© Fred Chartrand for USA TODAYFather-and-son ghostbusters: For Dan Aykroyd's father, Peter Aykroyd, the whispered tales from the parlor of his family's 19th-century Ontario farmhouse were the stuff of a new book, A History of Ghosts.
Sydenham, Ontario - Seems Dan Aykroyd was destined to a life haunted by ghosts.
Aykroyd is famous for starring in the 1984 blockbuster movie
Ghostbusters, which he co-wrote. But before the comedy about three eccentric parapsychologists-turned-ghost-exterminators came to be, it was what he overheard here in his family's 19th-century farmhouse parlor that led him down the paranormal path.
"I remember when I was about 4 or 5 my grandparents and mom and dad discussing what went on in this room," says Aykroyd, 57. "It was all in hushed tones, as if I wasn't supposed to hear. It was about the séances that were held here."
His father, Peter Aykroyd, has now collected those once-whispered stories in
A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Séances, Mediums, Ghosts and Ghostbusters (Rodale, $25.99), and Dan has written the foreword.
Dan, no surprise, is happy that ghosts once again are getting their due.
"I've had to sell some really bad movies in my time, so it's great when you can get behind a good product," he says, unashamedly hawking his "Pop's" book.
Comment: "2012 the Phenomenon" is the ultimate distraction to people realising that Something Wicked This Way Comes: