Stairway to Hell: The Ritual That Destroyed Led Zeppelin
Jimmy Page's Dangerous Game with Demons
Growing up in the middle of nowhere USA, my parents would crack open a few beers and light up a joint when the mood struck. Thatâs when the Led Zeppelin records came out. Five-year-old me sat on the carpet, impressed by the wild guitar riffs but agitated by the blues-soaked wailing. (Sesame Street was more my thing at that age.)
Years later, stuck in a small town perpetually frozen thirty years in the past, I heard Zeppelin a dozen times a day on local radio. You canât escape âKashmirâ and âStairway to Heavenâ when youâre surrounded by people who think 1975 was last week. Eventually something strange happened. Stockholm syndrome by FM radio.
I started to like it.
What I didnât know then, what none of us knew, was that Jimmy Page wasnât just playing music. According to some researchers and longtime fans, he was performing rituals. On stage. In the studio. At his home on the shores of Loch Ness where Aleister Crowley once tried to summon demons.
And then people started dying.
