news update
Home
calendar
tickets
coupon
amusement
findit
history
photos
video
links
contact
storefront
The History of
201 East Grayson Street
Double Cola and
Nightmare on Grayson
Double Cola Bottlers was built in 1939 at 201 East Grayson Street in the booming bottling district of San Antonio, Texas. To put the competition on its heels, innovators brought in state-of-the-art manufacturing techniques and European chemists to develop trendy new flavors. Fredrich Von Strussen was employed to develop Jolly Ale, which was meant to compete with other stimulant colas that dominated the market at the time. It was infused with lysergic acid (LSD), where it had been synthesized in Switzerland as a respiratory and circulatory stimulant. Not until 1943 did widespread reports of horrific hallucinations prompt strict clinical studies and stockpile seizures.Unbeknownst to his new employer, Von Strussen was sent by Axis military officials to the United States with a hidden agenda. He came to formulate a euphoric stimulant for soldiers in the battlefield. He was to develop this secret weapon and deliver it to his commanders back in Europe.Knowing that stress accompanied their vocation, Von Strussen targeted bus drivers for the growingBexar County School District to trial this concoction. After just a few weeks of testing, Von Strussen noticed that his subjects began to have Waking Nightmares, insomnia and severe headaches.Upon raising the doses his subjects were taking, he noticed that they became highly impressionable in their altered state. He began wearing a red cloak during his ritualistic sessions and it is now assumed he used this with subjects in the hallucinogenic state for intimidation purposes. Even though his participants were affected in a negative manner, he continued to increase their doses. He also began conducting various animal experiments within his lab.Families of test subjects began picketing outside the plant in small groups, demanding an investigation.A Country Reporter journalist broke the news of the chemists military connection, which spurred federal agents to attempt a raid on the plant. Alerted by the questions being asked of him, Von Strussen gathered all his records, ransacked his lab and office, and then made his escape. On the evening of his escape, Von Strussen shot to death a Double Cola night watchman who is believed to have attempted to stop him.While laying in wait for his international travel papers, Von Strussen was spotted in a hotel off of Commerce Street. By entering the town of Bandera at the edge of Bexar County, he was able to evade the police in a car he had managed to steal. The high speed chase that ensued almost ended the lives of an air force recruit and his family. After the crash, Von Strussen was booked and held at the County Jail, awaiting his impending trial.Von Strussen was then convicted of murdering the Double Cola night watchman, poisoning the San Antonio bus drivers and a slew of other charges. The murder conviction alone earned him an appointment with The Judge, Dallass notorious electric chair. Von Strussen filed many appeals to tie up the court system. It was almost a year before his case was heard by a state court.A bizarre series of local procedures hastened the execution, and Von Strussen was executed unannounced without due process. This blunder was most likely caused by a public outcry for justice. On April 1, 1941, his last words of YOU CANNOT MAKE ME LEAVE THIS PLACE were witnessed and recorded by the group assigned to the gruesome task of overseeing his punishment.Misunderstanding what he had meant, witnesses mocked him during those last few moments of his life.No charges were ever pursued for the unauthorized execution.It is a widely held misconception that the Grayson haunted house derived its name from the movie Nightmare on Elm Street. When In fact, welding torch graffiti found on the east wall of the building read:Nightmare from Grayson lives in this place! Builders of the haunted house at the time thought it had something to do with the wrestling events of the 50s and 60s. It was on Josephine Street, one block over, that the popular Wrestlelathon was held and many wrestling handbills were still pasted to the buildings walls at 201 East Grayson at the time.Double Cola never recovered from the fallout of Von Strussens activities and left went out of business that same year. The building was still used for some 20 years as a soda manufacturing plant by a succession of other companies, but each produced only dismal profits. A transmission remanufacturingshop opened in the 70s for a short time period. The building was thus left abandoned by bankrupt owners until Tribra Enterprises bought it in 89 to build what is now known as Nightmare on Grayson.When newspaper clippings about Friedrich Von Strussen were recently discovered, many connections were made to San Antonios well known urban myths. The articles were documented around the time these area legends are said to have taken place and eerily coincide with events in Von Strussens later life. Spooky occurrences continue to plague employees and guests who brave the haunted house to this day. Sightings of a Red Cloaked Figure have been made by many among those who have visited Nightmare on Graysons dark halls.
ARTIFACTS
NEWS CLIPPINGS
MAINPAGE
news update
Home
calendar
tickets
coupon
amusement
findit
photos
video
links
screamteam
contact
storefront
template
prices
directions
drive281south
drive281north
drive35south
drive1-10west
drive1-10east
drive35north
parkingdetail
newsarticles
artifacts
actualcouponpage
donkeylady
chupacabra
bus accident
tastingtesting
linked
capture
panel1
panel2
execution
thingstodo
employment
hiddentreasure
usabledocuments
application
