The first I heard about a haunted CD was with Nirvana’s Nevermind album. You put the CD in the CD player and it mostly played normally. That is until the 12th and final track. Sure it played that 4 minute song normally. However the counter for time kept going long after the song had stopped. From 4 minutes to around 13:52 it played the song of silence.
Then at 13:52 it started playing what can only be described as a heavy experimental song. This goes on for another 6 minutes or so.
I just imagine that some people just let Nevermind play, thought it was done, and then about 9 minutes later are shocked awake again. “Who is in my house?” they might think. “Where is that thrash metal coming from?” Well they have 6 minutes to figure it out.
Later came Sarah McLachlan with her Fumbling Towards Ecstasy album. Again the final track ends but the time counter keeps going in silence. There’s a few seconds of experimental music then a rest. Finally a different version of the single Possession comes on with just Sarah and the piano.
The album that got me scared for a few minutes was Undertow by Tool. When you play the tenth and final track, Disgustipated, the track numbers go from 10 to 11 to 12 to 13, etc. They just count upwards to 69.
The first time it happened to me I thought my CD player had broken and was just counting upward incorrectly. I pressed buttons frantically but nothing seemed to help. I didn’t press power. My CD player didn’t have a total number of tracks on it which would have given the trick away.
Finally the song comes on at track 69. But it is just a clicking sound every few seconds for a minute. Now I thought my CD player was permanently broke and this clicking sound was the proof. Eventually after a minute, the real song began and I realized that Tool was using tools because they are tools! Yes I am Disgustipated at them.
Cracker was a superstitious band. On their album Kerosene Hat, they would have had 13 tracks. Instead they had songs 13 and 14 be just empty tracks. The thirteenth song is number 15. The total number of songs given is 99. And past the 15th song, each track is silent for three seconds then advances to the next track. Up until track 69. Oh my. I’ve had this CD for decades and never realized this track was on it!
Already this post is a success. The song sounds like it is called Eurotrash Girl. It’s 8 minutes long. After this, the tracks went for 3 seconds of silence till number 88. This is a 6 minute song that I can’t figure out what it might be called. The next tracks go by in silence. Then track 99 is just a one and a half minute throwaway.
These were all albums from 1991 to 1993. But Coldplay decided to revive this strategy a few years ago with their album Everyday Life. I guess they decided that they really wanted 24 tracks for this album, for each hour of the day, although they just had 16 songs. So in the middle, they put 8 songs that were only a few seconds. I think 4 songs divide the one chiming of Big Ben. Like Cracker, the other four songs are 3 seconds of silence.
And that my friends is what a haunted CD is like. If you know of anymore, please inform me about them.
