Dan Aykroyd Chat
People Magazine Online, 11/3/98
Dan Aykroyd is a shape-shifter. A true multi-hyphenate, he has been a Blues Brother, a Conehead, a Ghostbuster, and a Not Ready for Prime-Time Player. An entrepreneur, he co-owns the successful House of Blues restaurant chain. He's released blues albums, starred in a sitcom, and written, directed, produced, and/or acted in over 50 films. And as his classic Saturday Night Live character E. Buzz Miller, sleazy snake-oil salesman extraordinaire, would say, "But wait! There's more!"
Dan Aykroyd is a believer.
He believes in UFOs, ghosts, and other paranormal phenomena. He believes that there is life Out There. He has, he says, himself experienced paranormal incidents. And in his capacity as host of the syndicated series Psi Factor: Chronicles of the Paranormal, he has the opportunity to bring these shadowy events to light -- and to life.
Based on the files of the real-life Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.), a private paranormal research group based in California, Psi Factor is a dramatization of actual closed cases studied by the group. "The O.S.I.R. goes in with what is called the 'observer view,'" Aykroyd has said. "They don't go in believing, they don't go in not believing. They just go in to observe the events as they go down, to document them with videotape and audiotape, all kind of cameras -- thermographic imaging, infrared vision, if necessary -- and high-sensitivity microphones."
"They break it down and determine whether: a) is there a hoax going on here -- and many of our cases are hoaxes -- and b) is there a rational, physical reason why somebody reports a ghost, a UFO, a strange light, a strange vapor, a strange odor, is there a physical reason why -- or is there, in fact, an anomaly, an unsolved or mysterious reason why something is taking place? Its it really paranormal? Is it really supernatural?"
Aykroyd provides on-camera narration for each hour-long episode. The show is also something of a family affair: Aykroyd's brother Peter is an executive producer of the series. Fourth generation paranormal enthusiasts (the family's interest stretches back to Aykroyd's great grandfather, who was a member of the British Society of Psychic Research and a corespondent of Arthur Conan Doyle), Psi Factor gives Aykroyd a platform for interests only hinted at in his comic (and, well, cosmic) portrayals of Beldar Conehead of the planet Remulak, or Dr. Raymond Stantz of Ghostbusters fame.
"This is much more exciting to me than most of what I do," Aykroyd says. "We're dealing with elements of human experience that are really challenging. It looks to the essence of good and evil on the planet. It's more exciting than shooting a cereal box comedy."
