Keith Duffy has opened up about missing his Boyzone bandmate Stephen Gately, but says he still feels Stephen’s spirit when he is on stage.
Telling The Daily Star about he and Boyzlife bandmate Brian McFadden’s experiences with the supernatural during performances.
He explained; “Brian and I made a pact when we started every time during our shows we would dedicate part to Stephen.”
“I absolutely feel his presence and we joke about what he would think of us on stage.”
Keith also revealed that Stephen himself was very in tune with spirits, having encounters with the paranormal from a very young age.
The Dubliner confessed; “Stephen would feel spirits – it would upset him, the flat he grew up in he told us how a woman used to sit at the end of his bed, Easter eggs flew off the top of a wardrobe and a hairdryer that wasn’t plugged in went off.”
Stephen’s connection to the supernatural was so strong, that he and Keith once had an inexplicable experience with a ghost years ago.
Their ghost encounter happened one December when Stephen was staying with Keith after Christmas, and the lads went for a walk.
Keith explained; “I had golden retrievers and when I couldn’t sleep I’d take the dogs for a walk at night. There was a graveyard 1km from my old house and on St Stephen’s Day night 14-15 years ago we went out with the dogs.”
He continued; “Stephen said, ‘Duster, what are you bringing me here for?’. I put my arm around him as he was scared.”
But when they decided to head back to the house, they discover a supernatural figure in a neighbour’s garden.
Keith recalled; “On the way back I saw my neighbour Malachy doing something in his bush but when he turned around it wasn’t him, it was a ghost – and blew over us.”
“Stephen said, ‘Tell me you saw that?!’ and I told him I did, I kept saying, ‘There but for the grace of God go I’ until he calmed down.”
Stephen tragically passed away very suddenly in Spain in 2009, and his untimely passing affected the entire nation, with thousands taking to the streets to pay their respects to the singer.
