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
- 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