“The studio ghost that spooked Alex Turner”: Five haunted music studios
With the spectre of Mark E. Smith thoroughly haunting the industry, we’re looking at the scary side of music studios and the sacred places where our favourite sounds are made. With such profound happenings occurring in these realms, it’s no surprise that sometimes people catch a glimpse of something otherworldly and go scurrying for the exit.
These aren’t just tales of a strange crackle coming through on the mic or a force making Brian May’s hair stand on end, these are spooky occurrences with befitting backstories. After all, nothing taps into our mystical side quite like music. Rumour has it Ozzy Osbourne was set to be a mild-mannered accountant before he went to his first rock show. There’s a transformative power to songs, and sometimes even when the hum of silence proceeds, there is something left lingering in the ether.
Below, we’ve curated a list of musical places reportedly haunted. From the ancient throwback of St. Catherine’s Court to the studio ghost that spooked Alex Turner, these spaces are even scarier than the fabled ground where the dreaded ‘insert your most hated band here’ recorded. Listen out for some faint ghostly whispers in the mix next time you listen to Arctic Monkeys or New Order.
Five haunted recording studios:
St. Catherine’s Court, Bath, England
When Bond girl Jane Seymour took ownership of this 16th Century monastery, she decided to open it up to the arts. She set up a recording studio in the atmospheric, cavernous walls. Thereafter, the studio welcomed the likes of The Cure, New Order, and Radiohead even used it for OK Computer. Sadly, its run was short-lived as noise complaints forced it to close. However, were all the noises coming from the bands?
“Ghosts would talk to me while I was asleep,” Thom Yorke professed in a confusing admission of what sleep is. “There was one point when I got up in the morning after a night of hearing voices, and I decided to cut my hair with a penknife,” he added. Dating back to the early 1500s, and having succumbed to chronic degradation in its history, there are plenty of voices that might echo about the walls.
The Garden Recording Studio, London, England
Alex Turner might have seen his fair share of shadowy figures disappearing around corners carrying their shoes, and faces hiding in his soup, but he doesn’t really seem like the spectre type on the surface. Nevertheless, when Arctic Monkeys were recording their second album in the famed Garden studio in London, he said: “It’s said that a young girl, Elsie, haunts the chamber, and unexplained faint whispers have appeared on recordings in the past.”
As for the aptly named Favourite Worst Nightmare, Turner quipped: “There’s also a bit of organ on there, but nothing to worry about.” Who is Elsie? Nobody knows, but from the days of Siouxsie and the Banshees she has been making herself known to innocent musicians who are simply trying to make music. Maybe she simply hates the organ?
Cincinnati Music Hall, Ohio, USA
People have been making and recording music in this beautiful concert hall since before the building was even finished. Built over a pauper’s cemetery in 1876, even the builders were noticing strange things. They claimed to have seen spirits “restlessly through the creaking halls by night, hiding in dark corners, stealing behind pillars, and creating queer crepitating noises under the dim roof.”
And when the building was finally finished, the haunting only amplified. As composer Erich Kunzel said in 2005: “I’ve worked here all night long. So I’ve met these people. They’re not in the offices, but when you go out into the house, they’re there, they’re upstairs… If you think I’m crazy, just come here sometime at three o’clock in the morning. They’re very friendly.”
The Mansion, California, USA
Built in 1918, The Mansion was once the home of actor Errol Flynn. This celebrity tie doesn’t stop year. In recent times producer Rick Rubin has taken on the property and turned it into a studio. When Red Hot Chili Peppers’ frontman Anthony Kiedis was there, he had a truly terrifying time. “There were ghosts everywhere,” he said. Rumour has it, one of them is Harry Houdini.
He continued: “They came out on about four of the photos we took for an album cover session – these floating, nebulous shapes… It’s obvious to us that there’s a real-world of spirits that people just aren’t tuned in to. We were accepting of the fact that we were living among them. We weren’t there to be obtrusive. We were there to make music and to coexist in what was more their house than ours.” And he isn’t the only one either, there are loads of bands who have reported strange things in the studio. Or maybe it’s just something they’re smoking?
4670 Encino Drive, California, USA
When the Foo Fighters were recording their 10th record, Dave Grohl was quick to claim that the converted home studio they set foot in, was thoroughly haunted. “When we walked into the house, I knew the vibes were off but the sound was fucking on,” the frontman recalled.
Strange things occurred therein. “All of the guitars would be detuned. We would open up a Pro Tools session and tracks would be missing. There were some tracks that were put on there that we didn’t put on there,” Grohl said. He enquired about the history of the house but was gagged by an NDA because the studio is on the market. However, a little bit of digging shows that Hollywood star Ann Sheridan, who rose to fame in the late 1930s, had a property in the area and was told that it was haunted by an oriental girl who designed the beautiful grounds in the area but died tragically before the first roses could bloom.
The Royal Albert Hall, London, England
The Royal Albert Hall is one of the most famous supposed haunted spaces in the world. In fact, it has become so renowned for spooky occurrences that its official site even talks openly about it. “Opened in 1871, the Royal Albert Hall has been the location of many strange and supernatural stories,” it states. The most famous spectre is the late, great Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
When he passed away in 1930, 10,000 people gathered expectantly in the Hall to watch a medium take to the stage to see if he would contact them from beyond. The next morning, Time Magazine reported: “Mrs Estelle Roberts, clairvoyant, took the stage. She declared five spirits were ‘pushing’ her. She cried out their messages. Persons in the audience confirmed their validity. Suddenly Mrs Roberts looked at Sir Arthur’s empty chair, cried: ‘He is here’.” Several bands and artists have reported similar spooky happenings, and among the live albums recorded there, not all the screams are reportedly human.
