by B. Lynn DiBiase
"It's going to take a while, but Enchanted Castle will be back," said
owner and artist Mark Cline outside the smoldering remains of the tourist
attraction and workshop on U.S. 11 south of Fancy Hill.
A suspicious fire burned the main building to the ground early Monday morning, requiring five departments to bring it under control. Firefighters from Natural Bridge, Glasgow, Lexington, Buena Vista and Effinger responded to the 2 a.m. call. An arson investigator from the Virginia State Police was called onto the scene at about 8 a.m.
Lt. James Campbell, with the Natural Bridge department, said the castle was fully engulfed in flames when the Natural Bridge firemen arrived. About 30 minutes later, the front wall buckled and gave way. The second floor fell onto the first making it difficult for investigators to determine the origin of the fire, Campbell said.
The fire burned so hot, steel beams which at one time held up two floors, were bent over like folded cardboard. The sheet roof lay in a buckled lump on the ground.
Enchanted Castle Studios was scheduled to open for the summer season in May. It featured fiberglass sculptures of imaginary creatures, monsters brought to light from under the bed, a bungee-jumping pig and special adventures like a tornado room and secret passages in the castle.
Cline created sculptures for local and national companies including the Three Stooges for the Roanoke Macado's restaurant and dinosaurs for Dinosaur Land near Winchester.
Cline spoke Monday with Special Agent W.L. Jennings Jr., Virginia State Police fire investigator. Campbell, his wife April and Mike Kelly, fellow firefighters, flooded the smoking piles of debris with water as the arson investigator completed his inspection of the scene.
"Due to the amount of damage," Jennings said, "we may not be able to determine the cause."
Cline, however, is determined that the fire be only a setback.
"I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me," he said.
And in a letter to The News-Gazette he wrote, "As for me and the family, we are already making plans to rebuild and bring the Enchanted Castle back better and crazier than ever."
This article originally appeared in the
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
issue of the News-Gazette.
By David Grimes
"It went up in five minutes," said Rockbridge County Deputy Sheriff Mike Stolarz in reference to a fire that destroyed the Enchanted Castle located near Natural Bridge early Monday morning.
Stolarz, who was on routine patrol in the area, had just ridden by the popular Route 11 attraction when he stopped at the Stop-In Food Store about a mile away. While in the store, a passing motorist stopped by and advised him that the Enchanted Castle was on fire. "When I walked out the door, I could see the flames shooting up in the air," Stolarz added. The deputy immediately contacted the sheriff's dispatcher advising her of the fire, as he responded to the fire. Once arriving, the deputy checked the business to make sure no one was there and then started evacuating some nearby residences.
Firefighters from Natural Bridge, Glasgow, Lexington, Buena Vista and Effinger arrived on the scene within minutes of the call which was dispatched at 1:59 a.m.
"I can't believe this," said a shocked Mark Cline, owner of the business, who showed up shortly after the fire started. "Me and Sherry (his wife) had been talking for the last couple of weeks about installing a sprinkler system."
Cline, who had just landed a new contract to make 200 panda bears for a display in Washington, D.C., had operated the attraction between Fancy Hill and Natural Bridge since 1993.
The fire is currently under investigation by arson investigators with the Virginia State Police. Cline feels that the people who have been sending him religious pamphlets could be responsible.
Cline, who is an artist by profession, faxed the following letter to this newspaper Tuesday morning:
"I would like to thank all the good folks who responded to my needs during the fire which destroyed the Enchanted Castle Monday morning.
"All the local fire departments and emergency services worked exceedingly hard to bring the blaze under control. Their actions and tireless efforts once again prove that we all live in a community we can be proud of.
As for me and the family, we are already making plans to rebuild and bring the Enchanted Castle back better and crazier then ever. I still have my determination and imagination, which nothing has stopped yet, and I'm not about to let this be the first time.
"Thanks to all my friends in the community who have offered their support and help. I truly love all of you for accepting me as one of your own. That's why I would never consider living anywhere but here, Rockbridge County, my home."
Neither fire officials, nor Cline have been able to put a price tag on the amount of damage that the fire has done.
No one was injured in the blaze which took firefighters several hours to bring under control. Firefighters have also been called back to the fire scene several times to wet down hot spots that have flared up.
This article originally appeared in the
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
issue of the Rockbridge
Weekly
Monday, April 30, 2001
by B. Lynn DiBiase
"We never got out of business," Mark said.
"We were set back," his wife Sherry added.
Mark and Sherry Cline seem to see the good and the bad of the April 9 fire that destroyed the Enchanted Castle Studios, a local attraction they owned and operated since 1993 on U.S. 11 just south of Fancy Hill.
Virginia State Police are investigating the fire, but have not yet determined if it was arson.
The Clines spoke last week about the early morning blaze that caused an estimated $30,000 in damage to the workshop and tour building and a $250,000 loss in molds and props. Their 21-month-old daughter, Jenna, toddled around her parents' legs as they surveyed crumbling charcoal bits of wood and piles of scattered cinder block.
"Local people have just been so fantastic," Sherry Cline said.
"People are loaning back original sculptures for me to make molds," Mark Cline continued. One client noticed the melted rear light on the Clines' truck and heat damage to the tires from the fire. So he bought them four new tires.
In an earlier letter to The News-Gazette, Mark Cline said, "We are already making plans to rebuild and bring the Enchanted Castle back better and crazier than ever."
Their plans are to rebuild the workshop where Mark Cline created 10-foot fiberglass ticks, multiple Yogi bears, dinosaurs and bungie-jumping pigs. Cleaning up will be the first major task, then the Clines envision completion of a new building within three months. For that, they're hoping to get help from volunteer carpenters, donations of or inexpensive power tools, an air compressor and other kinds of tools.
"It's difficult for us to be the ones on the receiving end," Mark Cline said.
The original Enchanted Castle tour included a tornado room and a sinking Titanic. But lately, he'd been feeling a need to try something new.
"I'd outgrown it," he said. "I'd had plans to build a new tour."
Mark Cline travelled across the country visiting attractions and gathering new ideas. His thoughts now turn to "more of a fun house theme."
As the morning began to warm the melted steel roof over the demolished storage building, the Clines bantered ideas back and forth about new adventures to build on the one-acre lot.
"When you first walk in, maybe there's a subway and you have the illusion of travelling half a mile," Mark Cline began. "Then you get a report of a tidal wave washing over the city."
Visitors would then experience escaping from such a scary scenario.
Or visitors could take a ride in Professor Cline's Time Machine progressing from the beginning of time to the present day.
"These are just ideas we're kicking around," Sherry Cline said.
Mark Cline lost his collection of children's books which he would like help rebuilding. Also gone are the newspaper clippings detailing his artistic exploits from building a snow Lady Liberty in Waynesboro as a child, to constructing space ships atop the hills of Rockbridge County earlier this month. He hoped that anyone with old clippings would be willing to share them. He said the piece he misses the most is a 9-foot-tall, stained-glass mirror of Jesus in his workshop.
"I believe I was doing the work of God," he said.
While the Clines looked around at all that was destroyed in the middle of that Monday night, props which were saved waited nearby, stacked carefully on a truck and flatbed trailer.
They'd be removed that afternoon from the property and taken to an undisclosed location because the Clines are not convinced what they have left is completely safe.
The Clines believe someone intentionally set the April 9 fire, and left clues to their identity beforehand.
Religious tracts started showing up in their mail after Halloween, the Clines said, pamphlets that warned of the consequences of following evil influences.
As they stood beside the castle's mailbox that night, watching firefighters battling to keep the fire from spreading from the workshop to nearby buildings, the Clines said they felt compelled to check inside.
"There were about 15 religious tracts and a one-way ticket to hell," said Sherry Cline. More disturbing was what she described as a copy of an April 1 article featuring her husband from the Roanoke Times. It was reportedly burned around the edges with Mark Cline's left arm burned off. Accompanying this was a hand-written, full-page letter on legal-sized paper.
"They prayed to God he would turn his life around," Sherry Cline said about the letter's content.
Police confirmed receiving the handwritten letter and other materials from the Clines. Special Agent W.L. Jennings Jr., said Tuesday that he has done a lot of interviews and while he knows who wrote the letter, he does not have a suspect in the fire.
Anyone wishing to make a donation of any kind may contact the family or make inquiries to: P.O. Box 28, Rockbridge Baths, VA 24473.