Last November The Ghost Inside were involved in a horrific bus accident which resulted in the death of the drivers of both vehicles and injured multiple members of the band. Now bassist Jim Riley has recounted the accident in a lengthy, heartfelt Instagram post.
Riley posted a picture of their mangled tour bus and captioned it with poignant words looking back on 19th November 2015, a day he’s labelled “a living nightmare”.
“I checked to make sure I wasn’t impaled by anything and got myself out that back window,” he wrote.
“I was the first person out of the bus and the first to see the scene.”
He then called the next two hours “a blur” as he searched for his friends and also found that the two drivers had lost their lives. Riley escaped the bus relatively unharmed while drummer Tkaczyk’s leg had to be amputated, vocalist Jonathan Vigil was diagnosed with a bone infection and guitarist Zach Johnson lost three of his toes.
Calling himself the “tour dad; the guy that fixes what breaks and looks after our little family,” he wrote, “I would trade my body for theirs in a heartbeat.”
“But they are teaching me the true meaning of strength every day. In the face of countless doctors, complications, and a totally unexpected new life, they remain unbroken.”
He ended the post with, “Hey death, get fucked.”
The Ghost Inside have shown incredible courage and strength since the accident with Tkaczyk returning to the drum kit less than six months after losing his leg. They have also announced that they will return to the stage for the Vans Warped tour in 2017, if not before.
The band are still recovering and you can help out with the costs of their recovery by donating to their gofundme page.
