John Lennon’s Killer: ‘I’m Possessed By His Ghost!’

John Lennon was murdered on Dec. 8, 1980 by psycho killer Mark David Chapman — who now insists he’s “possessed” by the former Beatle’s ghost!

“I’m possessed by John’s ghost,” the gaunt 61-year-old declared from the Wende Correctional Facility in New York. In a bombshell National ENQUIRER interview — his first in 16 years — the killer added that he talks “with John’s ghost” on a daily basis: “He visits me and we talk about music and stuff. He’s forgiven me.”

But the New York State Parole Board isn’t ready to turn him loose, with Chapman seemingly set to serve out his life sentence. In August, the murderous weirdo’s latest bid for freedom was denied for the ninth time as hearing officers found his release would “undermine respect for the law.”

Chapman was a plump 25-year-old loser when he ambushed Lennon at the entrance to his posh New York City apartment building. The twisted gunman pumped four .38-caliber slugs into the legend’s back — right in front of Lennon’s horrified wife Yoko Ono. Chapman insisted, however, that he had a “true sociopathic mind” at the time of the shooting, with “no feeling” for the singer, his family — or himself!

“I was obsessed on one thing, and that was shooting him so I could be somebody,” he cruelly confessed. But Chapman still refuses to accept full responsibility for his crime. Bizarrely, he blames Gloria Chapman, his wife of 37 years, for not stopping him!

“I laid out the gun and I laid out all five bullets … And I said, this is what I was going to do,” he recalled. “My God, I still have deep-seated resentment that she didn’t go to somebody, even police, and say, ‘Look, my husband’s bought a gun and he says he’s going to kill John Lennon.’”

Gloria insists when she later asked him about his sick desire, Chapman told her that “he got rid of the gun.” But Hawaiian-born Gloria, 65, who wed the killer shortly before the murder, hasn’t divorced the assassin. They speak on the phone twice a week. Once a year, Gloria, a Yoko Ono look-alike, flies from Hawaii to New York for their yearly conjugal visit. Chapman explained that they spend “44 hours in a private trailer home with a little kitchen and bathroom” that's free of any security cameras.

They embrace and kiss, and “we make homemade pizza by cutting the crust into four and we lay out all the cut- up peppers, tomatoes, onions, cheeses. She gets two pieces and I get two pieces,” Chapman said. “We used to have salami snacks, but no sweets or chips. There is a TV, and we’ll watch 'Wheel of Fortune.'”

They couple has nearly two days to make love in the trailer bed. Chapman may have entered prison as a chubby nerd, but now he’s slim and called “The Lone Eagle” by other inmates because he’s kept separated from the general prison population. Guards fear other convicts would target him for death for killing the revered music man.

Chapman credits his slim shape to giving up sugary foods, which he claims gave him the “sugar blues and made him depressed,” adding his addiction to the sweetener “played a part” in his decision to gun down John. Now, behind bars, Chapman says he “eats very well. They have a farm on the prison grounds so I eat lots of fresh vegetables … with some protein like chicken and some beans — good foods.”

“I never knew there were so many good things to do in here,” he added. “I am doing fine … I am keeping busy and reading, etc.” Chapman keeps “up to date with current events” with a daily newspaper, and can also get DVDs. He plays Beatles tunes constantly on CDs and his beloved guitar. He also has three jobs at the prison: repairing wheelchairs, filing, and helping in the kitchen.

Chapman (seen here in 1992) claims to deeply regret killing Lennon, especially for a ridiculous motive like wanting to be famous. “I am sorry for causing that type of pain,” Chapman said. “I am sorry for being such an idiot and choosing the wrong way for glory.” But he also insists that he’s “served his time” and deserves to be paroled — so he can “walk along the Kailua beach again where I proposed to Gloria.”