{"id":148934,"date":"2026-04-02T18:04:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/?p=148934"},"modified":"2026-04-02T18:04:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T18:04:49","slug":"ryan-gosling-explains-his-creepy-band-haunted-houses-and-why-wikipedia-is-a-dirty-liar-about-baby-goose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/02\/ryan-gosling-explains-his-creepy-band-haunted-houses-and-why-wikipedia-is-a-dirty-liar-about-baby-goose\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Gosling Explains His Creepy Band, Haunted Houses, and Why Wikipedia is a Dirty Liar About \u2018Baby Goose\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By \u201cThe Showbizztoday Ghost Writer\u201d<\/strong>
Published 2 minutes ago \u2014 because Hollywood news waits for no one, especially not the undead<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you walked past a dusty, abandoned church in Los Angeles back in 2009 and heard a strange choir of children singing about werewolves while a man who looks exactly like Ken from Barbie<\/em> played a broken piano, don\u2019t call an exorcist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was just\u00a0Ryan Gosling<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and his weird gothic folk duo,\u00a0Dead Man\u2019s Bones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, the same Ryan Gosling who made everyone cry in The Notebook<\/em>, drive angrily in Drive<\/em>, and laugh at him eating cereal in La La Land<\/em> \u2014 that guy once had a full-blown musical obsession with ghosts, graveyards, and Disney\u2019s Haunted Mansion<\/em> ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And he just sat down with\u00a0NME<\/em>\u00a0to explain the whole glorious, spooky mess. So naturally, we here at\u00a0Showbizztoday<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0decided to translate it for normal humans who have never recorded an album with a children\u2019s choir while wearing a skeleton costume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First: Who the Hell is Hail Mary?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before we get to the ghosts, let\u2019s address the question nobody asked but we\u2019re going to answer anyway: Who the hell is Hail Mary?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turns out, that\u2019s the name of Ryan Gosling\u2019s\u00a0new sci-fi movie<\/strong>,\u00a0Project Hail Mary<\/a><\/em>. It\u2019s based on a book by Andy Weir (the same guy who wrote\u00a0The Martian<\/em>, where Matt Damon grew potatoes in his own poop). In the film, Gosling plays a lonely astronaut who wakes up with amnesia in a distant galaxy and has to save humanity. So basically,\u00a0Cast Away<\/em>\u00a0but in space, with less Wilson and more existential dread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But forget that for a second. Because the real story here is much weirder and much more wonderful: Ryan Gosling\u2019s haunted childhood, his fake stage name, and the time he tried to make a musical about monster love.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy Mom Thought Our House Was Haunted, So We Moved\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start at the beginning. Ryan Gosling didn\u2019t just wake up one day and decide to form a spooky band. No, this trauma was baked in from childhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he told NME<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cI don\u2019t believe this is true but my mum felt like our house was haunted when I was younger, so we moved because of that. She also liked to hang out in graveyards, read the tombstones and do the genealogy of those names. I hung out in those graveyards with her sometimes. All of that created a fear of the undead.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s pause here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan Gosling\u2019s mom:<\/strong> \u201cHoney, this house is haunted. Let\u2019s move.\u201d
Young Ryan:<\/strong> \u201cOkay, Mom. Where are we going?\u201d
Ryan\u2019s Mom:<\/strong> \u201cTo the graveyard! It\u2019s family reading time!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most kids get bedtime stories. Ryan Gosling got cemetery field trips<\/strong> and a lifelong phobia of zombies. Honestly? It explains everything<\/em>. The intense stare. The quiet vibe. The fact that he once broke up a fight between two men on a New York street by calmly saying, \u201cWhat are you doing?\u201d That is the energy of a man who spent his formative years reading dead people\u2019s grocery lists off tombstones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Disney Made Death Look Fun<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re a kid terrified of the undead, the last place you want to go is a ride about ghosts. But Gosling \u2014 who, by the way, was a Mouseketeer<\/em> on The Mickey Mouse Club<\/em> alongside Britney Spears<\/strong> and Justin Timberlake<\/strong> (imagine that lunch table) \u2014 went on the Haunted Mansion<\/em> ride at age 12.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And instead of being traumatized, he had a revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cIt presented [death] like: \u2018Well, maybe it\u2019s not so bad or scary. Maybe it\u2019s fun.\u2019 So it just clicked for me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s right. Disney\u2019s singing ghosts and dancing skeletons cured<\/em> Ryan Gosling\u2019s fear of death. Not therapy. Not medication. A ride where ghostly organ players sing \u201cGrim Grinning Ghosts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From that moment on, Gosling was hooked on \u201cscary but fun.\u201d He name-dropped The Skeleton Dance<\/em> (1929) and The Old Mill<\/em> (1937) as early influences. Yes, Ryan Gosling has the taste in cartoons of your goth great-aunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Birth of Dead Man\u2019s Bones (Or: How to Make a Band the Hard Way)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to 2007-ish. Gosling meets Zach Shields<\/strong> (a writer and fellow spooky-obsessed weirdo). They bond over one thing: the Haunted Mansion ride<\/strong>. Not music. Not movies. A Disneyland ride with holographic ghosts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most friendships start over sports or beer. These two started over a fake s\u00e9ance in an elevator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They decide to make a \u201cmonster-ghost-love-story musical\u201d<\/strong> for the stage. But it was going to cost \u201ca bajillion dollars\u201d (my words, not his), so they scrapped the play and kept the songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, Dead Man\u2019s Bones<\/strong> was born. A band where the two core members insisted on playing every instrument themselves<\/strong> \u2014 even the ones they had no idea how to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cThe goal was to figure it out. There was a quality to [that approach] that we liked, but I\u2019m sure we had people come in and help make [the album] actually work.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Translation: \u201cWe sounded like garbage at first, but it was charming garbage, and then we hired pros to fix it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Secret Sauce: A Children\u2019s Choir Founded by Flea from RHCP<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now here\u2019s where it gets truly unhinged<\/strong> in the best way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make the album sound appropriately creepy and beautiful, Gosling and Shields recruited the Silverlake Conservatory Children\u2019s Choir<\/strong>. That choir was founded by Flea<\/strong> \u2014 the bassist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, who famously wears no socks and plays funk-rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the recording sessions were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Ryan Gosling (Ken \/ The Notebook guy)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Zach Shields (some writer you\u2019ve never heard of)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A bunch of kids singing about death<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Run by a man who once wore a light-up bass guitar on national television<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    And it worked. The self-titled Dead Man\u2019s Bones<\/em> album (2009) is genuinely beautiful. Songs like \u201cIn the Room Where You Sleep\u201d and \u201cMy Body\u2019s a Zombie for You\u201d sound like what would happen if Tim Burton made a folk album inside a haunted orphanage. It has 189,000 monthly listeners on Spotify<\/strong> as of this week \u2014 nearly 17 years after its release. That\u2019s more than some current pop stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Live Shows: Churches, Synagogues, and No \u2018Baby Goose\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Dead Man\u2019s Bones didn\u2019t play normal venues. No arenas. No clubs. They played churches, synagogues, and cabaret rooms<\/strong> \u2014 because nothing says \u201cfun date night\u201d like watching Ryan Gosling sing about undead romance under a stained-glass window of a weeping angel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The audience dressed up in Halloween costumes. Gosling and Shields wore skeleton suits. The children\u2019s choir stood in pews. It was basically a gothic revival tent meeting, but with better cheekbones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They reunited for a few shows in 2010, and then\u2026 nothing. Silence. Dead Man\u2019s Bones became, appropriately, a ghost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Great \u2018Baby Goose\u2019 Controversy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Now, we must address the most serious allegation in the entire interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Wikipedia<\/strong> \u2014 that lying, beautiful, sometimes-correct website \u2014 once claimed that Ryan Gosling performed under the stage name \u201cBaby Goose.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let that sink in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Baby. Goose.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When asked about this by NME<\/em>, Gosling didn\u2019t laugh. He didn\u2019t joke. He looked the reporter dead in the eye and said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cNot true.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s it. Two words. No elaboration. No \u201cthat\u2019s silly.\u201d Just cold, hard denial. You can tell he\u2019s been asked this before. You can tell he\u2019s tired of it. You can tell that somewhere, deep in his Canadian soul, a tiny part of him wishes he had<\/em> used \u201cBaby Goose\u201d because it would have been hilarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But no. We are denied. The world is lesser for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Will Dead Man\u2019s Bones Ever Return?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In 2023, while doing press for Barbie<\/em> (where he played Ken \u2014 a role that required him to have zero brain cells and six-pack abs), Gosling was asked about a possible reunion. His answer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n

    \u201cNever say never.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s showbiz for \u201cmaybe if the price is right and my therapist agrees.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So here we are, in 2026. Project Hail Mary<\/em> is in cinemas now. Ryan Gosling is a movie star, a dad, a meme, and \u2014 apparently \u2014 still the co-owner of a dormant gothic folk band that once played a synagogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And somewhere, in a dark corner of Spotify, 189,000 people a month are still listening to a man who used to eat lunch next to Britney Spears sing about being a zombie in love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Moral of the Story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    If you take anything away from this, let it be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    1. Don\u2019t trust Wikipedia<\/strong>\u00a0\u2014 Baby Goose is a lie.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    2. Disney\u2019s Haunted Mansion is cheaper than therapy.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    3. If your mom drags you to a graveyard for fun, you might grow up to be a movie star with a weird band.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
    4. And if you ever get the chance to see Ryan Gosling sing in a church with a children\u2019s choir, wear a costume and bring flowers. Because that man is never, ever doing that again.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Now go listen to Dead Man\u2019s Bones<\/em>. Light a candle. Pour some tea. And remember: the undead aren\u2019t so scary. They just have really good taste in folk music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      By \u201cThe Showbizztoday Ghost Writer\u201dPublished 2 minutes ago \u2014 because Hollywood news waits for no one, especially not the undead If you walked past a dusty, abandoned church in Los Angeles back in 2009 and heard a strange choir of children singing about werewolves while a man who looks exactly like Ken from Barbie played a broken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[696,13136,13135],"class_list":{"0":"post-148934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hollywood","8":"tag-disney","9":"tag-project-hail-mary","10":"tag-ryan-gosling"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":148936,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148934\/revisions\/148936"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/showbizztoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}