RSS
Home
The spirits of country music
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
The house lights dim, the curtains open and music fills the air. It's just another performance at the Grand Ole Opry House.
Or is it?
Ghosts and their stories abound these days -- and country music is no different. While the usual country concert is filled with songs of broken hearts and strong spirits, some performances at the Grand Ole Opry House and the Ryman Auditorium are filled with spirits of a different nature.
Employees at the Opry House contend that the late Roy Acuff has never really left the building and frequently refuses to allow the curtains to be drawn on his beloved Grand Ole Opry. After the performance, when the artists and fans have already headed home, employees report that they will sometimes turn off the lights and prepare to lock the doors, only to hear the sounds of the stage curtains opening. A quick check will reveal the curtains indeed are open and the lights are on, as if the King of Country Music himself were about to take the stage for another show.
Across town at the Opry's former home, the Ryman Auditorium, are additional reports of other unusual activity, with no less than three ghosts said to visit the building known as the Mother Church of Country Music. Capt. Thomas G. Ryman opened the Union Gospel Tabernacle in 1892, intending the building to be used for religious activities. Renamed the Ryman Auditorium upon his death in 1904, the building soon became an entertainment venue, but the captain reportedly made his presence known following any performances that didn't meet his approval. Legend has it that Ryman was so disturbed by one rather risqué musical event in the early 1900s that he proceeded to thrash about, creating so much noise that patrons couldn't hear the performance.
The most famous ghost of the Ryman may also be country music's busiest. Several Ryman employees report seeing white apparitions, but a few claim that they've come face to face with the actual ghost of Hank Williams Sr. Some say they have encountered Williams backstage, while one employee seems to think the white mist she saw onstage was Williams singing. A recent visitor is convinced that he ran into Williams in the alley between the Ryman and Tootsie's Orchid Lounge, another of Williams' haunts.
The legend of Williams' ghost has also inspired two major country hits -- David Allan Coe's "The Ride" (1983) and Alan Jackson's "Midnight in Montgomery" (1992) -- so it's not surprising that reported sightings are not limited to Nashville. Williams is also said to haunt the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tenn., where he spent his last night prior to dying in the back seat of a car while being driven to Canton, Ohio for a concert on Jan. 1, 1953. Williams' ghost has been reportedly seen in private homes in Tennessee and Alabama, as well as various honky-tonks throughout the South.
Nashville is a spirited city, but it's not the only place with a ghost story or two. Tales of spirits and spectres are common everywhere now, thanks to TV shows and books.
Related Articles:
Comments
.jpg)
