The guitarist who became obsessed with the devil

Jimmy Page, the electric guitar genius and one of the legendary members of Led Zeppelin, was not only an expert in music, but he was also completely attracted to the occult world, to the point where he bought houses where dark rituals had been performed and resulted in attracting a curse that allegedly killed the band.

He became obsessed with everything that sounded like black magic

Jimmy Page was a wizard on the guitar; with a violin bow he delighted his audience with impressive solos. But he didn’t want to be satisfied with that alone, he wanted to go further and delve into the secrets of black magic. He found himself drawn to the teachings of Aleister Crowley, a declared master of goetia and the invocation of demons.

In 1971, Led Zeppelin became one of the main rock bands in the world and it was in that year when Page bought nothing more and nothing less than the famous and gloomy mansion of Boleskin House, near Loch Ness, which formerly belonged to Crowley and in which they performed all kinds of ceremonies of their secret society called “Astrum Argentum”.

The haunted house of demons

But long before, Crowley had selected the Boleskin House as the main point for his sect. It is said that, from so many demons and entities invoked in that place, since then it became a cursed place. Several tried to live there after Jimmy Page, but they could not, and even a strange fire seriously affected it.

They all became alcoholics, crazy, some committed suicide and it was because, they say, of a bad ritual that left the doors of the underworld open.

Because of all these legends and the obsession with Crowley, the Led Zeppelin guitarist selected this house, besides the fact that it has subway tunnels that connect to the cemetery of the nearby village, called Foyers. It was built on the ruins of a 17th century chapel, which also ended in a conflagration, but with all the parishioners inside.

At the end of the 60’s, Page was absorbed in the mysteries of black magic and Crowley’s books, to the point that the band’s songs began to revolve around that theme. It was in that haunted house that they composed and recorded the fabulous song “Stairway to heaven”.

Page also opened an esoteric bookstore which he called “The Equinox”, just like the magazine published by the controversial Aleister. He dedicated his days and nights to the study of this facet of occultism and adapting it to his musical compositions. Satanism was his outlook on life, but apparently his peers did not share it completely.

For example, Jhon Paul Jones, the drummer, or the vocalist Robert Plant himself, told Page several times that they did not agree with involving the band fully in that secret and necromantic cult.  Even so, songs like “So Mote it Be”, “Black Dog” and “Do What Thou Wilt” were recorded, among others, in which the message of those tenebrous rites was impregnated. Those names, as they are, are mentioned by Crowley as words of power.

Rumors grew and multiplied everywhere, about the alleged Satanist ceremonies, based on group coitus with the fans, full of drugs and black mysticism in that Boleskin House. Over time, several testimonies emerged, such as that of Malcolm Dent, a guy who claims to have taken care of the house for several months to Page and attests to have witnessed paranormal phenomena and sinister meetings in the place.

The curse that ended with Led Zeppelin

In 1971, Jimmy teamed up with Kenneth Anger, another of Aleister Crowley’s staunchest followers. Both traveled for years, to different nations looking for the trace of their so adored master of the darkness.

Such was their obsession that they paid large sums for the occultist’s clothes. It got to the point where Page came to believe, at times, that he was Crowley himself. However, there was an altercation between these two adepts and Page decided to throw Kennet out of the house. Then, by way of revenge, this one cursed Jimmy and the whole band.

The following week, the things for Led Zeppelin began to go from bad to worse, from serious incidents in their concerts, to a terrible automobile accident that Robert Plant suffered along with his wife and children. They almost died in the unfortunate event. One of Plant’s sons died a year and a half later, due to an illness that the doctors could not define.

At that moment Page decided not to attend that funeral, but to stay consuming heroin, substance to which he became addicted. The group had already fallen into disgrace. In 1978, one of the band’s main collaborators, Sandy Denny, tragically lost her life. But not to mention the shocking death of John Bonham, the drummer, who choked to death on his own vomit.