Designed by Loryn Mertz
2
APRIL 2016
St. Augustine Entertainer
Wolfgang Von Mertz Brings
Movie Making Back To The Oldest City
The skull of what “many believe” to be a
real Sasquatch recovered from Alabama in the
1970s plus several Sasquatch cast feet.
And, naturally, stuff relating to Lizzie
Borden, who never was convicted of giving her
mother 40 whacks and her father 41 whacks
with an ax.
It’s almost as if one of those 1930s traveling
shows of mystery and eeriness had finally
found a place to retire.
Starring in the movie will be Von Mertz
playing himself; his wife, Ali Mertz, playing
the ghost Mary; and Trina Mason plays Wolf’s
spouse named Lilly.
This movie won’t be Von Mertz’s first
brush with films. Some grisly scenes from The
Photo: WV Mertz
Fire breathers at entrance are from left to right - Trina Mason, Elorah Davis,
and Chance Powers
By Marcia Lane
Filmmaking isn’t dead in St. Augustine.
Just ask Wolfgang Von Mertz who is putting
together a movie he describes as a “dark comedy” using the building he calls home.
That’s at 46 Charlotte Street and, aside
from a small sign proclaiming “Wolf’s Museum
of Mystery,” chances are you wouldn’t expect
anything out of the ordinary. Well, that’s if
you don’t hit a night when the fire breathers
are working the front porch of the two-story
Victorian.
Von Mertz plans to document his museum and tell a story through a Wolf’s Museum
of Mystery movie. He calls it an “entertaining
story about the two people who run it, their
many quirky patrons and a house ghost named
Mary.
“Like any good paranormal film it will en-
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St. Augustine Entertainer
compass unexplained phenomena and include
several grisly murders. However, it is also a
story about its two occupants – Wolf and his
wife, ‘Lilly’, and their struggles to maintain a
normal relationship trying to live inside such an
environment,” says Von Mertz.
So what’s that environment like?
How about:
An iron lung, probably one of only about
100 still in existence from the days when polio
was a scourge.
The Countess Elizabeth’s bathory bath – a
bloody treat.
True crime memorabilia including Nazi
war crimes items and mass murderer John
Wayne Gacy’s bible.
An alien mortuary with a replica of an
alien as well as a black box from a Russian
plane with pilots discussing seeing strange
lights before crashing.
NAMASTE
Photo:
Michael Gavin
Vera Vermillion as a sword swallower
Laughing Mask were filmed at the museum.
The indie slasher film had its debut at Wolf’s in
2014. Wolf Von Mertz was one of the victims.
Von Mertz says he’s soliciting the props
needed, casting people he essentially wrote the
scenes for and using talented people he trusts
and respects. “If that fails, much like the museum design, I can live with it,” he says.
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the film business, but doing it his own way.
“The film is designed to showcase the
popular world of oddities and fear of haunted
possessions yet simultaneously entertain
through a humorous and frightening story,”
he says. Almost all of the film will be made
within the walls of the museum which means
fans can later see and handle the props of the
movie when they visit. He sees lots of opportunities for both fund raising and marketing using
the museum.
The museum was recently closed for four
days while Keagan Anfuso directed a teaser of
the planned production.
Von Mertz is kicking off the event with
a pre-production party/fund-raiser on May 7.
He’ll be showing the teaser film that will help
people visualize the planned feature film and
overall concept, he says.
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Ali von Mertz waiting on set
as the ghost Mary
He’s working backwards from the normal
way of making movies, Von Mertz says. “I own
the museum, its assets and the script, which
will save considerable time and money in not
having to procure too many additional props
and guarantee availability of the primary shooting locations,” he adds.
Horror and sci-fi movies obviously have
a special spot in Von Mertz’s heart. At the museum you’ll spot items from horror films and,
if you feel so inclined, you can have a movie
night at Wolf’s for you and your four best
fiends (uhh, friends) by buying a Movie Night
at the Wolf. The price includes popcorn, bottled
soda and a chance to choose from more than
300 blu-ray horror films.
You’ll be sharing the place with walls filled
with pictures and art plus display cabinets
filled with the unusual. Or as Von Mertz puts
it: “oddities, antiquities, rare art, artifacts and
exotic photographs.” He estimates he has a
seven-figure oddity collection and he’s always
willing to talk selling, trading or buying.
Wolf’s does have a charm with several
cats and a large dog also calling the place
home along with skeletons, masked figures
and that ghost.
“We have guys who come 10 or 12 or 14
times. Others only come once and that’s it. …
If they get it, they really get it,” says Von Mertz
of his attraction that features some of the oddest -- make that most unique -- items around.
Von Mertz is a former JAG lawyer who went
into private practice after retiring from the U.S.
Air Force and specialized in working with insurance companies and Fortune 1000 corporations. He and his wife, Ali, who is a paralegal,
opened the museum, which is entering its third
year.
On the 20th anniversary of his first day of
college, he retired from the law. Now he’s into
$25
Photo:
Michael Gavin
Wolfgang von Mertz standing over Josh
Salestrom, who’s in the Iron Lung
IF YOU GO:
Want to know more about the Wolf’s Museum of Mystery Movie?
Only 250 tickets are available for a preproduction teaser party on May 7. Tickets are
available on the website of wolfsmuseumofmystery.com or at the front desk of the Museum of Mystery located at 46 Charlotte St.
This is the only public showing and in
addition the ticket includes museum access,
free wine and beer, barbecue sandwiches, a
mermaid performance, fortune teller, snake
handler, fire breather and mini-movie poster
signing sessions by the cast and crew.
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AT THE MUSEUM
Wolf’s Museum of Mystery
46 Charlotte Street
Hours: 2 to 10 p.m.-ish
Phone: 904-342-8377
Admission: $5
wolfsmuseumofmystery.com
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APRIL 2016
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