John Snipes, owner, Heelraiser

UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, 1983

www.heelraiser.com

In 2004, Tar Heel-crazy John Snipes bought a 1974 Cadillac hearse with rotting wheels and a cracked windshield . He had one goal: To create a tailgating party mobile like UNC and Chapel Hill had never seen.

More than $20,000 later, the aging hearse is a shiny Carolina blue. It's been decked with speakers, outfitted with a smoke machine, and is often spotted perusing Franklin Street on game days.  Behind the wheel, John Snipes is a 1983 UNC graduate with a lengthy family history in Chapel Hill and a wacky sense humor.

The Heelraiser has become a staple on Franklin Street. How did you come up with this idea?

I went with a buddy of mine from Atlanta to watch Carolina Clemson football games at Clemson. We were wandering the parking lot and we saw this vehicle parked outside the stadium - a hearse. It was white with an orange top, and on the side in big letters it said "Paw Bearer." We just passed by and it and it stuck in my twisted mind.

I was in Atlanta [months later] and there was a bar right around the corner from where I was living.  I noticed this black hearse sitting there with a "For Sale" sign. The car was in rough shape - it had a cracked windshield, the hood was buckled up some, the tires were dry rotting. It had no power steering. You're talking a 21-foot vehicle, trying to steer it.

Nonetheless, my father had passed away, and I had cash at my disposal. So I did some crazy things.  I said, "I want this thing. I just have to have it."

I like shock value. I'm into being irreverent and freaking people out. So I bought it.

Why do you think this sort of off-the-wall tradition is accepted in Chapel Hill?

Honestly, I was concerned in the beginning about what type of reaction this vehicle was going to get. It is a hearse. Bodies have been in it in the past. But I think [people accept it] because it's Carolina blue, it's decorated for the Tar Heels.

People don't look at it at its core; they look at the fun side of it. I have speakers that play dance party music and a fog machine in the back. I have these three sunroofs, and I open them and the fog comes out. I have a whistle I can use. The Heelraiser has all these sirens and all these animal sounds, so when the [North Carolina] State fans come to town I can use the mooing sounds on them. It just makes all these crazy noises, it's just too much fun.

There are plenty of town characters here in Chapel Hill, let me tell you. I just happen to be one that comes to town, I sneak over to Chapel Hill to put on my alter ego and lose myself within the confines of my crazy vehicle.

I see you on your Web site that you offer to take people to proms and bachelor/bachelorette parties. Any ridiculous stories?

I'll do whatever. I haven't done any proms yet. But I took it to my cousin's wedding on April Fool's Day, and they [her parents] wanted to play a joke on her. So I was going to take the bride and groom away after the wedding. And [my cousin] freaked out and she said, "I am not riding away from my wedding in a hearse!"

I thought about making this a business but that takes all the fun out of it. So I just let people trade out or something with me, I just let them give me a gift certificate to Top of the Hill, or a gas card or cookies or something.

You graduated from UNC in 1983. Where did you hang out back then? Where do you visit now?

Well, I'm not the drinker I was then. No, I just love to go to Suttons and have a coke with crushed ice and occasionally a milkshake and hamburger. I like the places that have been here forever. I'm not really into Starbucks. I like you know, Four Corners, places I remember.

So how long should we expect to see you and the Heelraiser on Franklin Street?

As long as I can stand it and the Heelraiser holds up. I mean, I can always put a new engine it. The next thing I'm doing is - I bought an actually ram skull from California on ebay - and my cousin - one of the many, many here in the area - is gonna mount it on the front of the Heelraiser.