This Classic Mars Volta Album Was Haunted From the Start

It's no surprise that The Mars Volta from El Paso, Texas is one of the most eclectic & talented groups to come out of the Sun City. They have written some of the trippiest songs too & one of the craziest stories came in the late 2000s when writing for their album "Beldam in Goliath". The story this album was haunted during its recording process.

Why is Beldam in Goliath considered to be haunted?

Yes you heard that right; this album is considered to be haunted. And it all started in 2006 when guitarist Omar-Rodriguez Lopez when to Jerusalem & bought a ouija board & brought it back to the States with them.

Already this is a very bad idea given the stories we've heard involving ouija boards & the paranormal activities. that would follow. But the band did & they would name the board "The Soothsayer".

In a 2008 interview with MP3, the band stated that they would use the board as inspiration for making of the album. Certain lyrics & names were chosen from the board like "Goliath", but then the board starting asking to trade places with a vessel. After that they stopped messing with the board, but the board...was not done messing with THEM.

Several things would happen in the studio;

• Notes & files of the recordings would be deleted from the computers they were working on,
• The original engineer had a nervous breakdown while making the album & quit,
• Omar's home studio in New York. would end up being flood...TWICE. Not to mention the power outages the studio suffered afterwards.

And then there were the health issues that affected lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala; Cedric would end up needing to get surgery on his food; which forced him to relearn how to walk again. And not to mention that their drummer, Blake Flemming, quit the band mid-tour.

Here's the good news for Beldam in Goliath

Despite ALL the chaos the band experienced, things WOULD get better. After Omar broke the ouija board in half & buried it, things started to calm down. Thomas Pridgen would join the band as their drummer during the recording & they would get the help from Robert Carranza, Lars Stalfors & Isaiah Abolin as the engineers. The band would be able to release Bedlam in Goliath on January 29, 2008.

And if that wasn't enough, the album would include one of the most successful singles to date, "Wax Simulacra".

This song that would not only be nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance during the 2009 Grammys, it would WIN. The Mars Volta would win the category by beating Judas Priest's "Visions", Rob Zombie's "The Lords of Salem", Motley Crue's "Saints of Los Angeles" & Disturbed's "Inside the Fire". So far it remains the bands sole Grammy nomination (and win).

Maybe the spirits wanted to cut the band some slack & reward them for their perservence before finally saying goodbye...

Now of course it's impossible to prove that this album was haunted because of the ouija board; but I will say... I'm not crazy enough to find out myself. So I'll just keep enjoying the album and ignore any spirits that come out of my speakers.

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