Chat It’s Fate — August 2017

Tortured soul:
Park visits

Taken over:

Native spirit

Famous grave:

Flocking fans

Hotel guests:

Sid & Nancy

Friend haunt:

Spooked Pete Amy’s image:

Reflections

Chat it’s fate 49

Grunge style

Break on through

(to the other side)

Punk^

rave

Music legends

M

atthew Swayne, 50,

from Pennsylvania,

USA, says:

‘I spent two years

researching

my book

Haunted

Rock &

Roll. Being

born on

Halloween,

you could

say it was a

pet project.

The spookiest place I

visited was Elvis’s home,

Graceland. Elvis and his

mother Gladys are said

to haunt the grounds,

although I never saw them

• but I certainly sensed
  something supernatural.
  The whole complex is
  saturated with Elvis’s spirit.
  You’re surrounded by his
  personal items and I swear
  you can feel him.
  But why are there so
  many rock and roll ghosts?
  Accidents, drug overdoses
  and other tragic deaths
  consume so many artists.
  If you talk to any
  paranormal researcher,
  they will tell you, take a big
  personality and cut the
  life off prematurely and
  you’re likely to have
  a ghost on your hands.
  I also believe there’s
  something special about
  music that connects us
  to the spiritual world. And
  I’m beginning to suspect
  that this link is one of the
  reasons why rock and roll
  ghosts can connect with
  us beyond
  the grave.’

The

expert’s

view

N

irvana’s grunge music

became a global phenomenon,

but sadly lead singer Kurt Cobain was

battling drugs.

After walking out of rehab, Cobain

shot himself in the head on 5 April

1994. He was found dead three days
      later in his Seattle home.
      Soon afterwards, Cobain’s
      ghost was said to be
      haunting Viretta
      Park, opposite
      his house. Many
      people claim to
      have spotted the
      singer’s spirit
      sitting on
      a bench.

J

im Morrison claimed to have witnessed the

death of a Native American in a car crash

while driving in New Mexico with his family^

when he was 4.

The lead singer of The Doors claimed the

victim’s spirit entered his body as the family

drove past the crash. Throughout his life,

Morrison said he felt the Native Indian’s

personality, and at times it took him over.

Morrison died in the bath of a Paris apartment on 3 July

1971 from an alleged heroin overdose. Fans still flock to his^

grave at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in the capital, and rock^

historian Brett Meisner even claims his assistant took a photo of^

Morrison’s ghost in 1997 when they visited the site.^

But Morrison’s spirit isn’t just in France. He’s been spotted in the

toilets of a Mexican restaurant in California, at LA nightclub The Viper^

Room and his childhood home in Virginia.^

S

inger Amy Winehouse

died on 23 July 2011 from

alcohol toxicity.

In November 2011, a source close to

singer Pete Doherty revealed that he had

fled his London flat because Amy’s ghost

was haunting him.

The Baby Shambles front man saw his

friend’s spirit, not once but four times

• with her image suddenly
  appearing in reflections
  in windows. He
  revealed his spooky
  encounters in a
  British tabloid.

F

ancy a

night at

a haunted

hotel?

Head

to New

York’s

Chelsea

Hotel...

Sid Vicious, bassist with the Sex Pistols,

attacked girlfriend Nancy Spungen in room

100 on 12 October 1978. Nancy later died

from the single stab wound.

Even to this day,

hotel guests still report

sensing the couple’s

presence – along with

many other ghosts.

l Haunted

Rock & Roll

by Matthew

L Swayne

(Llewellyn)

is out now.

Shambolic

episode