Haunted Happenings

We here at BallBusterHardMUSIC.com are interested in the real life hauntings and otherworldly goings-on experienced by anyone connected with the hard music industry...vocalist, musician, entire band, producer, manager, publicist etc. and we encourage them to e-mail us at ballbang@webtv.net and tell us about them. Here are just a few.

Mike Lomas of Stillborn Portrait: Not exactly a haunting or ghost citing but we were all practicing one night and Kris's amp just cut out for no apparent reason. We checked fuses, cables, connections and couldn't figure out why it had stopped working. After about ten seconds it just kicked back in and has been fine ever since. That night happened to be December 8th 2004 at around 9:30 pm. For those who don't recall that was the night Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed onstage with Damageplan. They had hit the stage at around 11:30 central time which made it 9:30 here in California. It was almost like a rift in the force or something and there was an automatic moment of silence for metal. Kinda spooky but also pretty damn cool if you ask me.

Alex Hellid of Entombed: You know, everyday day life is somewhat of paranormal. You know basically everything is just weird. Life in general is weird. That’s why I stay away from watching the news. It’s too depressing. I have just moved into a new house that is like 200 years old. All winter we never really made it to the upstairs and there have been some really unusual noises coming from there. We never really moved anything up there all winter. It is kind of freaky. If there are ghosts, I think that they are friendly ones, so it’s okay.

Mike Halland of Crushed: I’ll send this to the rest of the band. I do have a personal story. I grew up in Hawaii on the Island of Oahu. Hawaii is a very spiritual place. My step dad built our home himself in the back of Niu Valley, so the property meant a lot to him. Anyway I was about 14 & sitting in my room, playing guitar with a buddy of mine. Our backdoor flew open & we both saw what looked like a person walk by really fast. This door was loaded on a spring so it was impossible for the wind to swing it open. My step dad was on Maui at the time for business. I called out for my mom but no one answered. I grabbed a baseball bat & searched the house but no one was there. My mom came home later that night & informed me that my step dad passed away on Maui from diabetic complications. I had the weirdest feeling that someone was watching me for the longest time too…I think I slept on the floor in my mom’s room for a while. Pretty trippy!

Peter Scheithauer from Temple Of Brutality: Yes, I’m very much into that. I was never abducted or anything like that, although I have some friends who say they were. Where I grew up in Europe, there was this old hotel that burned down. Well half of it. They said it was destroyed and no one could go in there. Well one night we went in there to see what it was. And you could really tell that there was a very weird vibe. And yes we did see some things moving around that are still unexplainable to me. Now was it paranormal? I can’t say anything more about it, but it was kind of weird.

Paul Stoddard of Diecast: Oh cool. I know I’ve got a good one. Hold on…okay, I was living at my brothers house for awhile and I didn’t know what was going on but I kept feeling like someone was there. No one else would believe me. I was the only one getting the feeling. I would walk into my room and would be like, “why does my room smell like cigars?” Other people would walk into my room and they couldn’t even smell it. Only I could. And then I would be like half asleep/awake and could feel somebody like right in my face. Then, I would walk into the house by myself late at night and I could hear someone run down the hall and downstairs into the basement. What else. I would be in the shower and I could hear the door slamming closed. Continually. So everyone thought I was just nuts or whatever, but the creepiest one was actually when my girlfriend was over onetime and we heard someone running around upstairs. Didn’t think much of it. Went to take a look and nothing was there. So we go back downstairs and we are on the stove cooking something and she was like 5 feet out and I was standing across from her and all of a sudden the bottom plate/drawer of the stove flies open and a blue flame shoots out and shoots back in closing the drawer shut behind it. That was the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen.

Francine Boucher ( Echoes Of Eternity): Well, not a haunting per say, but my father passed away a few years ago and I do sometimes, when I think about him a lot, I do feel his presence. You know, if I’m going through tough times the lights will flicker but that’s about it. I can feel a strong presence and I know that it is him. I always seem to feel it when I really need him. But as for a haunting? None that I can say.

Stefan Hertrich (SpiRitual/Shiva In Exile/Darkseed): Wow, that´s a fantastic idea. Yesterday I complained in another interview that most magazines never let musicians room to write about religion, politics, philosophy or other things, it´s all focused on the favourite food of this and that musician and other nonsense nobody needs for his/her life. So I really like your haunted happenings section and I read it. I am very much into this subject and “observe” many people in this direction. My experience with such persons – even if their skills sound unbelievable – is, that most of the stuff we see on TV is true (the tragedy is that always gets this mystic touch on TV, which makes us either afraid or we don´t care at all about it because it more sounds like a fantasy novel). Let me comment the entries you already have in this section:

Barney of Napalm Death says that spirituality etc. is not important for his life, because there´s so much shit happening in the here and now, so why occupy with things that are beyond “here and now”. I can understand his point of view, and indeed, it´s difficult to show interest in this subject if your life maybe is a mess. The interesting point is, that that most remarkable spiritual persons had a VERY messy life – either because of illnesses, or warfare, family trouble or even more severe things. Many people get to the point where nothing helps, and then the only choice is to get into this subject (I would say “they are lead into this subject by the bad things that happened to them”). In my opinion new age /esoteric books explain best why the world is like it is. We cannot understand the world´s tragedies without “spiritual glasses” in front of our eyes. That´s my personal opinion. Kirsten Turner (Warrant). Yes, I hear such stories VERY often and I think they are true. The reason why ghosts often can be found in hotels/castles etc. is that they really lived there, died, but didn´t realize that they died, or don´t accept it (in most cases they don´t realize it, this happens often at battles when death comes suddenly and without “warning” – spiritual persons can see many “ghosts” on battlefields). I even know persons who talk to such ghosts and explain them that they need to go, and then they do. Eric Turner (Warrant). Very interesting, hm, I have no idea what this could have been. I´ve read of “soul exchanges” and I even know of a person who claims that he has “other soul components in his own one”, but I have no clue what happened to Eric. He should visit a medium (but only a trustful medium who is recommended by friends etc., not to a newspaper advertisement person etc.) and find out what happened (a good medium will find it out). Jonny Santos (Spineshank/Silent Civilian): same as the hotel story (ghosts where somebody died before). One additional note: recording ghosts on video seems to be difficult (especially with new digital cameras) but seems to work, especially with old analogue cameras. I don´t know why, but that´s the information I have. Adam Joad (vocalist of 286). Here I would like to mention his words “the sun started to go down”, because day/night changes seem to be very interesting for such “paranormal experiences” (I hate the word “paranormal”, we should accept it as normal and not create any fascinating myths and stories around it). Also seeing the aura of a human seems to be more easy for unskilled persons at daytime changes (I can´t see it at ANY time, haha). Byron Davis (lead vocals God Forbid). This one is very interesting, because he mentions “I consider them my extra-terrestrial body guards. They always keep the harm away from me.” This is what esoteric and even Christian belief call “guardian angel” or “spiritual leader”. Each human has a guardian angel and spiritual leader(s), and mediums can communicate with them. The language they speak when talking to us are intuiton, enthusiasm, inspiration, but we also can communicate with them directly, best between being awake and falling asleep (this middle thing where you are still awake but also seem to sleep – here we have it again – as mentioned before daytime change / wake/sleep change, those “changes” are the key) etc. It makes sense that he says “his grandfather now is his sort of helper”. I heard that several times. Even a dead born baby can be your spiritual helper later on.

Uff, there are many cases described in this section, let´s pick out a last one, Sam Harris (vocalist, Sin Sister): feeling an arm around you, or a finger poking on our shoulder can be heard often, that´s why I believe them too. I think here the “mystifying problem” is really problematic. Due to all those TV shows and movies we get afraid if something like that happens L I think Jeff Scheel (Gravity Kills) did the right thing, he wrote “I finally just told it to go away and it did."

The fascinating thing about all this in my opinion isn´t ghosts here and there, but the fact that our “body life” isn´t all, we really can communicate with dead persons (and they are usually not just hopeless ghosts wandering around without aim..,), that a guardian angel and other positive creatures really exist (and help us!) etc. By the way, Iceland has a person in government caring about elven etc. issues when it´s about constructing roads etc. You can get a plan where the territories of such creatures are marked in the tourism center. It´s a pity that such things are just considered as fascinating, exciting entertainment things, the whole subject in my opinion is VERY important, and you can build a sort of “bridge” between psychology, shamanism, religion and many other things. What is the soul, what is the body, how are they connected with eachother, what´s the role of each person on this planet (no matter wether he´s rockstar or works at a fuel station), who is god and what does he/she/it have to do with all that. Many questions, but also many answers available, if you show REAL interest in all that and don´t laugh about it. A nice saying “You experience the truth you are ready for”.

Brandon Manlove of Vampire Mooose: When I was a child I lived with my parents in this huge old house where these nuns lived before it was rented to us. I remember being in the basement and hearing a voice. I couldn’t tell you what the voice said. All I remember is the basement door being closed at the top of the stairs and me trying to get up the stairs to that door. The whole time I remember screaming my mom's name but she never heard me. It seemed like it took quite some time for me to get to the top of the stairs. I felt like something was pulling on me, preventing me from getting to the top, where my mom was waiting on the other side the whole time. I finally made it to the top of the stairs and opened the door. She told me she never heard me screaming.

Helena Cos (Spider Rockets): Actually the studio in Brooklyn where we have recorded the last 3 times is haunted. It was an armory during the Revolutionary War. A soldier from the war supposedly haunts the place. We never saw the ghost but one time in the middle of the night while we were listening to a final mix we saw a door close by itself. Kinda creepy.

Mark "Barney" Greenway (Napalm Death): No I don't. I mean, you know, again people always talk about being spiritual and stuff like that. I've never,,,,it doesn't . Again, part being an atheist I guess is part of it. I've thought about it a lot in my life, I haven't always thought the same way. A natural part for everyone is to weave in and out and I've thought a spirituality and stuff like that and again, any spirituality comes from yourself. All the ethereal stuff is kind of irrelevant. Because we've gotta move. There's too much shit happening in the here and now , the flesh and blood of things and that's what we need to deal with. So yeah, I've never really ever experienced anything like that. I've been places that were pretty spooked out, but I've never felt anything from it. I would necessarily argue the fact because I don't know.

Kirsten Turner (Publicist, wife and everything else for Warrant): My haunting story was when I was on my way home from Vegas, it was raining REALLY hard and too dangerous to drive so I stopped at a hotel to stay the night. Only one couple was there dancing in the bar area and no other hotel guests were to be seen. I put my stuff in my room and decided to go to the bar. I left the room and the door was so heavy it slammed shut. In order for it to stay open, it would need a wedge or someone strong to hold it. The hotel seemed very freaky. When I went back to my room the door was half open and no one was inside. The door was too heavy to stay open by itself but it did?? I touched it and it slammed shut. I told the front desk and asked the dumb question if there were ghosts and she said that many cooks had felt them in the kitchen. I am not a ghost believer but this was pretty freaky. I got a different room for the night but the stormy evening was just like in the movies!!

Eric Turner (Warrant): I had a ghost pin me down and try to get inside my body once in Charlotte many years ago. I woke up and tried to scream but nothing would come out. My body was shaking and I couldn’t move away. It is very hard to explain to people and sounds crazy, but I will never forget it. I could see little sparkles of light above me when it was happening. Then it just stopped.

Jonny Santos (Spineshank/Silent Civilian): Yes, Birmingham, Alabama. It was an old steel mill that was shut down and turned into a venue. It was like an outside venue. It’s renowned for how many of it workers lost their lives there. (Jonny remembers the name of the place, but it is not understandable enough to me to even try to spell) Once you get out back behind the venue, you can walk around where all these guys have died and fallen off the edge. I was standing on the railing looking over and I had a video camera. It was dark as hell. And all of a sudden this bright white silhouette or something was in my view of the camera. When I moved the camera, it was still there. It scared the shit out of me. I turned around and ran back. I really don’t know what it was, but it was pitch black dark and all of a sudden there was this glowing silhouette just there. And I can say that it wasn’t just me. There were a couple of us in the band. And I know we weren’t that fuckin’ wasted to all have seen it. We did not go back out to look for it again. And when we looked a the camera, it was not on the tape.

Adam Joad ( vocalist of 286 ): One time I was fishing in the middle of a water dam with my cousin. Since we were out in the middle, I could see about 100 yards in each direction. As the sun started to go down, I turned around to get some more bait and this guy was standing behind me – he didn’t make a sound and neither of us saw him come. He was holding a fishing rod and dressed very old school. After an awkward pause he asked me what time it was so I told him. I turned around, threw my line in the water and when I looked behind me again, the cat was gone. Less than a minute elapsed and he would have had to have walked pretty damn far to get out of our eye shot. I asked my cousin where that dude went and he looked around and got this weird look on his face. We looked at each other for a second, never said a word, packed up our shit and left. When I started to talk about to my cousin the forever skeptic about it at the car, he said, “I don’t ever want to talk about that again,” and we haven’t until this interview! I’ve never fished there alone again since and that was like 10 year ago!

Byron Davis (lead vocals God Forbid): Oh yeah, I’ve had several of them. Well there was this one, where I lived, my stepfather passed away. So like the night before he died, he was trying to call to me. I really didn’t say anything. I kinda was like whatever and kept it to myself. And then after a couple of days after he died, I could see his ghostly figure walking around the house and shit. I kind of scared the crap out of me at the time. My mother had always told me not to let ghosts really freak you out because they’re not really there to harm you. He’s like a friendly ghost. So I always try to use that and it helps me out whenever things aren’t going very well. I always seem to find or something always seems to find me to keep me calm to get me through whatever bullshit I’m going through at the time. I consider them my extra-terrestrial body guards. They always keep the harm away from me. It’s cool. I really don’t fear ghosts or anything. I do dream about ghosts a lot, but than again, I’m a little out there. I’m not mentally wrapped too well.

Bernie Torme (Ozzy Osbourne, Dee Snider, Gillan): The first gig I did with Ozzy was Allentown Pennsylvania I think, or some place in that area: Randy Rhoads funeral had only been a day or so beforehand, and I guess I had only been in the states for three maybe four days in all. All my gear was still in transit via rockit cargo, amps, pedals and most of my spare guitars and stuff. We got in early to the gig so that I could have my first run through the live set with the band, up till then all I'd played with them were four tracks at the auditions in L.A. I was shitting myself, I was still jet lagged, I didn't really know the songs or the set at all well, I'd only heard most of it for the first time four or five days ago, so I was totally on a wing and a prayer.

All my pedals were still in transit, and an old strat cranked through a few marshalls on Ozzy's stuff sounded pretty much like an electric banjo, really crap. Someone suggested that i try Randy's pedals, which were still in the truck for the run through, so I agreed. I was still hoping my stuff would arrive before the gig, but just before the gig someone came in and told me that my stuff had only just cleared customs in LA, and that I would only get it all the next day. I really did not want to use Randy's pedals on the gig, it seemed disrespectful, but there was no choice, it was either that or the electric banjo version of Crazy Train, so I used them. For that whole gig those pedals were turning on and off of their own accord: I saw the lights on them turning on and off when I was nowhere near: to be honest me turning them on and off was the least of my worries at that stage, I was just trying to remember what chord came next! Someone said to me after the gig that it must have been damp in the switches, but the thing was that in a few places they went on and off at the right times! I think Randy must have been there looking at me struggling, and thinking "that poor bozo really needs some help"... And also doing it in a few wrong places to keep me on my toes in case I got too cocky. It was very very freaky.

http://www.bernietorme.com
http://www.retrowrek.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bernie-torme
http://www.barnroom.co.uk
http://www.vtshopping.co.uk

Eddie Q. Matthews (Manager/ Seven 13): I'm writing to relay some of the band's "haunted happenings." The band was in the studio recording of all things, their song "Haunted." Now, this was years ago on their beginning album "Book Of Shadows." The vocalist at that time was in the booth recording his vocals and a woman's voice joined on one particular long held note. I was sitting with the engineer and we both looked at each other. It was not feedback, it was not a mishap with the board. The engineer even went so far as to replay the note several times, shutting down compression and other items that may have caused interference. The woman's note began AFTER the male vocalist and sung a harmony on his held high note.

It can be heard on a good stereo on the "Book Of Shadows" version of "Haunted." We re-released "Haunted" on the CD "Unleashed" with a much more powerful sound but on the band's beginning CD, there is definately a woman's voice to be heard. There were other occurances during the recording of "Book Of Shadows" that the studio door would open by itself. Now, this was not a light door and to open, it had to swing out OVER carpet. Not possible for wind to blow a heavy door open when it brushed against carpet anyways. Besides, there were no windows available. http://www.seven13band.com

Paul Autry (Music Journalist/ BallBusterHardMusic.com, Spotlight Magazine): MY HAUNTED HAPPENING - When I was a kid, I lived in this one house where I could swear that something just wasn't right. My room was right next to the attic door. My dad kept a lot of junk up there. One day, when I was home alone, I went up there to root around to see if anything would catch my interest. Well, I was up there for a few minutes looking around and, right at the top of the stairs to the left there was this little crawl space room with a door. I was about five feet away from it and, out of the blue, the door came open. Not a slow, maybe there was a draft that blew it open kind of deal either. This thing came open with force and it scared the hell out of me. I got out of there pretty quick and I never went up there again. Some time later, there was an incident where, again, I was home alone, I was on my porch having a mouth battle with a neighborhood bully and, after a few choice words, I spit on him. He got mad and he came up on the porch. I ran into the house and he followed me. Ran all the way to the back of the house. The screen door going out to the yard had a window in it and since the lock was broke, you could just push it and it would open, which is what I would always do. Well, I'm running with this kid behind me and I went to push on the door and, I guess my dad had it tied up and when I went to push on it, it didn't open and, of course, I went right through the window and down the steps. I was carved up pretty bad. I had a huge gash in my arm, you could see my bone, I was cut on my wrist, on my side, under my chin and I had a hole in my throat about the size of a quarter, which would later require an operation due to the damage it caused. I don't remember what the problem actually was. But, I couldn't speak above a whisper. Anyway, I said I was pushed because I felt someone push me before I went through the glass. The kid said he never touched me and that I tripped. To this day, his version of what happened and mine remain the same. I still have the scars from this incident, which required 56 stitches total and, to be honest, I'm lucky to be alive, especially because of the glass putting a hole in my throat. But, it's not the accident that I question. My blood was all over the one step more than anything. It remained there for many years. Now, I know that a blood stain is hard to clean up. But, you figure with rain and winter, you think it would fade. Well, this one spot remained as red as the day I went through the window...at least for two years. After my dad moved out of the house, I used to visit the neighbor, who was the one who saved my life, and I used to go out in their back yard to look over the fence and, sure enough, the blood red spot was still there. It's been a good ten years since I last stood in front of the house and the last time I was there, I just had this real weird feeling, like this house wanted me to die. It's been about 20 years since I went through the window and, every now and then, I have a nightmare about that house. It's a bit different every time it happens. But, what remains the same is that, for whatever reason, I'm either in the attic or I need to go up there for something and as soon as I'm there, I get a feeling that something is there, watching me, waiting for me and my death is the only thing that will make it happy. The house is still there. People are living there. From where I live now, I could be in front of it again in less than 30 minutes. I often thought about going there, knocking on the door and asking the people who live there if I could check out the attic, providing them with an explanation as to why I'm interested in doing so. But, I figure the best thing to do is to leave it alone. After all, I can put up with a bad dream every now and then.

Sam Harris (vocalist, Sin Sister): One night when I was on vacation and stayed at my parents house, I was in bed when I suddenly woke up and felt an arm around my chest. At first I thought this normal, and that it was my girlfriend at the time. Then, becoming more awake, I realized that my girlfriend wasn't even there. When I realized that, the grip around me tightened. I could actually feel an arm tightening its grip around me. Now I was getting scared. I made some kind of jerk or twist and the "arm" disappeared. I lay still for a couple of seconds and then I looked around the room. There was absolutely no one except for myself in the room. http://www.sin-sister.com

Bruce Kulick (Grand Funk Railroad, Kiss, Union): "When I was young, I remember once...and I don't know how...but I was in a room and I could have sworn that I saw the doorknob turn, the door opened and nobody was there. There was nobody else in the house at all. I freaked. I was young. I'll never forget it. But, I don't know what it was. That was my haunted happening."

DC Cooper: "My brother, who was my best friend, biggest fan and best supporter, passed away. He was killed in an auto accident some years ago. I've always had this dream of seeing him again. You know, it just makes you think about what's on the other side. I was onstage with Royal Hunt in Zurich, Switzerland in front of about two thousand people. I do know whenever his spirit is near me, it's happened a couple of times over the years since he died. I truly believe it. I just know whenever he comes and visits. He might not be watching all the time or maybe he is. But, every once in a while, I can feel his presence. We were about three quarters of the way through the show and we were getting into one of the number one singles called "Far Away." It's a ballad, a really nice song and it basically has to do with losing someone. We were doing this song, I was sitting on this stool just kind of relaxing. I losed my eyes and felt this huge presence. I knew he was there, but, this is the wild part that really killed me. I opened my eyes and scanned around the theater because this presence was so strong. There was a guy walking toward the front who looked like my brother. I actually thought it was him. He'd gotten close enough where he'd stopped, I mean, I knew it wasn't him. But, in my mind and in my heart, I pretended it was. I sang to this guy and at the end of the song I had to walk off the stage. I told the band to do an instrumental song because I needed a couple of minutes. I was totally freaked out. It was a good feeling, a very fulfilled kind of feeling. But, I was also scared. I just wanted it to be him so bad. But, his presence was there and so I thought maybe I was imagining that this person walking toward me was my brother. But, I knew it wasn't, it couldn't be."

Jeff Scheel (Gravity Kills): "I had a friend in high school who lived in a house haunted by the spirit of a little girl. Occasionally, she would manifest herself. One or the other of us would see her. We'd never see her at the same time. We always described her the same way, she had very light brown, blondish hair. We'd usually see her passing down the hall between where all the bedrooms were in the house. We didn't see through her or anything, we'd always catch her out of the corner of our eyes. If you were actually looking down the hall you'd never see her. If you were standing by the entrance of the hallway and you were looking at something else, she'd pass by the corner of your eye. We had tried to verify it. But, nobody could ever verify that there was a death in the house or any other strange happening that would cause a spirit to hang out. Also, for awhile, I had this dark figure coming to the end of my bed at night. I don't know if I was awake or dreaming. I finally just told it to go away and it did."

If you experienced anything out of the ordinary, at home or in the studio, on the road, at a gig, drop us a line at ballbang@webtv.net and tell us about it. No, they don't have to be bloody, gory or of Stephen King novel proportions. Strange, weird, coincidental or unusual will do...and if you wish to remain anonymous, that can be arranged. Until next time...happy haunting!