AIN’T ’FRAID OF NO NUPS
‘Ghostbusters’ buff gets the ghoul at film firehouse
A BRITISH tourist brought his girlfriend to the “Ghostbusters” firehouse in Manhattan to ask a frightening question.
Giles Baugh, 34, a huge fan of the spirit-chasing franchise, dropped to one knee in front of Melissa Ward, 23, inside the historic firehouse used in the blockbuster 1984 film.
“Melissa, you make me so happy, and I love you so much, and I want to make you as happy as you make me. Will you marry me?” he asked.
“Yes!” a surprised Ward, 23, replied.
Baugh then slipped a sparkling white gold band with a half-carat diamond on her left hand, and the young couple from Yorkshire, England, embraced.
Moments later, Ward was still trying to comprehend what had just happened.
“I still don’t think it’s real,” she said.
The duo flew to New York on Monday and have been shopping and touring around the Big Apple.
Baugh, a lifelong fan of “Ghostbusters,” thought the ghoul-hunting headquarters from the original flick would be the perfect location to pop the question.
He first saw the movie as a youngster and got all the toys. Now, he can recite dialogue from his favorite scenes verbatim.
Baugh hit an unexpected snag while planning his trip — old-timey Ladder 8 in Tribeca is undergoing a $6.5 million renovation.
Undeterred, he reached out to a staffer at the city Department of Design and Construction in August. That official convinced the FDNY to let the tourists come inside the firehouse as long as they wore hard hats and safety vests.
That’s when Baugh suprised his girlfriend with his sparkling ring.
The duo met at their jobs at Tesco, a British retail chain, and have been dating for 2½ years.
“Melissa puts the fun into everything we do together,” Baugh said after the proposal. “I’m quite a serious kind of guy even though I have this quirky ‘Ghostbusters’ thing.”
During their courtship, she has also embraced the movie.
“I have to be (a fan),” she said with a laugh. “That’s all he talks about.”
Before asking the nerve-racking question, Baugh reached out to her parents for their permission.
“He’s just the best guy ever,” Ward said.
As for the landmark firehouse, it was also used in this year’s female reboot of the movie starring Kirsten Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon.
The stars spent their last day of shooting in front of the red firehouse doors. The three-story building became a tourist hot spot ever since it was featured in the original hit comedy.
The building dates to 1903 and “belongs to a first generation of buildings that marked the FDNY’s shift toward more institutional and economic architecture,” according to the Department of Design and Construction.
The fixes — which are expected to be finished this summer — include new windows that must first be approved by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission.