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Circling The Drain is a show about the current state of the music and radio businesses as well as culture in general!
Hosted by John E. Bozeman and Jay Harper along with Jim McCarthy as Co-Host/Executive Producer.
John has had a storied career in music and talk radio, most notably as the Executive Producer for the late and legendary Phil Valentine.
Jay also has has a long career in radio as Announcer, Play-by-Play, Voice and On-Camera Actor. He was also an Artist Rep for MCA records.
Jim McCarthy ALSO has had a tremendous career in radio since 1996 and has since brought his consulting/producing skillset to the podcast world.
Circling the Drain is produced by ItsYourShow.co
Unknown: One of the states that
there are more hauntings than
any is my home state of Kansas.
They said, for some reason,
there are a lot of instances and
stories of hauntings, and the
majority of them come from that
state.
Do you think they involve just a
lot of pioneers that were, you
know, heading west, that
suffered, you know, weathers or
what have you, yeah, getting
stuck in the weather there in
the weather in Kansas is
horrible, you know, and Native
American skirmishes, yeah, that
perhaps may have occurred there.
You know, I lived in South
Carolina for a number of years,
and that's a state that has
experienced not only the Civil
War, but the Revolutionary War.
You know, as evidence that the
motion picture, the Patriot with
Mel Gibson, that's about great
movie, yeah, it is. That's about
the Revolutionary War, and it is
set in South Carolina. Yeah,
welcome to a podcast about music
and entertainment before it all
goes down the disposal, this is
circling the drain.
Hey, welcome back into circling
the drain. Of course, you know
me. I guess Johnny B. Johnny
Bozeman, the other j, right over
here. Jay Harper,
yes, I we have met. Have we?
Yes, okay, hey, good to see you.
Johnny B, it's good
to see you. Yeah, rated PG for
pretty good, or x for extra
good.
Rated X, and of course, the man
who's always rated X, that would
be the great Jim McCarthy. You
know, you only see him from the
waist up, which is a good thing,
because sometimes pants are
optional. Yes, they are not
sometimes
all the time. Or I like those
newscasters you always heard of.
You know, they to be wearing
their underwear.
Well, you know, you mentioned
that. I mean, I used to work at
a TV station in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana. I was the booth
announcer there, so I would
always hang around, and I
usually came in in the evenings
and did the spots and, you know,
tonight on midnight movie, you
know, that kind of stuff. And
the the newscasters, they always
were like, in shorts and tennis
shoes, but they had the suit and
the tie and all that from here
on up? Well, sure, no, so it is
a true thing.
Well, and Demetria caledimos,
who was a big newscaster here in
Nashville, I understand she she
wore these, like, slippers when
she was doing the Yeah, like
house shoes, I'm kind of goofy
slippers. We were talking before
we started on the on the show
here, we were talking about
hauntings.
I know we were just kind of
tossing around. You know, we've
got a different ideas for topics
and stuff. We just started
extemporaneously. I don't know
how we got on to that, but we
just started talking about
things that we've kind of
witnessed in places we've been
or lived, or what have you. And
hauntings came up. And yeah,
then we said, well, shoot, let's
just, let's
do a, let's do a haunting
episode. Yeah, a little
discussion about because there
have been a lot of ever since
I've lived here, I've heard all
kinds of stories about
hauntings, people seeing
something out of the norm, or
experiencing something out of
the norm. When I worked with
Phil Valentine, he had a cabin
on his property that he and his
boys. Boys both swore, all swore
that that cabin was haunted.
Do you know how old that
structure was, or very old?
In fact, they had to piece it
back together. He had bought it,
I think, in West Tennessee, and
brought it back old log cabin.
They put it back together, and
the boys would like be up in
their room, up in the up in the
rooms at night and in the
morning. They said they would
hear violin music, interesting,
as clear as a bell and go down
stairs, nothing there, only in
the cabin, only in the cabin.
And Phil would talk about lights
being on, and nobody had turned
them on. And what's strange is
they said, after Phil passed,
that the hauntings went away,
but now they say in what was
Phil's office, sometimes the
light on the desk will be on and
nobody turned it on. Wow. So
that's hard to explain so but
you've heard these stories. I
mean, especially with us living
near all these Confederate
battlefields and graveyards,
right?
I mean, this area of Middle
Tennessee has just been through
all kinds of very emotional
turmoil, types of historical
events. A lot of blood in the
dirt. Yes, certainly. You know,
again, my home is in
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which
is about 3035, miles southeast
of Nashville. But you know, a
huge Civil War battle took place
there. A number of them,
actually. And you know, the
whole stinking city, as is
Franklin, Tennessee plantation,
yes. I mean this whole area, as
you say, man, a lot of blood in
the dirt. And while one
particular area may be
designated as the battlefield, I
mean, come on, let's get real,
the whole area is a battlefield.
Oh, sure, sure. In fact, my my
parents, my dad, my stepmother,
lived in leapers fork, and there
was an old farmhouse that was
there, and it still had, you
could see where they had tried
to fix it, but where a
cannonball had gone through. And
they also said they had hung
soldiers in the trees on this
property. Yeah, good grief. So,
yeah, it had a lot of violent
history there.
When they were doing that, that
they were like, generations from
now, they're going to be totally
effed with
no but you know, there have been
a lot of you talk about the
Opry. There have been stories of
people seeing people like Hank
Williams,
yeah, at the right, at the
right, the Ryman itself, yeah,
Ryman itself, yeah, that they're
still haunting, yeah. Well,
certainly, if you believe in
those sorts of things, it
certainly is reasonable to to
expect that.
Well, it could happen. I guess
just too many eyewitnesses to
say otherwise.
Well, we had this similar my dad
and my stepmother at one time on
the Hank Williams house on
Franklin Road, 4916 Franklin
Road, I can still remember the
address. Now, Hank didn't live
there much. I think, I think it
was toward the end of their
marriage that they had bought
the house. So this would have
been 5253
probably early 50s. Yeah, and
Audrey built on, built more to
the house. And it was really
weird. It was like an orange or
orange. It was gold brick.
Looked really oriental, like
even the outside cabana had kind
of Oriental type roof to it. She
must have really been into, you
know, that was kind of a thing
back in the 50s, that Chinese
provincial, yes, type of decor.
But that house had a lot of
everybody that ever spent time
in that house had some kind of
strange occurrence. Mine
personally, was there was a side
of the house that Hank Jr used
to live in. It was an apartment
that they had for him when he
was a teenager. And whiskey
Benton hell bound had just come
out, and I'd gotten through the
radio station, and sometimes I'd
stay in the apartment side when
I wanted to escape my apartment,
like to avoid girls, or, you
know, girls I didn't want to
see.
Yeah, I mean, you had such an
influx of women chasing, oh,
they
were on the clock. I just
couldn't get any
private burden, what a burden to
have to carry? Right? To have to
actually get away from No to get
away. What's that like? You,
too. Jim, right?
These are more like radio
groupies. Unfortunately, I told
them where I live, right? So
they show UPS anyway. I was
staying at the apartment side,
and I had whiskey Ben hellbound,
and they had a record player up
there. Well, as I put the record
on, all of a sudden, there's
some kind of it was like an
electric like electricity being
drained. And instead of that,
yeah, but it didn't start. It
all of a sudden it was, it was
just barely moving. And I went,
Whoa. This is weird. And the
room got cold, really cold. And
I thought, This is too weird. I
took the needle off. I ran,
fact, I think I ran back to my
apartment. Okay, girls,
like in every modern horror
movie now, it's like the close
up on the face, and you see the
eyes of realization there. And
all of a sudden, the camera
slides a little bit to the left,
and there's a little bit of a
blurry shadow down the hallway,
and you see the person kind of
looking a little there's really
aware of those things.
So what? What do you think that?
Do you think Hank senior was he
not approving of the direction
that Hank Jr was going in time?
How do you think that was? I
think it
was more. Audrey, I think,
really? Yeah, well, see, Audrey,
it was very strange death,
because Audrey, it seemed to me
like she was like she had
committed suicide. She was about
to lose the house when she was
found in it dead. And the room
she died in, which was her
bedroom, was always cold, always
it could be the dead of summer,
you know, in July, August, when
it's 100 degrees outside, with a
90% humidity, right? And the
room would just stay cold. I
mean, freezing cold, but yeah,
she the IRS was going to seize
the property the next day. Oh,
mercy, yeah, because she had not
been paying her property taxes,
yeah, and so I think she was
sad. And it's strange because
they also said, you know,
because Deb, every now and then,
would have client parties. Where
do you have sponsors of the
radio station come party and
then hang out in the ballroom?
Several people that went to
these parties swore they saw
Audrey amongst the party goers.
Oh, wow, like she was hanging
out.
Now, did other family members
tell of stories in that home?
Everybody did. Everybody
experienced something. They'd
hear footsteps like because they
there was a, there was a part of
the ballroom where you could
walk up the it was really, it
was like a submarine staircase,
one of those spiral things,
yeah, the spiral staircase that
went up to an area where you
could play pool. There was a
pool table up, and it was in
that area where they heard the
footsteps. So, yeah, everybody,
everybody got crazy. The only
people that didn't really
experience any of course, my dad
never believed in this stuff, so
he When did he buy the house?
Oh, man, good question. I think
it was around 78
so not so not long after you
moved to town. Yeah.
Wasn't that? Yeah? She passed in
75 Yes, she did.
She was only 52 years old.
Yes, drug overdose in general,
yeah, yeah,
sad, sad stuff. Do you know the
history of the home before they
purchased it? No, so I'm just
kind of curious how old the
basic structure of that home is.
And the weird thing was too
right where I were the when you
went to the attic, which was
right off where you played pool,
I found all these canceled
checks of Audrey's. Oh, wow. And
I even kept some, some of them.
They re they got taken from me.
I was moving, and a guy that was
helping me move, I think got
those? Oh, yeah, you still have
them. No, I don't. I wish I did,
because they, I mean, they, you
know, it was to airline, you
know, right,
yeah, we've been really cool if
you had some Hank senior or Yes,
Hank Jr, autograph, oh yeah,
signatures or something, yeah,
yeah, yeah, that I, you know,
again, when I had learned that,
you know, your dad had owned
that home, at one time, I've
been meaning to ask you, man,
were there some interesting
goings on in that house that
seemed paranormal, and
apparently there
were, well, there's a lot of
strange things that went on
inside the house, so paranormal
and normal
or abnormal. Some of them were
mine
when they because, whenever they
be out of town, you know that's
you talk about, a great way to
pick up a girl. Oh, I could have
maybe out in a nightclub and go,
Hey, how'd you like see the Hank
Williams house? Oh, I would.
Yeah. Okay, let's go for a
midnight swim. Yeah, that's,
yeah, you know what? I mean, a
rather unique pickup line.
Yes, it is. Let's go home get
talk. Oh yeah, baby. Let's go
room
and take a little midnight
swim. Somebody order a pizza.
And that was the cool thing too.
Was the this the house had this
bar, and there was this heart,
and you could light it up. It
would it lit up and it said
Williams in it. And I think she,
I think Tammy Wynette bought the
house later on, really, and she
sold that to Randy Travis, who,
who owns it now?
I do, yeah, hopefully he still
has it. I hope so.
You know, lib man have got it in
the divorce.
But yeah, there are so many, as
we say, so many historical
events and whatnot that have
happened in this part of the
country. And I guess, gosh,
everywhere in the country has
got its share of of tragic
events that have taken place,
whether they be battles, wars or
what have you I, my wife and I
used to live in a home in
Gallatin that was an older home.
I think the original structure
is from like the 40s or 50s, and
it had been re. Done over the
years, and we used to experience
interesting things that would
happen, there voices and such.
And there was one very real
incident that happened while my
wife and I are just kind of
laying in bed one morning, you
know, we just kind of groggy and
had just awakened. And, you
know, it may have been like a
Sunday morning or Sunday we're
just kind of laying there, and
out of the blue, we hear on the
wall, there's a bedroom next to
us on the wall, and a child's
voice say, Mom, mom, and my wife
and I look at each other, and
I'm like, did you hear that? She
goes, I heard that. Well, our
kids were not home at the time.
Wow. You know, we did have a
daughter that was our daughter's
room, that was on the other
side, but she wasn't she wasn't
home. Our son was not there
either. They were off at my
parents house. They were
spending the summer in the
Houston area when, you know,
their grandparents at the time.
So, but we had experienced
things like that quite a bit.
There was a cat that that we
would see in the home. It would
just be, you know, kind of the
thing where you would see stuff
out of the corner of your eye,
yes, and then when you are
become aware of it, and you try
to focus in on it, that's when
it disappears. But we would see
this cat in the home quite a
bit, and my wife actually claims
to have pet this ghost cat, if
you will, that she saw the blur
and put her hand down, and the
cat rubbed its back on on her
hand. Wow. So, yeah, there was
certainly something going on in
that home, but it was, it was
not ominous, you know, it was
everybody, not everybody, but
most people. You know, you watch
these, all these goofy shows on
TV, paranormal stuff, and
everybody freaks out. And every
ghost or spirit is a demon,
yeah, they're malicious, yeah,
they're all demons. Yes. You
know, whatever was in our in
that home was certainly didn't
come across as demonic. However,
my wife and me too, I mean,
we're kind of intrigued by all
this kind of stuff, you know,
paranormal and whatnot. A number
of years ago, my wife and I, we
try to go on a trip for our
anniversary every year. We
haven't been able to do it every
year, but here, a couple of
years ago, I planned a an
anniversary trip to Arizona. We
had been to the Grand Canyon a
couple of times, and there's a
story I'll tell one day about
why the Grand Canyon is is kind
of an inside joke between she
and I, but anyway, we went and
visited Arizona, and I had kind
of set it up as this haunted
hotel tour, yeah. So I booked us
into, you know, I researched it
and all, and booked us into
these hotels that are deemed to
be full of all this paranormal
activity. So we had stayed at a
number of different places, uh,
hotel in Prescott, Arizona,
another in some other cities,
kind of small towns, also in
Phoenix proper, Phoenix Arizona,
we stayed at an old hotel
downtown, but the hotel, and I
forget the name of it, but the
hotel we stayed at in Prescott,
Arizona. And I had been to
Prescott before, when I was
producing concerts way back
when, and just stayed at a
regular place, but I was always
intrigued Prescott downtown. I
mean, it's just, it's a cool old
town, a cool old western town,
but we stayed at this hotel, and
while there, you know, I went
into these places not expecting
anything, right? So it wasn't
like I was, you know, laying
there awake, just waiting for
something to happen. You know,
it's like, yeah, you know, just
kind of kind of forgot about it
in one respect. But I remember
being awakened in the middle of
the night on one of the nights
we stayed there, and somebody is
choking me. I am being choked
weird, and there is a pressure
on my chest. Now, I had learned
that the room we stayed in,
reportedly, was a room where a
of course, all these places were
brothels at one time or another.
But reportedly this room, a
prostitute was murdered in this
room and thrown out the window
of this room, and there had
been. Stories about how men have
been attacked in this room,
reportedly by this pissed off
prostitute that hates men
because Yeah,
her yeah, she's into a weird
kink.
Perhaps, you know, I know it
wasn't my wife. Okay, that much.
I know. Are you sure I
met your wife? I wouldn't put it
faster.
Yeah, she's been, she's been the
world's greatest wife, but
anyway. But yeah, the word kink
and my wife not in the same
sentence, unfortunately, but,
but anyway, and
there's like, I like, What in
the hell is going on? So that,
that I did experience that in in
one of the places we stayed, one
of the other places we stayed
was, as I mentioned, this old
hotel downtown Phoenix. I think
it was called The San Carlo, or
something to that effect. That,
again, reportedly haunted. Yeah.
And the only thing that happened
to me there I was, I was awake,
but I remember I was like, I
think I was looking at my phone
or something, just kind of
laying on my side on the bed,
and I felt somebody tapped me on
the shoulder pretty hard. Wow,
you know, my wife's on the other
side. I see her, yeah, you know.
And I, you know, it startles
you. I mean, it didn't scare me,
yeah, but It startled me. It's
like, what in the hell, you
know? I mean, somebody you know,
didn't hear anything, but, but
was, was tapped on the shoulder.
And we stayed in a couple of
other places where I don't
really recall much of anything
kind of scary happening, but
those, again, were some
experiences on that trip that
that certainly, you know, the
one about, you know, being
joking, yeah, that's terrifying.
Yeah, that was like, What in the
hell is this? You know, you're
actually gasping for breath and
everything, really, yeah, well,
and I again, how did it, how did
it stop? You know, at first I
thought, Well, again, I was
away. You know, am I dreaming?
No, you know, when I when I
became aware, I started, well, I
wasn't screaming, but I was
making a noise that woke my wife
up, and it's like when she
awoke, that's when it stopped.
So I wake I'm out, yeah, yeah,
it was, it was certainly a
sterile and as I said, I went
into the whole experience not
expecting anything, right? You
know, so well.
It's kind of like, you know,
when we had Gary Gentry on, the
songwriter that wrote the ride,
you know, he's told us that in
the story of him writing that
song, that he was trying to
summon Hank Williams, right? He
had done the candles that, yeah,
and he said he actually
appeared. And what was he
saying? He said he was
shirtless, right?
Had a fedora on, no shirt, in a
chair, smoking a cigarette.
Yeah?
And that sounds plausible,
because I could see Hank
Williams that way, you know,
right?
Yeah, that was such a cool story
that he told.
Well, the whole thing with that
song, because there were always
so many weird things that
happened with that song was when
Gary, you know, performed it at
the opry land, at the Opryland
hotel and the opry Yeah, and it
was on the opry land complex
that, when he got to the point
in the song where Hank
identifies himself, all the
power went out all across the
complex.
Made the Tennessean. Yeah, it
did that story, making the
Tennessean.
And from the story, I heard that
David Allen co read that story
and said, I got to record this.
Well, you know, again, circling
back to the Hank Williams home,
Gary tells the story about how
he actually, when he was like
1213, years old, went there and
it got the tour of the house
from from Audrey Williams.
In fact, that's where he got the
payoff line in the song, when he
says you don't have to call me
Hank. No, you don't have to call
me Mr. Mr. The whole world call
me Hank.
Yeah, that is that Audrey told
him that. Yeah. Tuck that line
away in his brain for about 30
years.
That's a good song, right there?
Yes, it is. But, yeah, there
have been a lot of ghost stories
as far as coming. Country music
goes, and we've heard them all.
In fact, there was an office
building. It's 1111, was it 17th
or 16th? But the Jim Halsey
company used to be there, and
there was another office
building there, and they had all
kinds of strange happenings,
like they would go in and papers
would be just strewn all about
the offices, or, you know, doors
would be magically open that
were locked. And it turned out
that there was a family that
lived there. It was a father,
and he had a couple of daughters
that apparently weren't that.
Mean they were rich, but the
daughters weren't beautiful.
They were they were kind of
homely, and they didn't get
invited to parties and such. So
they were kind of home bodies,
and they think it was the ghost
of these girls that was causing
so many problems at 1111 So,
yeah, that's strange stuff.
Now, you know Music Row is,
well, like all of Nashville has
changed so much since you and I
first arrived. You got here
about 10 years before I did. But
you know, all the Music Row, it
was old homes, yes, and that's
the reason that they started
recording there. You know, the
publishing industry started
there first. Yes. But they
started recording because it was
a quiet neighborhood, yeah, you
know. And now so many of those
old home, you know, they're
below stuff and putting up all
these old, ugly buildings
now, well, they're putting up,
you know, they're putting up
condos, apartments, and what?
Yeah, I mean, and it's really
sad, because a lot of these
buildings have so much history,
too. In fact, it bothered me. I
was on the air one day, I wasn't
aware they were going to tear
down the sound sound shop, and
that's where Paul McCarthy
recorded Sally G and Junior's
farm and and plus Alabama had
recorded, I mean, there's so
many people that are recorded
there. Yeah, that buddy killing.
Yeah, I was just watching it
being just destroyed. And it
just made me sick to my stomach.
Hey, that's progress. John,
yeah, it is.
It's the new Nashville. Now,
Jim, you before we started this,
and one of the things that got
us talking about doing this
topic is the fact that you claim
your your wife has seems to be
extra sensitive to rather
interesting event. At least she
was, yeah, not
so much ever after we had kids,
but yeah, the apartment we lived
in when we first got here was
there were some things that
happened in there that were kind
of weird and unexplainable and
all that fun stuff, hearing
voices outside the bedroom
window. And she literally woke
up one night and she heard a
voice saying, Edward. And
immediately, the funny thing is,
I think Edward Van Halen. Is he
playing guitar? And she goes. It
was clear as a bell, like, is
anybody standing out the window?
So I get out of bed, I opened up
the shade, and nobody's there. I
said, you know, okay, are you
having she's like, Yeah, I guess
I am. And there were a couple of
other instances, like, she would
be brushing her teeth and, you
know, rinse out and everything,
and look up and there'd be
something standing behind her in
the mirror. There were like we
had dogs, and a black light that
came along with the dogs that
whenever we thought that they
might have peed or pooped in the
owl peed mainly poop you could
generally find but we would take
a black and light out and find
out where the dogs peed, and,
you know, act accordingly and
punish them or whatever. But
there was like, a large pool of
something underneath our kitchen
table, in the kitchen area, and
drag marks going to the
bathroom. It was like, you know,
the first thing that crosses my
mind, I'm like, Really, you
couldn't change the damn carpet.
If this was a murder scene, was
a crime scene, you know what? I
mean, you clean the carpet
really, you know, unless you
know something to seep through
the new carpet. But that was,
yeah, I mean, it was
so many people think that
structures have got to be old
and historic before some sort of
perceived paranormal activity
can occur. But, yeah, it's, you
hear stories quite often of
newer places that that have
something going on, and they
build them on Indian burial
ground. Yeah, that. Or, as we
were mentioning before, on the
old battlefields and whatnot. I
mean, you know, but we, we see
these stories of, you know, on
TV about, oh gosh, the
subdivision was built on, you
know, an old cemetery, or what
have you over the I mean, what?
What ground does not have
problems. Probably buried
something. I mean, yeah, you
know, especially back in the
days when people would bury
family members on their
property.
Oh, sure. And, you know, you can
still do that in Tennessee. Did
you know you can bury? I mean,
you can bury. You can be, if you
want to be buried on your
property, you can, yeah, as long
as they it's a certain debt.
Oh, man, I would, boy. I with my
HOA. I'd love to do, you know, I
would love to just, yeah, okay,
I'm gonna,
yeah, I've asked my wife to do
that for me on our property.
Yeah, so that's where me by the
bamboo. You're gonna, that's
where you gonna
end up. Yeah, that's where I
want.
You can always ask the HOA to
prove it. Yeah, fresh dirt right
there. Okay,
aware of that, because someone
that I knew said they're burying
their uncle on their farm. And I
went, you can do that? And they
said, Yeah, Tennessee, it's
legal, yeah, as long as you
follow certain guidelines.
Oh, how neat. I'm sure. Yeah,
there's a permit involved, I'm
sure.
Well, sure, of course. You know,
the government has to find a way
to tax everything. Oh, yeah, get
money out of you somehow. It's
funny, because growing up in the
northeast, in Connecticut, you'd
think, because that was so
connected to the Revolutionary
War and the founding of the
country? Yeah, you know, the
Connecticut is known as the
Constitution state, but not many
stories that I remember hearing
growing up, a few here and
there, but nothing like down
here. Yeah, you know, because I
wonder if it's like still fresh
in the memory of the country and
still, you know, relatively
recent. You know, the
Revolutionary War being 250,
years ago this year, yeah, or at
least the start of it. So it was
really interesting. I thought
about that. I'm like, I didn't
really hear too many haunting
stories in where we grew up.
Yeah, you'd think that there
would be, because it was a, you
know, another bloody war,
apparently, because I've done a
lot of you know reading on the
paranormal, and they say that
one of the states that there are
more hauntings than any is my
home state of Kansas. They said,
for some reason, there are a lot
of instances and stories of
hauntings, and the majority of
them come from that state.
Do you think they involve just a
lot of pioneers that were, you
know, heading west, that
suffered, you know, weathers or
what have you, yeah, getting
stuck in the weather there, in
the weather in Kansas is
horrible, you know, in Native
American skirmishes that perhaps
may have occurred there. You
know, I lived in South Carolina
for a number of years, and
that's a state that has
experienced not only the Civil
War, but the Revolutionary War.
You know, as evidence that the
motion picture of the Patriot
with Mel Gibson, that's about
great, yeah, it is. That's about
the Revolutionary War, and it is
set in South Carolina, yeah, you
know, so certainly a lot of
things happening there
Charleston. You know, I grew up
in New Orleans. I mean, those
two cities are certainly known
for their their hauntings, New
Orleans, especially New Orleans,
yeah. But you know, Charleston
also has a dark past when it
comes to the slave trade.
Certainly the same with New
Orleans. You know, good grief
you had there on the the banks
of the Mississippi, you know,
the the slave market there in
New Orleans. Well, yeah, that
then you also have voodoo, all
that stuff, which is still being
practiced in Louisiana, you
know, I mean, we had visited the
grave site of Marie Laveau. It
is now closed off that cemetery
because they just had so many
people going in there. I bet
they have now closed it off that
cemetery, you can still visit,
but I think now it's part of a
tour that you have to pay money
and all that before you could
just go in the cemetery and and
look at all that stuff. There's
some ex mayors, I think maybe
even Louis Armstrong's buried
there. But anyway, that Marie
Laveau grave, people would leave
pennies money, you know, cross,
I mean, it had just a bunch of
stuff. I bet people pile on
this. And of course, New
Orleans, you know, people are
buried above ground because of
the water table, right? You
know, you bury them underground,
and the graves, the graves, the
caskets, pop up out of the
ground. Oh, sure that, yeah, so
the above ground crypt. So yeah,
people would, well, frankly, I
know they were trying to honor
or do whatever they think
they're doing to the to the
grave site, but it's vandalized.
Is what it ultimately is, you
know, with all the stuff that
was happening to it, see, that's
why I don't understand that
about people, because I've seen
it with a lot of celebrities,
that people will just leave all
kinds of crap all over there. I
mean, why just visit the grave?
That's all you have
to do, yeah, show some kind of
respect. Well, it
was like with Leonard Skinner,
they said they're always leaving
beer cans, you know, right,
right, like they didn't get
enough of that in life,
trying to move on from that,
guys. Thanks.
You'd mentioned Kansas being one
of the most haunted states,
yeah, and it got me thinking
about the concept of ley lines.
You ever hear of ley lines? No,
no. They talk about it in
Ghostbusters and all sorts of
different
you know what? I've never seen
Ghostbusters. You have not. I
know I get that like, that's the
expression I get from everybody
I tell that to, yeah, I've never
seen that anyway. I'm sorry, an
American, I'm sorry, Jim, I
didn't sorry to interrupt you.
You've never seen the guy. No,
never seen that. No, no, i The
Godfather. Oh, my favorite film.
But anyway, you were mentioning,
I'm
sorry, yes. So the theory goes
that on these ley lines that go
criss cross the Earth, it tends
to be a lot of supernatural.
Okay, I didn't real. I know what
you're speaking of, but I didn't
realize that was the term
for it. And it seems like a lot
of them run through the Topeka
area. Yeah, you know, as well as
for a little while, there's a
major crossing in Nashville,
there's a major northwest
Arkansas is a huge culmination
of intersecting lines. And of
course, New York City and their
their claim is that they all run
through the capital cities of
every state. So, New Orleans,
surprisingly, not nothing runs
through. What's Baton Rouge?
You know, Baton Rouge is the
capital there. You know,
Columbia, South Carolina is the
capital there. I mean, are these
the lines that run through, like
where stone hinges and something
like that? Yeah, and the same
thing down the pyramids, yeah,
the Mayan, Mayan ruins and
whatnot. Yeah, that's an
interesting theory. Yeah, it is.
It is
interesting. But who knows?
Well, I tend
to believe in the paranormal. I
do believe there are spirits
that
it makes me wonder. Like, you
know, my father, he passed away
in no six, as we talked about.
And my brother, he went and saw
a psychic afterwards, and she
goes, Oh, this is probably, I
guess this is what this man here
has been waiting for, for you to
come in. My brother was, course,
like, okay, you know, she went
into the whole thing. I don't
remember the specifics of it,
but he ended up having a dream
about our father sitting at the
patio at the last house he lived
in in Florida. And he says
everything in the house like
everything they thought was like
paradise had kind of grown
overgrown and moldy, and the
swimming pool was not usable,
and everything is just dad was,
like, his 33 year old self,
like, what we remember, remember
from pictures, yeah, and he
says, off in the distance, like
across the river was a bright
light. He says, In the dream, I
was like, Well, Dad, why don't
you just go, go to the light?
And he says, and exactly how
you'd imagine him saying this in
dad fashion. He says, I don't
wanna, you know, he wasn't ready
yet. Yeah, you know. And it's
like, you gotta wonder. It's
like all these things that these
witness testimonies and accounts
that we hear, and all these
different phenomena that seems
to happen. What's the deal? Man?
Like, all of a sudden it's like,
if you it happens, you die, you
cross over. Oh, you know. And I
was like, Hey, before you go to
the next thing, do you want to
screw with anybody before you
go? You got three tickets. You
want to you want to say a final
goodbye? Because, I mean, my
Courtney's aunt, Courtney's
uncle had a long bout with, I
want to say, I think it was lung
cancer, and towards the end of
his life, he was, like, very
short of breath. But, you know,
and he always told her, he says,
you know, when I go, I'm gonna
make sure that you know it, and
I'm gonna, I'm gonna blow on
your neck, like on the back of
her neck, yeah. And so wouldn't
you believe she's like, you
know, as soon as the hospice
people said that he had passed,
I was sitting on the couch, and
I felt someone come up behind me
and go, Wow. And she says it was
like he said he would do and he
just knew he'd be able to do
that. Yeah? So, I mean, Courtney
could tell you some story. She
was a hospice nurse, a home
health aide for hospice, yeah, I
can imagine. So she's, I mean,
when we were dating, this is her
intuition. We're hanging out
watching TV, and she just kind
of sits up and she goes, I gotta
go.
I'm going, Yeah, what'd I say?
What did I do?
Yeah, pretty sure. I put on
deodorant, yeah, I took a
shower.
Yeah, I haven't passed when
lately, not yet. Yeah, right.
She's like, one of my patients
is gonna die tonight, and
they're gonna die alone. I don't
want them to be alone. Wow.
Okay, look, dude, if this isn't
working out, just just be
upfront. She's like, No, no, I'm
serious. I'm serious. Okay, next
morning call her up and said,
So, how was your night? Yeah, he
passed at 230 really?
Wow. Well, I had a experience
and with my mother. Don't want
to get too emotional about it.
But this, my mom passed on
September 11 of 20, 2015
my dad was September 11.
Wow, yeah, I think we, I think
we share that with they really
want us to remember them, yeah,
I suppose. But on the night of
September 10, I'm kind of
awakened at night with somebody
holding my hand, and it's not my
wife and I had the sense that it
was my mom who was suffering
from she suffered from leukemia
For a number of years. But after
my dad passed, she stuck around
for another four years, but
finally quit taking the chemo
and all she just had it. She was
ready to go. But anyway, the
night of the 10th, I feel my
mom's presence, holding my hand,
asking my permission to die.
Wow. And, you know, and I, and I
was like, yes, go, you know, she
was, she was suffering. I'm
like, go, go be with your
husband. You know, yeah, I tell
people this, and I get the eye
roll, but I'm telling you, it
happened the next morning. I'm
on air in Charleston, South
Carolina. My cousin was staying
with my mom. My mom did the host
the home hospice thing. She
wasn't going to go to any any
facility, so they had her in a
hospital bed in the living room,
you know. But my cousin, again,
was staying with my mother, and
I got a text while I'm on air
from my cousin saying that my
mom had passed that morning, you
know. And it, it was, it was a
relief in one respect, right?
You know, you know, no matter.
But having said that, I mean, no
matter how much you prepare for
a parent's passing, if they're
if they're ill, if they're sick,
if they're dying, you know, it's
still, still not easy. No, but,
but, yeah, I, I, I believe that
with all my heart and soul that
I experienced that the night
before.
I don't doubt it. You know, I
remember when my father passed,
you know, he was at my sister's
home. What would usually happen?
Because I never used to go into
my sister's home because I'm
I've got a real bad allergy to
pet dander, and my sister had
dogs cats. She had menizer.
And dad was supposed to come to
our house later,
and I remember that
my wife at the time and I were
going to go to a friend's house
before dad came over later that
night, and we were getting ready
to go. And something in me, I
don't know what caused me to do
this, but I looked at her and I
went, you know, my dad's 80
years old. I said, I don't know
how much time he's got left. I
said, Would you mind if I didn't
go today? I'm thinking about
going to my sister's house. And
she said, not a problem. Said,
Are you sure you want to go to
your sisters with I said, I'll
put up with it. I'll go outside,
whatever. Take a few breaks
outside. But I said, I never
know. I said, he's 80 man. He
should go at any time. And that
day he did pass away when I went
over to
the right. And you know, in our
father's episode, you shared
somewhat of that story, sure how
you had kind of a real heart to
heart shortly before he passed,
yeah, 10
minutes before he passed, we we
had a real heart. And he said
something has stuck with me ever
since he goes, son, you've got
to you've got to really
appreciate the time you have,
because you never and those
around you, because you never
know when your time's up. And
that's 10 minutes later he's
gone,
yeah, you know. And no matter
what age you are, you know.
Yeah, it.
It could be, could be your time.
You know
exactly, we passed the
anniversary of our death every
year.
This is true. I thought of that
as well. Doesn't that bake your
brain? I know, man, I have
looked at calendars many times
and thought something along
those, one of
these 365, days is right?
Yeah, exactly. Well, I mean, it
was like I lost my very best
friend recently, Dave White, who
I've talked about a lot on this
show. Maybe we'll dedicate this
show to him. But then that one
took me by surprise, because it
was just before Christmas of
last year, and I was at the
house, I was listening to some
music, and I noticed my phone
ringing, and it was Dave's
number. I'm thinking it's Dave,
and I'm thinking, well, he's
calling kind of early. Hey,
buddy, what's up? And all of a
sudden his wife comes on, and I
knew something was wrong. I
said, What's what's happened?
What's wrong? And that's when
she told me, said he passed away
last night.
Gosh, you talk about just
ripping your heart out?
Man, yeah, yeah, I had a similar
experience with a guy that I,
even though I'm radio for quite
some time, I still looked upon
him as a mentor there in
Charleston, South Carolina radio
guy, play by play legendaries in
the South Carolina the well, the
Charleston Radio Hall of Fame in
the South Carolina one as well,
the Sports Hall of Fame was a
play by play guy, and just radio
man in Charleston and South
Carolina for years. And he had
been battling cancer and
whatnot, but man was in
remission, had fought through
it, and was driving home from a
party, had a heart attack, hit a
tree and and died driving and
and you know that that hit me so
hard. And there are times when
later on at that radio station,
I would see him there, wow,
after he had passed, which made
total sense, because the guy
worked at that station for, you
know, 20 some odd years, it was
the flagship for the Citadel,
the college there, you know, the
Citadel Sports Network, which I
was a part of as well. So yeah,
again, I would see things in
that radio station and which I
wanted to ask you, have you
ever, did you ever experience
anything like that at a station
that you worked at where, maybe,
you know, we had Vivi Ray
Shipley on on a prior episode,
you know, was part of all the
legendary WSM DJs and whatnot
that you know he tells stories
about. I can certainly imagine
that, you know, a lot of those
guys maybe, maybe popping up at
rate at WSM somewhere, but
definitely. But did you ever
experience anything like that?
I, you know, I've never
experienced anything like that
at rate at radio station. No,
the only thing that weird thing
about, you know, Phil Valentine
passing was the night before he
passed, I went to the hospital
he was at. I couldn't go up
because it was during covid, but
they had a bench outside, and I
prayed, you know, I prayed for
him to get better, and I got
this feeling of, man,
everything's gonna be okay. And
I even went home to tell my
wife. I said, Man, I think he's
gonna be all right. I said, I
got this really weird feeling
that just came over me during
that, during praying for him.
And then it was the following
day that we got the call that he
passed away, and I was so let
down. I thought, Man, why did I
get
that feeling? Well, maybe you
need to look at it in a
different perspective. Well,
it's interesting. You say that
he, he what he is, okay?
Well, that's what a listener as
we were, we were basically
telling the audience the next
day, that the day passed, we all
got on the air and paid tribute
to him. And I brought that story
up, and a listener called in. It
was a woman, and she said,
Johnny, I believe that he was
trying to tell you, so I think
it was him and God trying to
tell you that everything was
going to be okay. I've been
released, and everything is
good. Everything's fine. And I
tell you what as good as that
guy lived life. I've met a lot
of people on this planet that
you know, you can feel God
through them, or, you know,
there's a goodness, but I
guarantee you that guy's bags
were packed. I know where he's
at, you know, but I what's
really weird about Phil is I, I
dream about him a lot, that he's
still alive, that we're doing a
show, or, really, yeah, and it's
almost. Every night, really,
yeah, like Dave, I haven't and
Dave was one of my dearest
friends, and I never dream about
him, but for some reason, Phil
is in my dreams.
A lot. Do you dream about your
dad or mom, for that matter,
but Dad, Dad more than mother.
Mothers are strange, because the
one dream of her I can remember
is I'm in an airport and I'm
seeing all these faces I'm
trying to get to my flight, and
all of a sudden, the last face I
see is hers, and she's just
smiling, but she doesn't say
anything. I said, Mom, I've been
looking for you for so long. Are
you okay? And all she does is
smile, yes.
Since my mom and dad have
passed, I Well, right after my
dad passed, and he did pass
quite suddenly, pulmonary
embolism, just collapsed and
died. And I recall, I think it
was the next night, or that
night, or what have you I
dreamed of him, probably the
most vivid dream I've ever had,
full color man. And I read he
was the kind of guy. He would
just, you know, he was retired.
He's 77 years old, you know, he
would have shorts on, no shoes,
and just a, you know, a shirt,
you know, lounging around the
house. And that's how I saw him
in the dream with a very
puzzled, confused look on his
face, like, what the hell has
happened? Wow. And I'm and I'm
thinking that, you know, he
appeared to me with that. You
know, you hear stories of people
that have had these near death
experiences, if they're confused
and not really comprehending, is
this really happening? That's
kind of what I took that
expression to mean, right? That
I saw in him. And I've seen him
vividly in just a couple of
dreams over the years, and
there, when I do dream of him,
they are so real, yes, and so
vivid, that I see them as
appearances, as opposed to just
dreams that, you know, and my
mom the same way, and there's
really no verbal exchange. Don't
really speak. It'll just be,
especially with my mom, it'll be
a hug that boy is so real.
Yes, you know there, yeah. Well,
it's like one of the dreams I
had of Phil. It was odd because
I'll tell you the story of
talking to his wife, Susan
afterward, but I had a dream of
him one night where I was
walking on this street, and
there was like a walkway above
me, and Phil was walking on it.
I said, Man, where you been? Was
talking to him, and he was busy
on his phone. He said, Hey, I
don't have time to talk. I got
to check up on car, his oldest
son. I said, okay, bud. Well, he
said, I'm trying to call Susan.
I said, Okay, I'll see you
later, and then I'd wake up
later on. When I was telling
Susan about that dream, she
said, that's weird. She goes,
because around that time, said I
was having some issues with car
where I was worried about him.
Oh, wow. I went, Wow, is that
ever weird? Yeah, that kind of,
you know, kind of gave you the
goose, goose
bumps, yeah? I was like, you
know, you heard me go, oh, wow,
yeah, I see where this is going,
yeah, oh, man,
it was weird,
yeah, I, I do think there's a
level of consciousness there,
that that knows more than we do
in the in the physical sense
that we are currently in, yes,
and whatever it is, whether it's
heaven or or what there's just
there's an infinite knowledge
out there that I think at times
when we let our minds go,
whether that's during sleep or
what have you, that we're able
to tap into.
Yes, I do well. And one thing
that was always strange to me,
too is the day I got let go from
the radio station. As I went
home, my wife had found this
Christmas she goes, Look what I
found today. And it was a
Christmas card that Phil had
sent to me when we lost
syndication we were both bummed
out about and it was this car,
the station wagon. It said,
sometimes it feels like life's
passing you by and you open it
up, said, or trying to run you
over. He said, Remember, I'm in
your lane. Oh, wow. And it was
10 minutes after that that I got
the Zoom call that I was let go,
and I thought he's still in your
lane. Man, that's kind of a
weird coincidence.
So what you guys are really
telling me is that when you
close your eyes, you. Don't
dream about me
on wctd,
sorry, I had to break the
heaviness of the complaint.
No, I was kind of waiting to
hear, you know the who? Okay,
fine. See the ghost,
you'd figure I think there are a
lot of haunting stories out of
Vegas when we worked out there,
but nothing in the radio
station, which makes me think
that all radio people go to
heaven. So because, you know,
there's got to be some reward
somewhere.
Yeah, yeah, we've been in hell
during our careers.
We sacrificed enough.
But, I mean, the funny thing out
there was because of the mob
history and the rapid expansion
that happened while we were
there. I mean, they were
building and building and
constantly just expanding and
expanding and expanding.
And, you know, there's dead
bodies under a lot of things.
It was a regular occurrence,
excuse me, out there where, you
know, well, construction had to
be halted. Another body in a
barrel. Remember when Lake Mead?
Yeah, drain, yes. All these
bodies started showing up. There
are a lot of a lot of people in
New York and
Chicago getting nervous.
Yeah. Dude, it was, like, every
two weeks in the lvrj, the
review journal was like, up, you
know, so and sold on our homes
at the halt construction. Found
a body, bones and teeth, dental
records the whole nine yards,
man,
I tell you, I don't know what it
is about the mob, but they've
always fascinated me, scared the
hell out of me, but always
fascinated me that lifestyle,
because we had, I remember on
Phil's show, we had Michael
Francis. He was a son of a
mobster, and we always Phil and
I had always after the
interviews, because we had him
on several times. Do you think
he's still involved?
Who knows? I don't think there's
any. There's no life after that.
No, they don't think there is.
They ever tell you my
Henry Hill story that I bring
that talk? I don't think so.
Really. I don't believe so. We
had Howard Stern, who was a
syndicated show out in Vegas for
one of our stations, and I got
into in so good with the
engineers that they allowed me
to help out a couple of years
because it was like, this was so
cool. He was one of my radio
heroes growing up, right? And,
you know, to see how the
everything worked. And it's
funny, this was so simple, but
it seems so complex. But one of
the last shows, Courtney came
out and hung out with all my
buddies while I was working, and
they all had the free drinks
that the Hard Rock would
provide. And I had to head back
to the radio station, and
Courtney's like, she's like,
well, I'm going with your
friends to the Spearmint Rhino.
And I'm going, Really, okay,
that's a first. This will be
fun. But before that, one of the
guests they had on was Henry
Hill, the actual guy, Ray leotas
character, good fellows. And,
you know, I knew who he was,
like an old guy at this point
and everything. And I go to the
radio station, you know, text my
wife, Hey, where were this part
of the spearmint rhinos? I show
up, walk in, and I see from afar
that she's carrying a
conversation. And I'm like, Oh,
look who it is, who she's
talking to. So I guess he came
up to her, you know, good
looking, Red Headed woman, yeah,
started struck up a
conversation, and she she
eyeballs me and shuts the
conversation down. She's like,
Thank God, thank you. That guy
was just talking. He had, like,
no teeth. Do you have any idea
who you were just talking to?
She goes, No. I said, you
remember Ray liottas character
from Goodfellas? Yeah, Henry
Hill. I said, that's the real
guy. Stay clear, because he's
made it known where he is, and
I'm pretty sure he's still
marked. So, yeah, that was a
interesting story.
Well, it's kind of like when
Phil Valentine worked in
Philadelphia, when he first
started his show, he had this
Godfather update, and he'd been
talking like that. Oh gosh. So
he gets called into the program
director's office. Said, Hey,
Phil, I want to talk to you
about your godfather update. And
he said, Oh, you like it? He
said, Oh yeah, it's funny.
Very well done. It's resonating
with people,
Phil, you need to drop that
today. I thought you liked it.
He said, Phil, I like it, but
there's nothing to do with he
said, Phil, you're in
Philadelphia. He said The
Godfather lives here, yeah, and
he does not find your bit funny,
right? And, oh, okay. Can I
ask one question? Did he at
least sound like that when he
called you?
Did you see the mini series?
Have you guys seen the mini
series on the making of The
Godfather? Oh. With the offer,
yes, yeah, with teller, what's
the milestone? Miles? Teller,
yeah, yeah, fascinating,
fascinating series, oh yeah,
amazing. Yes, maybe you've seen
that, but you know, kind of
along the lines of what you've
just described, where, you know,
the mob was, they're not pissed
off about it. Yeah, they were
not happy about how Italian
Americans were being depicted,
no, as the course, you know,
throughout the course of the
film. But ultimately, used did
use their muscle after they were
assured that that they kind of,
in one way, got script approval,
actually, yeah, but use their
muscle to help with
transportation strike and
workers and the you know, the
union guys on the set and all. I
mean, just a fascinating,
fascinating series. If you get a
chance to see it, I think you
would enjoy it. Yeah, I
have one last story about, well,
maybe last, my last story about
haunting. So we decided one
weekend, I think it might have
been Father's Day. There's a
really good place that we like
to get pizza out in Chattanooga.
It's called Lookout Mountain
winery. Who think it's called
that, and it basically, it's up
on a hill.
Yeah? I mean, I pass it when,
when I go do my games,
do yourself a favor. Yeah? Okay,
go visit. All right, got the
guys from Philly have to do
that, and he makes killer pizza.
The wine is wine, yeah, yeah,
it's, it's wine made on a
mountain. And the view is
beautiful. The pizza is
exquisite. It is as northeast
pizza as northeast gets. It's
wonderful. So we always, we had
a hankering for it, and he
thought, well, we spend a night
out, you know, in Chattanooga.
And looking around, we couldn't
find anything readily available
that was like under 500 bucks,
except these little like
bungalows that were near the the
old dam. I can't remember the
name of it, but it's, it's like
an old, you know, they put a dam
on top of an Indian burial site.
Now it's forever haunted, yeah,
and, you know, wouldn't you
know, we walk in there, my wife
being the way she is, and now my
kids, kind of carrying that
trait, walk right through the
door, and instantly they're
like, our dogs, you know, our
dogs were, like, hesitant to go
in and everything. I'm like,
Well, we already paid for it, so
here we are. But I swear by one
of my dogs. Like, as we settling
down, we put our luggage away
and everything, we're sitting
there just kind of, what's next?
Let's go. When do we want to go
get pizza? And we're sitting on
the couch discussing it, and our
the dog, who's the alpha at the
time, is in, like, looking into
the main bedroom where Courtney
and I are going to sleep, just
staring, not even moving. And as
he's he could see the ears are
perking up, and he's, like,
tracking something I'm going
court because what? Like, look
at link. And she goes, Oh, for
crying out loud, yeah. Well,
we'll spend White Night here,
but we get up and we leave
immediately, yeah, but I think
it was one of those scenarios
where I didn't feel it, but I
think everybody was unsettled.
There was something that it was
malevolent.
It does seem that women and
children are more perceptive of
these.
Yeah. Children's brains aren't
hardwired correct.
In fact, my grandfather died. It
was more the dog. I didn't hear
anything, but it was the day he
died, and the dog was in my
bedroom and was barking at the
window like he wouldn't leave.
He just stayed right at the
window, barking, and we noticed
the next day that a piece of the
pain had fallen out and crashed
on the ground. Very odd. So who
knows, who knows? But you know,
I will tell you this, that if
you don't like and subscribe to
circling the drain, we will
haunt you. Yes, all of us. All
of us will haunt
No, that wasn't Roger Dalton.
But anyway, do like and
subscribe to us. And Jay, if you
wouldn't mind telling folks how
they can find
certain Well, the most well,
dependable place to find us is
on the website that would be
circling the drain.net. Of
course, you can find us on
social media, our Facebook page,
if you're wondering how to find
it, go to just search circling
the drain Nashville on Facebook,
and voila, there we will be. Of
course, we're on Spotify video
as well as our YouTube channel,
like and subscribe. But all of
the audio podcast platforms, we
are there as well.
And be sure and visit certainly
the drain.net because it's a
wonderful, wonderful, it's
getting there. Oh, it's getting
it's getting there. Well, you
got work. You. Two guys have
great pictures up. Sponsorships
are available and sponsorships
are available, so get to work,
or we will haunt you and we'll
see you next time on circle in a
drain you.