Ghostbusters

Several weeks ago, I wrote a Freaky Friday about attics. I mentioned that the reason I was moving my office upstairs to our refinished attic was that my daughter, son-in-law, and three delightful grandsons were moving in with us for a while. Well, they are officially here – and we are having a great time.

When I mentioned that I was going to be writing my Freaky Friday column, the oldest of the three told me that he had a great idea for me. And then he proceeded to create a wonderful story about ghosts, portals, and the Ghostbusters. It was a fairly sophisticated story for a seven-year-old, but unfortunately, it wasn’t really Freaky Friday material.

However, although I couldn’t use his story, I started to wonder about the whole Ghostbuster phenomenon – what was the origin story of Ghostbusters? What caused Dan Aykroyd would come up with an idea about a bunch of ghost-busting scientists? Did Dan have a paranormal experience that changed his life?  Did Dan believe in ghosts?

Well, not only does Dan believe in ghosts – he calls it “the family business.”

But has Dan actually had paranormal experiences of his own?

In a an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos from the Canadian Broadcasting Company, Dan shares an experience his non-believing mother had: “My mom apparently had one: just after I was born, she was nursing me upstairs in the farmhouse, and she kind of woke up and saw a young couple standing at the end of the bed, and she cried out for my dad, and the couple vanished, and then they hauled out an old family album and it was my great-grandparents, Sam and Ellen Jane. They’d come to welcome the baby to the farmhouse. This is her story anyway, and my Mom – she’s a skeptic.”

Dan Aykroyd currently hosts the paranormal show “Hotel Paranormal” which is described as “terrifying true stories of those who have come face-to-face with otherworldly hotel guests. Actor Dan Aykroyd narrates each episode featuring spine-tingling stories of paranormal encounters told from stays at hotels around the world.”

Of course he narrates spine-tingling, scary, ghost stories, because who else you gonna call?

Happy Friday!!!