Filling in for George, guest host Dave Schrader (email), welcomed frontman for rock bands Slipknot and Stone Sour, Corey Taylor, who discussed his brushes with the supernatural world and what his research has led him to believe about 'spirits.' A self-described atheist, Taylor said he explored a host of topics in his quest to understand paranormal events, including near death experiences, astral projection and the laws of thermodynamics. "Souls or spirits are made up of the energy that we all give off... through force of will our personalities, or who we are, is embossed onto this energy and then when the body dies that energy carries on with a little bit of that personality still intact," he explained. These intelligent bundles of energy can interact with the living but the exchange uses a spirit's power requiring it to refold with new energy sources, he added.
Taylor recounted seeing a spirit up close and personal when he was nine years old in an abandoned home that he and his friends called 'Cold House.' Upon entering the residence everyone's flashlight died and a dark figure in the shape of a large man appeared at the top of the stairs, he recalled. Taylor suggested that spirits do not necessarily attach themselves to a specific place as much as they connect to a person's energy. Spirits are attracted to the energy of a living soul like a magnet, so certain people are more susceptible to having spirits interact with them, he noted. Taylor remembered another time when he and some friends were hanging out on a back road in Iowa and noticed an unnerving dark shape standing in a field. It looked like a person and chased after the group even after they had all taken off in their vehicles, he reported. Taylor described it as a "living shadow" that appeared two-dimensional and partially transparent.
Taylor shared his strange experiences during a Slipknot recording session in the fabled "Houdini" Hollywood Hills mansion. According to Taylor, he awoke from sleep on his last night there to find someone standing at the foot of his bed pulling off his sheets and blanket before disappearing without a trace. He also said he got the chilly sensation of something walking through him in another part of the house. Taylor spoke about his investigation of a closed down school building in Farrar, Iowa, where visitors reported sightings of shadow people, voices and other odd occurrences. He said his group not only heard voices and singing there, but found a previously undamaged book had been torn apart and an opened file cabinet drawer slammed shut while they were out of the room. Taylor said he does not believe spirits in such places are evil as much as they are mischievous.
Open Lines followed for the remainder of the program.