The Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories (49 page)

Singer-songwriter Ritchie Valens, whose hit song “Donna” topped charts in the 1950s, had a fear of airplanes long before he boarded the one that killed him in 1959. On January 31, 1957, fifteen-year-old Valens missed school to attend the funeral of his grandfather. After returning from the funeral in the afternoon, Valens's family heard a deafening explosion not far from their
home. Ritchie and his brother looked to the sky just in time to see an airplane, engulfed in flames, diving to the ground. The family ran toward the wreckage to investigate and were horrified to discover that the plane had destroyed the playground of Valens's junior high school, killing three students and injuring close to a hundred others. One of the children killed was Valens's best friend, and the budding rock star was certain that he would have met the same fate had he not missed school for the funeral.

Upwards of 75,000 die-hard fans descended on Graceland in August 2007 to observe the thirtieth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death.

Billie Holiday, a chronic alcoholic, suffered from acute liver failure at the age of forty-four, in 1959. At the time of her hospitalization, police arrested her for possession of narcotics and kept a guard by her door until she was pronounced dead.

John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman, was a church-group leader. It is said that he would lead sing-alongs to the tune of Lennon's song “Imagine,” during which he would change the lyrics to “Imagine there's no John Lennon.”

DEFINITELY
NOT
THE SPAWN OF THE DEVIL

Nineteenth-century violinist, guitarist, and composer Niccolo Paganini, widely considered the greatest violinist who ever lived, was said to have sold his soul to the devil for his incredible musical gift. Once, before a concert in France, the conductor asked that he bring a note from his mother confirming that his father was not, in fact, the devil. The good lady complied.

“When I started writing Sabbath stuff it was just something that sounded right. I didn't think I was going to make it Devil music.” —TONY IOMMI

ROCK ’N’ ROLL AND THE OCCULT

The Rolling Stones, especially Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, were deeply influenced by the occult—an interest cultivated by avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger. The band came up with the concept for its hit album
Sympathy for the Devil
after reading Mikhail Bulgakov's classic
The Master and Margarita
, which is rife with satanic imagery.

Another groundbreaking rock band with rumored ties to the occult was Led Zeppelin, whose members' mythologized “pact with the devil” is well known among die-hard fans. It is said that in 1968 band members drew up a contract stating that they would follow the “lefthand path” in exchange for musical success and fame.

Some AC/DC fans claim that the band's name stands for “Anti-Christ/Devil's Children” or “After Christ the Devil Comes.”

BUTLER'S BOOK AND CAT

Black Sabbath's bassist, Terry Butler, was said to have psychic abilities. After Ozzy Osbourne gave him a 400-year-old book about the occult, bizarre things started happening in Butler's home. The first night he brought the book home, Butler spotted a black cat on his threshold and was convinced the cat was a ghost.

A DEATHLY ASSOCIATION