Surgeon defends video of Allen Collins playing guitar in hospital shortly after Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash

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By ( Classic Rock ) published

The footage shows Allen Collins wearing hospital pyjamas, neck brace and orthopaedic fixator

Allen Collins in hospital pyjamas playing guitar
(Image credit: University of Mississippi Medical Center)

Earlier this month, Dr Craig A. Miller, a vascular surgeon and medical historian who authors the Miller Medical History newsletter on Substack, shared previously unseen footage of Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Allen Collins playing guitar in hospital, shortly after the 1977 plane crash that killed three members of the band (frontman Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist and vocalist Steve Gaines, and backing singer Cassie Gaines).

In the footage, Collins is wearing what appears to be hospital pyjamas or surgical scrubs, while a neck brace and an orthopaedic fixator (a device used to stabilise broken bones) attached to his left arm are evidence of his recent injuries. In the crash, Collins cracked two vertebrae in his neck, and a cut to his right arm was so severe that amputation was considered.

The video was originally part of a medical film project documenting trauma recovery, and was rediscovered as the University of Mississippi Medical Center digitised its archive.

Now Miller, who initially shared the clip on two Lynyrd Skynyrd-related Facebook groups, where it was watched two million times in five days, has been forced to deny that the footage is AI-generated.

"As far as I know, and only someone who was present at the filming can confirm it with 'absolute metaphysical certainty' the Collins video is 100% genuine," he writes. "Others with intimate knowledge of the events at the time have confirmed that this film was, in fact, made. It has already been publicly exhibited in an academic setting as genuine. Beyond these things, if it is AI, it is a production of utter genius, and one can only wonder at what the motivation would be to assemble it."

The video, which includes footage of Collins picking the opening lines to the classic Sweet Home Alabama, has been removed from Facebook and YouTube, but is still available via other platforms.

Collins was involved in a second fatal accident in 1986, when he crashed his car in Jacksonville, an incident that killed his girlfriend and left the guitarist paralysed from the waist down.

Charged with manslaughter, Collins was ordered to appear on stage in his wheelchair during Lynyrd Skynyrd's 1987 reunion tour to warn fans of the dangers of drunk driving. He passed away from pneumonia three years later.

Fraser Lewry
Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.

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