Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple/Rainbow) became a mystic musician not only for his look, clothes and playing. But also for his your introverted personality. In an interview with The Guardian back in 2017 the guitarist talked about ghosts and a haunted clock he owns.
When Ritchie Blackmore talked about ghosts and a haunted clock he owns:
The Guardian journalist Michael Hann visited Blackmore’s house basement that has a bar in it, in Long Island at the time. Ex-Deep Purple guitarist said when they were going downstairs that he would notice “that vibe of being haunted”.
Blackmore presented a clock in the bar that was gift from a friend and is haunted, saying: “It only chimes when it’s in agreement with something. Or when we’re talking on a frequency the clock understands. It’s a very strange thing. And if we ever talk about religious things, it gets excited and it starts going off.”
The guitarist also said he has a theory that ghosts are attracted to religious people and symbols:
“I don’t know if that taunts the ghost, or sets off an energy that excites them. I was watching a show last night. They were investigating this house and sure enough there were crucifixes and religious pictures all over the place. It’s strange they hadn’t figured that one out and thought it might have been causing ghostly activity.”
“I find it a fascinating subject. Because we’re all going to end up going somewhere and it would be nice to know if it was a nice place.”
Blackmore
Shortly after he was born, Ritchie moved from Weston-Super-Mare to Heston, Middlesex, then two years old. His father bought him his first guitar in 1955, when he was 10, and gave him some classical guitar lessons. Interestingly, at the beginning Ritchie was not very talented and took a long time to learn the instrument. Until, at 13, his father, already without patience, said that he would break his guitar if he did not progress, otherwise he would be seriously punished.
The first band that Ritchie played, while still very young, was the 2Is Coffe Bar Junior Skiffle Group, playing acoustic guitar. But gained recognition (only in England) when between 1962-1967 he accompanied larger groups such as the Savages (who had Screaming in his cast) Lord Sutch, who brought Ritchie’s first recorded solo, in a cover by Johnny Burnett called “Train Kept A Rollin”), Heinz & The Wild Boys, The Outlaws, and Neil Christian’s Crusaders.
Also, Blackmore was considered the 50th best guitarist of all time by the American magazine Rolling Stone.