AALIYAH shared a haunting premonition in one of her final interviews, appearing to foreshadow her own death just weeks before she was killed in a plane crash.
The R&B singertragically died on August 25, 2001,alongside eight others after a chartered plane destined for Miami crashed less than a minute after take-off in the Bahamas. She was just 22.
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In an interview with German media just one month before the fatal wreck, Aaliyah shared a now eerie anecdote about a recurring dream she'd been having at the time.
The pop sensation, one of the most coveted performers of her era, told her interviewer that in the dream she was being followed by someone, which made her feel scared and anxious.
But then she would suddenly fly away from them and feel at peace.
“It is dark in my favorite dream," she began. "Someone is following me. I don't know why. I'm scared. Then suddenly I lift off. Far away.
"How do I feel? As if I am swimming in the air. Free. Weightless. Nobody can reach me. Nobody can touch me. It's a wonderful feeling."
EERIE PREDICTION
This was one of the final interviews Aaliyah gave before her death.
While the dream bears a number of symbolic elements, fans of the singer have suggested that it was actually a dark, subconscious premonition of the crash that ultimately claimed her life.
Within four weeks, Aaliyah would be dead after suffering severe burns and a fatal blow to the head after she boarded a Cessna 402 twin-engine light aircraftthat crashed seconds after takeoff.
Her body was found 20 feet away from the wreckage. She was still strapped into her seat and slumped over to her left.
At a coroner's inquest hearing in November 2001, Dr. Giovander Raju called Aaliyah's chances of survival slim to none, pointing to the fact she suffered from a "generally weak heart."
"Aaliyah went into such a state of shock, even if she had survived the crash, recovery would have been near impossible," Raju said
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It was later revealed that the pilot, who wasn't qualified to fly the plane, had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body.
It was also discovered that theplane was around 700 pounds overweight, and the weight wasn't distributed properly making the plane almost impossible to control once airborne.
ANXIOUS FLIER
Earlier this week, a bombshell excerpt from Kathy Iandoli's upcoming book, Baby Girl: Better Known as Aaliyah, revealed that the singer was reportedly apprehensive to get on board the flight in the first place.
Initial reports from the time suggested she had been insistent that she needed to be back in Miami later that evening.
However, a man who was one of the last people to see her alive said she actually refused to get on board.
Aaliyah, a known anxious flier, reportedly knew the size of her seven-person entourage and all of their luggage would be too much for the small jet to bear.
She was reportedly fearful of small planes and had been expected a much larger aircraft to arrive.
The claim was made by Kingsley Russell,a Bahamian man who was 13 at the time and working as the star's baggage handler for his family's taxi and hospitality business.
REFUSED TO BOARD
Russell's mother was Aaliyah’s driver during her time on the island and he told Iandoli he spoke with the star on their way to the airport, as first reported byThe Daily Beast.
The plane was late arriving at the gate by two hours, reportedly irking Aaliyah's team, Russell said.
Frustrations boiled further when the plane finally arrived and Aaliyah refused to board it, he recounts in the book.
It was then that members of her entourage reportedly started arguing with the pilot after he told them the plane would be too heavy for eight passengers and all of their luggage.
Aaliyah had been filming what would be her last music video, Rock The Boat, on the tropical island and her entourage was carrying heavy camera equipment with them.
'AALIYAH HAD COMMON SENSE'
As Russell remembers it, Aaliyah's team was reportedly insistent that they needed to be back in Miami as it was a Saturday night.
“[The airport staff] and Aaliyah had the common sense that the plane was overweight,” Russellsays in the book,as reported by the Beast.
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The 22-year-old then got back into Russell's mother's taxi, telling her team she had a headache and wanted to take a nap.
Eventually, Russell says, a member of Aaliyah's team came to check on her.
During the exchange, Russell says the singer reiterated that she didn't want to get on the small plane and that she wasn't feeling well.
Theteam member then handed Aaliyah a pill, Russel claims, which she took before falling "into a deep sleep".
MYSTERY PILL
She was then carried onto the flight unconscious, he claims, after the pilot finally caved and allowed her team to board.
“They took her out of the van; she didn’t even know she was getting boarded on a plane,” Russellrecounts in the book. "She went on the airplane asleep.”
The flight took off at 6.50pm. It had only got between 60 and 100 feet in the air before nosediving back down to the ground.
Aaliyah and six of the eight others on board were killed instantly. Two others died in hospital.
One of those passengers was the singer's security guard. He reportedly spent his final moments worrying about Aaliyah's condition, first responders later said.
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Aaliyah's parents reached an undisclosed settlement in a negligence lawsuit against the plane's operator, Blackhawk International Airways Corp.
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Blackhawk had been cited by the Federal Aviation Administration three times in four years leading up to the crash for various safety violations, according to the Associated Press.
Among the transgressions: failure to follow drug-testing guidelines and performing improper aircraft maintenance.
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Music video for Aaliyah's classic hit Rock The Boat
