Joe Meek was a music producer at the time that Buddy Holly (pictured) was a world-famous singer. The producer was very much into the occult and especially tarot card readings. So, when Meek received a particularly ominous reading, he was convinced that Holly would die on February 3, 1958.
Meek claimed that he tried unsuccessfully to contact the singer on numerous occasions to warn him. When he finally did reach him, he relayed the distressing premonition but claimed that he received no real reaction from Holly. The fact that Meek was known to be eccentric probably didn’t help matters much. February 3 went off without a hitch and Meek most likely breathed a sigh of relief while Holly was too busy touring to notice the date.
Strangely enough, however, a year later Holly was on his way to Minnesota with the Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens, when their light aircraft crashed in a cornfield, killing them all. The date was February 3. Turns out Meek’s premonition came an entire year early.
Things didn’t work out for Meek, either. After being sued by a composer for “stealing” a melody to create his biggest hit, Meek started suffering from depression. The resulting lawsuit dragged on and money was starting to dry up. Eventually, Meek seemingly lost it and shot his landlady to death before committing suicide. Very sadly, the court ruled in Meek’s favor a few days after the tragedy.
