We have haunted houses and haunted cars, and now Waylon Jennings claims Hank Williams is haunting him using a pair of cowboy boots. Stranger things have happened, I guess. After receiving the boots of the legendary Hey Good Lookin' country star, Jennings couldn't resist putting them on.
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There are some real suspicions about being haunted in the South. The soul of a person can attach itself to many a thing, causing havoc for all that engage. In this case, it's the very sharp-looking old cowboy boots received as a gift from Hank Williams Jr. These black and white, with red trim, boots decided to start a haunting vendetta against Jennings' car.
As Jennings recalls on the Ralph Emery Show all the way back in the 90s, "Hank Jr. gave them to me, and he came back in a couple of days and said, 'Did they fit?' And I said, 'How did you know I tried them on?' And he said, 'I knew they'd fit!' And so I got to wearing them every once in a while, 'cuz they were Hank's." Perhaps Jennings hoped the haunting would be more in the way of Hank Williams's musical inspiration. However, that turned out not to be the case.
On A Dark And Stormy Night, Williams Began Haunting Jennings
Of course, a true haunting would never begin in the middle of a sunny day. True to tradition, Hank Williams began his haunting as Waylon Jennings was in the studio at night, wearing the boots. Waylon recalls the event. "One night, I was recording, and it was raining really bad, and I had these boots on. And a guy that worked for me came in and said, 'Chief, it's real bad.' I said, 'What do you mean it's real bad?' He said, 'It's just real bad." Furthermore, he goes on. "'Well what is it?' You know? He said, 'You know that new Cadillac you just bought?' I said 'Yeah.' He said, 'There's a tree on it.'"
The tree had been brought down on top of Waylon Jennings's brand new car. The haunting had caused the storm and unleashed its ghoulish wrath on his brand-new vehicle. However, all was not lost.
"And Richie Albright, who played drums, said 'Get them boots off!' That's the first thing. And I went out there, and I said, 'Lookie there, the whole tree is all over that car.' I got out there, and I said 'Raise that branch.'" Finally, he recalls "There was one branch over it. And I said 'Raise up that branch,' and they did and I backed it out. And right to this day, there's not a scratch on that car."
It turns out this was just a warning to Jennings with an early haunting by Williams. He was simply letting him know of his powers from beyond the grave.
