Ain’t afraid of no GHOSTS
Narrator Dan Aykroyd talks Hotel Paranormal, ghosts, aliens — and an extraterrestrial theory on COVID-19
If you've ever wondered why Dan Aykroyd has always had such an interest in ghosts and the supernatural, there's a very simple answer: It's in his blood.
The Ottawa-born comedian's belief in entities that linger on after death stems from his family's “long history with paranormal research.”
“It was always part of my tradition. My great grandfather, Sam, kept a journal of his studies from the 1920s on and my dad wrote a book — The History of Ghosts,” Aykroyd, 69, says in a phone interview from his eastern Ontario home.
“It talks about the medium my family used for years in the '20s and '30s and '40s. On Sundays, primarily for entertainment, we had a medium named Walter Ashhurst who travelled to other realms and brought back spirits here to the old farmhouse in Kingston.”
Those experiences formed the basis for a lifelong interest in spiritualism that led him to co-write the first two wildly popular Ghostbusters films. Since then, he's dabbled in the paranormal, hosting the syndicated hit Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal and narrating Hotel Paranormal, which returns for its second season tonight on T + E.
“Lots of people see ghosts, they're a lot of pictures of them, but what are they made of? What's coalescing there? I think science needs to get more interested to give us
answers,” Aykroyd exclaims.
The sophomore season, which was produced by Saloon Media, a Blue Ant Media company, dramatizes real-life stories of hoteliers and travellers who claim to have had supernatural experiences at haunted hotels across the globe.
But it was the original Ghostbusters, he says, that helped popularize widespread interest in the supernatural.
“Every county has a ghosthunting outfit … Ghostbusters had a lot to do with that,” the Oscar nominee chuckles. “Pre-Ghostbusters, not many people knew what ectoplasm was … That movie is responsible for a lot of the interest in the paranormal today — both in real life and in fantasy.”
Aside from his work on Hotel Paranormal's second season, during the pandemic, the Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live alum has focused his energy on his Canadianmade Crystal Head Vodka brand.
“I'm kind of bragging on Canada whenever I talk about it,” he says of the award-winning spirit.
Looking ahead, Aykroyd will return along with fellow co-stars Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver in Ghostbusters: Afterlife, director Jason Reitman's sequel to 1989's Ghostbusters II.
But before we delve into more talk on spooks and scares, the Blues Brothers star pauses to reminisce about Toronto, where he lived in the early 1970s.
“Queen and River — that was my neighbourhood. The 505 Club was where all the Second City kids went after the show. Everyone, (John) Candy, Gilda (Radner), the Murrays (Bill, Brian Doyle and Joel), (Joe) Flaherty, (Eugene) Levy, (Catherine) O'Hara … we'd be mixing with streetcar drivers and waiters and waitresses and nurses and doctors that had just come off shift. It was a great environment. It's where I met (John) Belushi. We were listening to a Downchild Blues Band record and came up with the idea of doing (the Blues Brothers).”
He gets nostalgic for a moment.
“There should be a plaque on that building because all of the comedy stars and music stars came through there.
“Also, there should be a plaque at 1063 Avenue Rd., where John Candy lived.
“That basement, Marty Short, Nancy (Short) … all the kids from Second City, we were all in that basement just standing around the piano.”
The paranormal is part of your family history. Do you have any experiences with ghosts?
“Certainly no apparitions of any type. But I have had some feelings and the house we had out in Los Angeles had some things going on. Little psychokinetic stuff, objects moving by themselves. But the Lemp Mansion, which is mentioned in the T+E series, was built in Pennsylvania by a family of brewers. It had a very black history with homicides and suicides. It had a dark history and there are people who actively seek that out to experience these things.
“I love the stories on this second season about hotel owners who actively purchased these buildings to experience some of these things. Many times they have a little more than they can handle.”
UFOs and ghost sightings seem to be increasingly in the news. Why do you think people are so receptive to the supernatural nowadays?
“I think it's always been there. If you look at Shakespeare and other writings throughout history, there are references to spirits and ghosts. There are ancient paintings of objects in the sky. But I think everyone is interested in power outside of the human scope. Certainly, ghosts exert power outside of our human understanding that we can't comprehend yet and that's fascinating to people.
“As far as these objects that have been photographed by the United States military, there are many more now and different ones coming. What is astounding to the aerospace industry is the performance of these vehicles. The trans-medium travel, where they go from air to water effortlessly … there are many shapes. If you want to Google up the Stingray UFO … it looks like a twoseater to me. But there are triangles, boomerangs, there's the Tic Tac and there's the flying sphere encased within a cube that they photographed in the Atlantic. It's a tumbling square with this sphere inside it … So, what's going on? I personally would like to know — and then convince these beings that fly these ships — to share the wealth.
“Think about that Tic Tac and its performance capabilities. That could power an African country, give it clean water and power for a century. So I say, `Come down, share the wealth, help Earth. You're visiting here like tourists, well, get involved! Come and give us answers to famine, water purification, to clean water and peace and violence. Get down here! We need your input.' ”
I'm kind of the opposite. I'm not really sure I want them sticking around if they're here.
“Here's what Bruce Maccabee — who was a photo analyst who was a commander
“Who knows? Maybe the coronavirus is part of their (plan) … Certainly, viruses are peppered down to our planet from space. Maybe they planted it. Certainly, the coronavirus is the closest thing to an alien invasion that we've had.” — Dan Aykroyd speculates that the coronavirus could be of extraterrestrial origin.
in the United States Navy and has written several books on the phenomenon — said: The way governments are going to have to deal with this phenomenon is ask three questions. No. 1: `Do the operators of these crafts like us?' Or No. 2: `Are these operators indifferent to us?' Or is it No. 3: `Are they malevolent?' Those are the three things. We don't know.
“There have been occasions where weapons have been used, mostly heat rays. Some aircraft have been disabled throughout history, starting with Thomas Mantell and his P-51 in 1948. He witnessed this thing. Then there are many pilots who have had interference and heat and radiation, but no outright attacks. There have been abductions of humankind. If you read John Mack's book (Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens) it has pretty credible accounts from people who think they've been taken.
“So they're doing that, but I don't think they're doing more than that. Who knows? Maybe the coronavirus is part of their (plan) … Certainly, viruses are peppered down to our planet from space. Maybe they planted it. Certainly, the coronavirus is the closest thing to an alien invasion that we've had. Dealing with it is going to occupy us for many years. I don't think this will all be over in two (years).”
Dan, I can't let you go without asking about Ghostbusters: Afterlife. What can fans expect? Is this the start of a new series of films based in the world you helped create?
“November is when we are anticipating the Afterlife movie coming out and I'm cheering along with Sony and our exhibition partners for a time when we can sit there next to each other with popcorn and drinks and enjoy the movie together. We need this. It's essential to humans to do that. So it should be seen on the big screen.
“Jason did a magnificent job of passing the torch. It certainly leads to further iterations of the characters he's created and indeed to other ideas in the Ghostbusters world.”