THE JOHNNY THUNDERS DEATH ROOM UPDATE ~ THE REVEAL: 

LOVE SURVIVES JOHNNY AND SABEL SAY “HELLO” FROM THE OTHER SIDE

By Alyne A. Pustanio 

Johnny Thunders with Sabel (sometimes spelled Sable) Starr nee' Shields

Three Paranormal Researchers Put Their Arms Around A Memory

On Friday night, September 24^th, two members of the Louisiana State Paranormal Research Society and I spent the night in the infamous Johnny Thunders Death Room to investigate the truth behind the rumors of ghostly activity.

Previous guests had reported cold spots, whispers, shadows, knocks, and even the feeling of an unseen presence sitting on the bed – all suggesting that Johnny still lingered in the room where he died.

Certainly, we went to Johnny’s room attempting to contact him; but we also had another goal in mind.  In April 2009 the lovely Sabel Starr, once the diva of the L.A. “Baby Groupies” in the halcyon days of the early 70’s, and who had left that scene for her relationship with Johnny Thunders, succumbed to brain cancer in her Nevada home. 

None of us die-hard romantics, we were nonetheless hoping that maybe we might find proof that “love never dies” and, just possibly, Johnny and Sabel had found each other on “the other side.”

We were not disappointed.

---  THE VOICE CLIP “THUNDERS_SABEL_HELLO” HERE

Room 37 of the St. Peter House Hotel is directly off the street corner, through a set of French doors.  After checking in, we went to the room to unload our bags, and I can say that we had no preconceived notions of what we might find.  Nor were we in a particularly anticipatory mood having just been held up by – of all things – Richard Simmons leading a parade of people down Dauphine Street, holding up traffic and “sweating” to the late September New Orleans heat and humidity.

But as we opened the door to Johnny’s death room, an ominous blast of cold air swept over us – extra cold, one might say, and taking us completely unawares.  All of us took a step back because the air had an unwholesome feel about it, a heaviness which often indicates the presence of (at the very least) some kind of psychic energy.

The harsh light of a dated chandelier flooded the bare, small room.  A full sized bed with an ornate, oversized (and dangerously leaning…) headboard dominated the room.  Curtains blocked the window where outside the shutters, directly over the sidewalk, were sealed tight.  A single bedside table with a lamp that didn’t work, a beaten-up Queen Anne style dresser with a dated TV, an old vinyl chair with the springs gone and the bottom lining hanging out, a dated “Princess” style phone – looking around we were keenly aware that not a whole lot has changed in the room since the day they took Johnny out in a bag.

The bathroom – stark white and chilled – showed some signs of design updating, if it might be called that, but it was small and crapped, with a low ceiling and a desolate feeling about it.  It just felt like a corner better off avoided.

We had barely settled in and were preparing for a radio broadcast with host Michael Vara on Late Night in the Midlands later that night, when activity began to occur.  A Coke can placed on the bedside table moved at least 6 inches on its own, as my hand went to pick up the can.  We immediately considered that the condensation on the can, coupled with the marble surface of the table, had caused the can to slide inward toward the table lamp, probably assisted by an uneven floor.  However, this did not prove to be the case.  Neither the floor nor the table were uneven or on an angle, and although there was a wet spot on the table caused by the Coke can, the table’s marble surface was coarse and rough, with a texture like sandpaper, although it looked entirely smooth.  Attempts to push the can along on this surface were unsuccessful; it was impossible for the can to have slid.  Something, an unseen hand, perhaps, had moved the Coke can away from my grip.

As we waited for our scheduled appearance on Late Night, we moved about the room taking random photos, and I pulled up one of Johnny’s music videos – “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory” – and let it play, asking Johnny to come forward.  Meanwhile, LSPR Society founder Bernadine LeBlanc pulled up the Late Night website so we could track the show.  We were not surprised to find that, of all nights, the night we were supposed to be on, Michael Vara and his team were having technical problems; this meant we had to be pushed back to a later time slot if we wanted to go on.

Sitting in the room, playing Johnny’s music, hearing his voice in the room where he died, the feeling was somber and poignant.  Quietly, we encouraged Johnny to speak to us or show himself, and with equal respect we started calling out to Sabel Starr, asking her that if she were with Johnny to please come forward.  The digital recorder was rolling and we had no idea what we were capturing, if anything at all.

--- THE VOICE CLIP As his music plays, Thunders tells the team, … that’s what I needed.”

Our appearance on the Late Night show had been pushed back to Midnight central time which is significant because authorities had placed Thunders’ time of death somewhere between Midnight and 1 a.m.  As the Midnight hour neared we received calls on our cell phones and were informed by the Late Night staff that repeated calls to the front desk and requests to connect to the phone in the room were made, but even though we were sitting with a hand literally on the phone not a single call came through.  One attempt was even live on the air and the connection still failed.

On Friday night, September 24^th, members of the Louisiana State Paranormal Research Society and Alyne Pustanio spent the night in the Johnny Thunders Death Room to investigate the truth behind the rumors of ghostly activity.

And for part of the night you can join us there LIVE with host Michael Vara on his popular internet radio broadcast “Late Night in the Midlands”!! listen to the archived show here now MP3 Format Sound download. Alyne Pustanio appears on the second half of the show.

Ultimately, however, we connected via cell and the on-air interview went forward unhindered but, significantly, took up most of the hour during which Johnny had expired in the room all those years ago.  Once the broadcast was complete, we gave our full attention to documenting activity in the room.  We went dark and asked Johnny and Sabel to join us once again.

 “JOHNNY AND SABEL ON TV”

Bernadine LeBlanc took out the “Frank’s Box,” the radio scanning gizmo which annoys me no end, but admittedly it works.  I confessed out loud that I had always wanted to meet Sabel and was sorry that I never had.  I asked her if she was present and would like to say something.  At that moment we got a very definite, female voice saying, “Hello!”  We then asked, “Johnny, are you still here?” to which we got a very clear, “Yep.”

--- VOICE CLIP “THUNDERS_YEP” HERE

Asking if she and Johnny were together, Sabel made this reply:

--- “THUNDERS_SABEL_YES” HERE

Photographic evidence (a video camera was not in use that night) shows a significant number of prominent orbs in several photos and the movement of a trigger object (see series below), and a request made late in the night for Johnny to knock and indicate his presence got the following response (note: profanity):

--- THE VOICE CLIP “KNOCKING NOISE”

We had been delighted to find evidence that Sabel had found Johnny in death and that they had reunited, which could certainly help his spirit to move on.  However, two things that came out in the later evidence review left us wondering whether Johnny was even alone in the room before we called Sabel to join him.

Recalling the ominous feeling that flowed from the room with the cold air when we first opened the door earlier that night, we found the image and the strange EVP “growl” that follow to be unsettling evidence of “something” lingering in the room, a presence there, perhaps with Johnny before our arrival, and (if Johnny is able to leave with Sabel, as we sincerely hope) very likely still there.  Perhaps this is the force, the energy left from dying in an addicted state and possibly murdered, that will remain to haunt the room forever?

Only future visitors to Room 37 will be able to let us know …

--- THE VOICE CLIP “GROWL” HERE

Article and associated content Copyright © 2010 by Alyne A. Pustanio.  Evidence Copyright © 2010 Louisiana State Paranormal Research Society.  No portion of the material appearing on this website may be reproduced without written permission of the author and owner(s).

Excerpt below from wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Thunders

Johnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. (July 15, 1952 - April 23, 1991), was an American protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter. He came to prominence in the early '70s as a member of the New York Dolls. He later played with The Heartbreakers and as a solo artist.

Many rumors surround Thunders' death at the St. Peter House in New Orleans, Louisiana in April 1991. He apparently died of drug-related causes, but it has been speculated that it was the result of foul play. According to the autobiography Poison Heart: Surviving the Ramones, Dee Dee Ramone took a call in New York the next day from Stevie Klasson, Johnny's rhythm guitar player. "They told me that Johnny had gotten mixed up with some bastards... who ripped him off for his methadone supply. They had given him LSD and then murdered him. He had gotten a pretty large supply of methadone in England, so he could travel and stay away from those creeps - the drug dealers, Thunders imitators, and losers like that."

What is known for certain is that Johnny's room (no. 37) was ransacked and most of his possessions were missing (passport, makeup, clothes). Rigor mortis had set in with his body positioned in an unnatural state, described by eyewitnesses as "like a pretzel", underneath a coffee table. Friends and acquaintances acknowledge he had not been using heroin for some time, relying on his methadone prescriptions. The police did not open a criminal investigation.

Singer Willy DeVille, who lived next door to the hotel in which Thunders died, described his death this way:

I don't know how the word got out that I lived next door, but all of a sudden the phone started ringing and ringing. Rolling Stone was calling, the Village Voice called, his family called, and then his guitar player called. I felt bad for all of them. It was a tragic end, and I mean, he went out in a blaze of glory, ha ha ha, so I thought I might as well make it look real good, you know, out of respect, so I just told everybody that when Johnny died he was laying down on the floor with his guitar in his hands. I made that up.

When he came out of the St. Peter's Guest House, rigor mortis had set in to such an extent that his body was in a U shape. When you're laying on the floor in a fetal position, doubled over - well, when the body bag came out, it was in a U. It was pretty awful."

An autopsy was conducted by the New Orleans coroner, but served only to compound the mysteries. According to Thunders' biographer Nina Antonia as posted on the Jungle Records web site, the level of drugs found in his system was not fatal. And according to the book "Rock Bottom: Dark Moments in Music Babylon" by Pamela Des Barres who interviewed Thunders' sister Marion, the autopsy confirmed evidence of advanced leukemia, which would explain the decline in Thunders' appearance in the final year of his life. This also sheds light on the interview in Lech Kowalski's documentary "Born To Lose: The Last Rock and Roll Movie", where Thunders' sister Mary-Ann's husband says, "Only Johnny knew how sick he really was."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Thunders

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