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.”
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.
-
The controversial Free Birth SocietyThe Explainer Influencers are encouraging pregnant women to give birth without midwife care – at potentially tragic cost
-
Wes Anderson: The Archives – ‘quirkfest’ celebrates the director’s ‘impeccable craft’The Week Recommends Retrospective at the Design Museum showcases 700 props, costumes and set designs from the filmmaker’s three-decade career
-
Is conscription the answer to Europe’s security woes?Today's Big Question How best to boost troop numbers to deal with Russian threat is ‘prompting fierce and soul-searching debates’
