One of metal’s most infamous and horrifying tales has to be Mayhem vocalist Per “Dead” Ohlin’s suicide in 1991. As the story goes, members of Mayhem (including guitarist Euronymous) supposedly collected pieces of Dead’s skull and sent it to fellow black metal musicians as a sign of respect. Too disturbing to believe, right? Well according to Marduk guitarist Morgan “Evil” Steinmeyer Håkansson, he was one of the recipients.
In an interview with Loudwire, Håkansson revealed that he still has a piece of Dead’s skull, as well as lead fragments from the bullet which killed the singer and a piece of his brain matter, saying:
“I got it way back, right after he died. Back in those days they [Mayhem] were living in a house and didn’t have the best financial aspects, so they didn’t even have a telephone. So I remember I was celebrating New Year’s in 1991 with Dead back home in Sweden. Then he got back, he wrote one letter [to me], then someone told me he’s killed himself.
So I wrote a letter [to Mayhem] and then I got the reply back from the guitar player [Euronymous] — “Well he just shot himself and here’s a piece of his skull.” It was a shotgun, you know? So [he also sent me] two pieces of the lead and a piece of the wet brain. I’ve still got it. I keep it well protected.”
Håkansson also confirmed that a few “former comrades of Dead” also received said…tokens. Talk about one hell of a brutal collectors’ item.
