The "Merle" to which he refers is no other than Grammy-winner and Country Music Hall of Famer Merle Haggard.
"After all these years, I finally saw him in concert on June 2 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank," he says. "I read about it in the Asbury Park Press and got tickets. I don't really get out, being with my mother, but I was like, 'Wow, Merle's playing!' "
McLaughlin was so close, he had his arms on the stage.
"I figured if I move to the right side, I can get a better shot of Merle."
That's when he started snapping his camera, "an old piece of garbage — I got it from my friend. An old Pentax with a zoom lens. I just kept snapping and snapping." — but things got interesting when he got his photos developed.
McLaughlin noticed someone strange in one of the photos. There is a man standing next to — almost overlapping — Merle's body.
"The guy was never onstage," McLaughlin claims. "Everyone who saw it was kind of puzzled. It sounds a little far-fetched ... the picture looks like the guy is wearing the same outfit as Merle."
The Count Basie Theatre, which has been around for almost 100 years, has long been rumored to house a friendly ghost or two.
Read Full Story: Asbury Park Press
