The human mind fascinates me, especially how music can spark memories of seemingly unrelated events. Just the other day I was driving home from work when a Metallica song came on the radio and I immediately thought of Oslo, Norway, Norwegian friends and ghosts.

Strange combination I know. Well, here’s the story.

We were visiting Oslo as part of a travel trip I call our Nordic capitals tour. By this time, we had been in Scandinavia for about 10 days and we were way-past tired of pickled herring. Jonesing for a hamburger and fries, we dipped into the Hard Rock Cafe on Karl Johans Gate for an American fix. The rock group Metallica was playing a gig that night in Oslo, so the place was packed with long hair and black clothes, tattoos and piercings. It was good to be back among my people. The restaurant manager put the Metallica music on a loop so the whole place was rockin’ to the beat of pounding drums and screaming guitars.

So now when I hear Metallica, I think of Oslo. But there’s more 

Cherri and Knut Dohlen are Norwegian friends of my grandma-in-law who generously volunteered to show us around their city during our visit. Turns out that Cherri is a writer who authored a fun little book about the haunted place of Norway called Gray Zone Wanderers.

So obviously, Metallica = Oslo = Cherri and Knut = ghosts.

Makes perfect sense, right?

Rock on.