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Spooky moments with a legend
A former employee reflects
Leon Russell's ghosts were benevolent, said a man who recorded with him. "They weren't scary. They were just hanging out." Courtesy
By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer
Published: 11/1/2009 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 11/1/2009 5:31 AM
It'd all make for a great song — one that involves spectres that put a chill down a man's spine, and others that simply love Leon Russell's music.
John LeMay, Russell's sound engineer from the summer of 1971 to the summer of 1974, has a handful of spook stories to tell. Some involve Russell's now-demolished Tulsa mansion/recording studio at 1151 E. 24th Place. But the bulk of the paranormal activity, as LeMay tells it, occurred at Russell's property at Grand Lake, which included three houses that sit low to the water and a separate recording studio up on a hill.
Today, the lake property is owned by Tulsa chiropractor Rick Huskey, who said he doesn't believe the property is haunted. However, Huskey said, the wife of a man who works on his air conditioning and heating equipment, "won't even come on the property, because she says it's haunted."
Russell's representatives were contacted for this story but did not immediately reply to an interview request. And, in case you're wondering, LeMay, who is 59 and lives in Nebraska now, said he did not drink or use drugs at the time of these paranormal events.
In 1974, Russell and company recorded all night, then slept during the day, LeMay said. So, one afternoon, LeMay and his wife were taking a nap on the third floor of Russell's home.
Then, all of a sudden, the couple woke to flames licking at their pile of clothes, which were at the end of their bed.
Two hours later, the same thing happened to another pile of clothes.
LeMay
said the spontaneous fires "happened several other times to other folks who lived there."
Down in Russell's basement recording studio, LeMay said, "There was a presence there that felt, to us, like it was malevolent. It would make you nauseous. You'd walk in the room, and you'd feel this ice-cold fear go through your body. You'd feel nauseous, like all you wanted to do was get out of there as fast as you could."
LeMay said he and others felt the presence but did not mention it to Russell.
"I actually don't know if (Russell) ever knew about it," LeMay said.
As for Russell's lake property in Disney, LeMay said he encountered both spectrums of ghostly behavior.
"These people, who looked like American Indians, would walk through the control room, only they were translucent," LeMay said. "You could see right through them. This was usually during times when the band was rehearsing to get ready to go on the road — a lot of excitement, a lot of energy, a lot of stuff going on.
"They weren't scary," LeMay continued. "They were just hanging out, I guess, enjoying the rehearsal. That happened at least three times that I remember.
"I used to have pictures, I may still have them, that I shot through the control room glass. You could see their image going across the glass."
During the construction of Russell's lake property, LeMay said, he talked to the contractor about the land's origins. "The contractor had mentioned to me that while it was being built, that he thought there were Indian burial grounds somewhere on that property."
Although there were spirits that loved Russell's music, according to LeMay, they weren't so friendly to some guests. For instance, the great Bob Seger.
"They took a distinct disliking to him," LeMay said.
One night, LeMay said, musicians recording at the lake studio entered his room screaming and then said, "There's something awful happening to us in this house!"
LeMay recalled of that night, "I walked over to the house to see what the heck was going on, and I walked through the door, and there was the ice-cold (feeling), but more amusing to me was the sounds of chains rattling and doors slamming. You could watch the doors slam. It was right out of a cheap Hollywood science-fiction film. That only happened to people, for whatever reason, the spirit didn't like.
"If they liked you, you had one of the best sessions you'd had in your life."
Sometimes, LeMay said, there were perks to being on good terms with the spirits.
"I could leave anytime I wanted to, and the gates would open all by themselves," he said. "These were not electric gates. They would swing open. They were very big and very heavy. When I would go through them on the other side, they'd close behind me.
"It scared the heck out of my wife. She said, 'How did you do that?' I said, 'I didn't do that. It always happens.' "
When LeMay stopped working with Russell, the spirits were, well, nonplussed.
"When I quit Leon, I went up to the lake studio to pick up my things and leave," LeMay said. "The gates were open as I approached them, but they slammed shut and wouldn't let me out. It was very bizarre. They were very unhappy I was leaving."
LeMay, on the invitation of Huskey, plans to visit the lake house sometime in the spring. Perhaps the spirits will welcome him back home with open gates.
Matt Gleason 581-8473
matt.gleason@tulsaworld.com
By MATT GLEASON World Scene Writer
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