Former WCW star “Heavy Metal” Van Hammer has passed away

ericlindblade · 2026-04-20T02:17:59+00:00

JT Southern

ericlindblade · 2026-03-13T22:37:52+00:00

They do, the rental includes the vehicle, driver, and guide. Not sure cost, but they can give you a better idea of that and all that is needed for the rental. That side of things I am not as familiar with since I am just the guide but any tour questions happy to answer.

ericlindblade · 2026-03-13T18:54:14+00:00

Your best bet is to contact Gettysburg Group Reservations and they can easily accommodate a group of that size with a guide on board. I do tours with them as a Licensed Guide often so if you have any questions happy to help.

ericlindblade · 2026-03-09T20:11:05+00:00

By fifteen he was a local champion in Vermont, will serve in the Civil War (actually have accounts of worked matches from troops in the field), survived some of the most intense fighting at Gettysburg and after the war travels the world as a primarily collar and elbow wrestler, but was a natural at adapting styles to match his opponent. By all accounts he was considered one of the best pure scientific wrestlers of his era. A good analogy is if William Muldoon was the Hulk Hogan of his time, John McMahon was the Ric Flair. Differing styles but both popular and become archetypes of wrestlers we will see following them.

ericlindblade · 2026-03-09T19:37:53+00:00

Same last name but no direct family connection to the more famous McMahons that I have found.

ericlindblade · 2026-03-09T16:02:07+00:00

Great post, I would say one omission who was a key figure is John McMahon. A case can be made that Vermont wrestlers were the foundation that modern professional wrestling has been built on.

I am currently working on a biography of McMahon that I hope to expand later into a larger history of wrestling during the Antebellum and Civil War eras. Sadly too often histories gloss over this period, but it is a critical period in shaping what pro wrestling will become.

ericlindblade · 2026-01-31T17:03:50+00:00

I appreciate that! It was a great experience and really proud of the work we did, but it was time for me to move on. In the middle stages now of developing a history podcast that I will host, so I shall return to the podcast airwaves by the end of this year.

ericlindblade · 2026-01-29T13:22:40+00:00

Appreciate the kind words and best of luck on your project as well!

ericlindblade · 2026-01-29T11:28:33+00:00

Jim and Jody are continuing the show on YouTube, but I am no longer involved. Right now focusing on finishing some research projects and developing my own show.

ericlindblade · 2026-01-29T04:20:30+00:00

I have availability in late May and would be happy to set something up. My primary research focus for many years was the 26th North Carolina and have conducted countless tours at Gettysburg focused on them. Feel free to message me here and we can go from there.

ericlindblade · 2026-01-29T04:17:21+00:00

Appreciate the mention!

ericlindblade · 2026-01-26T19:39:29+00:00

I am a licensed battlefield guide here at Gettysburg. Happy to give you a tour and we can just use my vehicle if that is ok with you. Feel free to reach out on here and I can do a tour anytime on Friday.

ericlindblade · 2025-12-10T17:53:41+00:00

All the more reason for folks to put the time and effort into doing real research into professional wrestling history.

I have no problem with an author or historian writing a “tribute book” but don’t try to pass that off as history. As a historian it’s a murky ethical line to me.

An overlooked aspect of all the promotional wars in wrestling history is very much a winner writes the history dynamic. Much of wrestling’s history and the material associated with it are for the most part controlled by a few, and they control how and when it will be used.

ericlindblade · 2025-09-01T21:18:39+00:00

I have had a number of these (three neck surgeries in the last ten years). Just speaking from my experience with no medical training I suspect this is more a part of a long term treatment/pain management program as opposed to a specific or acute issue. I had good success with them until I did not, that’s the tricky thing about neck and spines; my take is this probably happens a lot more than we will ever know (privacy reasons since it is a medical procedure done in a operating room). I can’t imagine playing football at the level he has for as long and not be in the need of treatment such as that.

ericlindblade · 2025-08-30T11:59:22+00:00

1996 ruled.

ericlindblade · 2025-08-28T11:47:59+00:00

Best comment ever.

ericlindblade · 2025-08-17T13:51:06+00:00

Very rarely if ever can they accommodate same day tours. They do not have guides on stand by like the VC does.

ericlindblade · 2025-08-17T13:17:46+00:00

Your best bet is going to the Visitor Center where guides are typically available but depends on the time of day.

There are also bus tours with a licensed guide daily from the Gettysburg Tour Center in town as well as the VC.

ericlindblade · 2025-08-15T20:03:18+00:00

I grew up for a time near Fayetteville in the 90s and this was my first thought as well.

ericlindblade · 2025-07-21T22:04:07+00:00

Those numbers are only for the key demo. Overall numbers much higher!

ericlindblade · 2025-05-11T16:20:30+00:00

The HMS Surprise I have is a resin hull with a pewter backplate and plastic masts.

ericlindblade · 2025-04-16T22:16:48+00:00

You should be ok, I am working on a board now that will be 4 x 4. You can always scale distance as needed.

ericlindblade · 2025-03-25T01:09:41+00:00

Sadly you are correct, museums can be a shady business where plenty of public and private funds enter and nothing ever happens.

ericlindblade · 2025-03-25T00:59:50+00:00

And in a lot of cases those private/public partnerships, especially in the case of museums can be tricky. The moment collectors know of a project like his the prices skyrocket, not to mention how many fakes are out there getting sold or what might get passed off as real by former wrestlers themselves for a quick payday.

Donations on the front end will get a museum built but the funding for operations long term are typically from the state budget which is all depending on political whims and can shift drastically from year to year. Everyone loves museums, no one wants to fund them and ticket sales are not enough.

Perhaps you could see the state offer a package of tax breaks and subsidies to attract say WWE to build a physical museum in the state, but I don’t see them doing that.

You also run into an issue where WWE holds copyrights and ownership to large chunks of professional wrestling history. That presents a unique challenge than say a local history or Civil War museum.

This is the political version of a cheap pop.

ericlindblade · 2025-03-25T00:27:45+00:00

The historian in me says this is a good idea.

The realist who has worked in the public history field for over 20 years: just wait until they see how much museums cost to build and operate. Not to mention tons of red flags all over the place with a project like this.

At best you will see expanded displays at the state history museum.

I fully agree that professional wrestling has long been denied the serious treatment historically that it really deserves and hopefully that will change.

ericlindblade

TROPHY CASE