History
El Ranchito Gato Muerto is located on W. Johnston. It originally belonged to Bill and Jean Drabek. We purchased the first 2 acres in 1996 at a public tax auction. We have since purchased the 3 acres behind the house and 5 acres of pasture land next to us. We also purchased the old high school Ag-farm down the street, and moved an old house onto the property, that we are presently renting out.
Bill Drabek's V8 Motorcycle
Article in "Cycle" magazine in 1954
Bill Drabek was somewhat of a mechanical genius. He was the first person to ever build and drive a V8 motorcycle. It had a flat head V8, was part Indian and part Harley, 9ft long, and as the story goes, if anyone would take it to full speed, he would have given it to them. I remember him driving it about once a week when I was growing up on College Place. A Couple of years ago I was contacted by a friend who bought the cycle in a u-store, u-lock auction. It was still this awesome machine I remembered when I was a kid, but hadn't been run in 30 years or more. Jay Leno personally inquired about it, but he only collects original equipment cycles. The Executive editor of Cycle World was perusing some old articles and called the only cycle shop in town to find out what happened to the cycle. The owner of the shop had heard about it, but had no idea what had happened to it. The person who bought the cycle at the auction, saw him at a local hardware store and asked him if he knew anyone who would be interested in buying, and the shop owner gave him Cycle World's number. The Editor ended up buying it for what I thought was a pretty good price. We found some old papers and some articles from Ford Motor News and Cycle magazine about the cycle and gave them to the buyer. He promised to restore it and ride it back here and have a little press conference and show, but we haven't heard anything from him in over a year. If anyone knows more history of the land or the Drabek's or anything you think I might find interesting, feel free to e-mail me or call me.
We named the land after a mummified cat we found in the bedroom of the house, it was as if all the rats were afraid to eat it. We love it here and are eventually going to build a house of our own in the middle of the property. In the meantime, Cheryl has done a outstanding job of landscaping and we just enjoy hanging out during the day and after the bar closes.
When we bought the land, we heard all kind of stories about bad mojo, murders, satanic worship, and various others. The only semi-credible account was a story about a syndicated TV show coming to Kingsville and doing a spot at the land. They allegedly had a psychic showing a mother where her daughter's body was stored before it was buried on top of another gravesite at Chamberlain Cemetery. The body was supposedly stored in an old work shed we have since torn down. I say this story is semi-credible because several people say they saw the episode in question, and each person basically told me the same storyline. There is even supposed to be a tape of the program, but for some reason I can't get a copy. The TV show is supposed to be something along the lines of "Unsolved Mysteries". If nothing else, these stories have led to some very interesting Halloween parties! If anyone has heard or has actually seen the episode in question (or any other stories you may have heard), please e-mail me and let me know.
I could go into depth about the history of the land but I just don't have the time right now, maybe later.
Last Edited: 03/16/05