the team in protest, and local Christian radio stations urged listeners to boycott the team for promoting the occult.
Cline said he's not into the occult, Satanism or witchcraft. Every day since he was 17, he has prayed to God to "help me to make people laugh and help me to help folks."
His interest in monsters and things fantastic began with horror movies. Cline wanted to be an actor, but the most a local theater group would let him do was make props. That's where his career in sculpture began.
His first business in Natural Bridge was a monster museum he opened in 1982. "Not your typical Frankenstein and Dracula," he said. "I mean what you think is hiding under the stairs." The castle and studio came later.
He earns most of his money from fiberglass sculptures he makes on commission. His work is all over the country, from places like Six Flags theme parks to Franklin County, where a huge chicken he made for a miniature golf course is embroiled in a zoning controversy. He also operates a ghost tour in Lexington and another attraction in Virginia Beach.
The castle, a quirky tour of moving walls and visual tricks, was never much of a money-maker, Cline said. He had maybe 150 visitors a day in the summer. Mostly, it gave him a place to show off his work.
It's not the loss of that work that bothers Cline the most. He's more troubled by the loss of drawings he made as a kid and the surgical mask he wore when his first daughter was born. Those items also burned in the fire.
What compounds those losses is not knowing for sure if he was the target of an arson or the victim of an electrical fire.
"It gnaws at you," Cline said. "I would like to believe it was an electrical fire because I don't want to think anyone was that vile."
He's not sure the state police have been thorough enough in their investigation. He said they didn't question his neighbors about what they saw.
Cline is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of the arsonist.
He also tried to get a local paper to publish an article in which he invited the Glasgow man who sent the pamphlets to meet him on the Glasgow ballfield one Saturday afternoon. But the article was never published.
Professionally, Cline has recovered. He built a new building to work in, and past customers have loaned him sculptures he made so he could re-create molds he lost.
Several people have sent him cash, he said, including $1,000 from a minister. Last week, a total stranger pulled off the road and handed Cline a $100 bill.
He's been able to keep working and is making a "real good living." He's also added security equipment around his workshop.
Tragic and costly as it was, the fire has presented the opportunity to build the attraction Cline always wanted.
He's already sketched out plans for a new Enchanted Castle and has made some of the sculptures for it, including gargoyles and a winged escape pod. It will be more than twice as big as the old one. "I guarantee you it's not going to be like anything you've ever seen.
"It's been liberating," he said. "I sure ain't going to thank the arsonist personally."