Forget camera-lined houses, crowded kitchens, and deserted islands. The latest reality-show setting—at least in Missouri—involves two truck stops.
First there was Truck Stop Missouri, the Travel Channel reality show about Midway Auto Truck Plaza, near Columbia. That show was so popular, the station renewed it for a second season, rebranding the program Truck Stop USA.
Now, the latest national attention is on the Tri-County Truck Stop in Villa Ridge, just west of St. Louis and north of Interstate 44—though this one has a bit of a plot twist: The place is closed, and the inhabitants are dead. This summer, the Syfy channel aired an episode of Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files about the shuttered stop. The show’s conclusion? The place is haunted.
It’s a story that began with a team of ghostbusters from St. Louis. In mid-August 2006, following rumors of the site being haunted, the Arnold-based Paranormal Task Force (paranormaltaskforce.com) entered the abandoned building around 9:30 p.m. Among the team’s first encounters: A coffee pot came crashing to the ground, recalls president Greg Myers.
“On the first night, we were setting up a camera on the second floor,” he adds. “I was holding a door shut, and something was trying to open it from the other side—we were actually fighting back and forth.”
Other unexplained disturbances included a full apparition wearing a red flannel shirt in a men’s bathroom, a light bulb flung at a group of investigators, and a video-capture of a blue phosphorescent presence. Myers’ explanation: He believes these events are caused by “disembodied spirits of people who once lived… It’s something we’ll probably never be able to prove in our lifetime.”
For skeptics and spooks alike, the group will host two overnight ghost hunts at the truck stop, October 26 and 27.
