Aykroyd’s spiritual side
Dan Aykroyd comes from a long line of ghost hunters.
Dan Aykroyd comes from a long line of ghost hunters, said Chrissy Iley in the London Telegraph. His father—a seemingly practical man who gave his son a lawn mower for his 12th birthday—wrote an encyclopedic book on the subject. And his great-grandfather was a spiritualist who regularly hired a medium to hold séances at his home in Kingston, Ontario. “He channeled all kinds of personalities in the old farmhouse by the lake,” says the Ghostbusters star. Aykroyd still lives in the farmhouse, which he says has “a history of spiritual activity that would blow your mind.” He’s been awoken by strange noises and unexplained lights. Guests have reported invisible hands pulling back the sheets. His mother, the family skeptic, hasn’t been immune. “When she was nursing me, an old couple came to the end of the bed,” says Aykroyd, 59. “[When] the image faded away, she pulled out an album and saw it was my great-grandfather and his wife coming to approve the new child.” Those ghostly visitations have convinced Aykroyd that death is merely a transition. “Everyone fears the cut of the blade. It doesn’t matter after that. I know the spirit survives.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
How clean-air efforts may have exacerbated global warming
Under the Radar Air pollution artificially cooled the Earth, ‘masking’ extent of temperature increase
-
September 14 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include RFK Jr on the hook, the destruction of discourse, and more
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-war
Talking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’