Rattibha

what is the alternate reading of Ghostbusters?

at the end of the day, @seriations and @BirdWendy2 are postulating that the Ghostbusters (1984) film depicts the usage of psychotronic weaponry

@seriations @BirdWendy2 we explore the possibility that Walter Peck, the dickish EPA inspector, was telling the truth: that the Ghostbusters were running a scam using nerve gasses to induce hallucinations of ghosts

@seriations @BirdWendy2 both the text of the film and outside evidence support this reading, which we discuss at length over about a 9 hour period

I'm not going to go through everything we discuss, but I'll hit up several of the images and themes we covered. here's the guy I thought was vaguely Uri Geller-ish from the Ghostbusters lab at Columbia University

here's the much-discussed poster of what we believe is probably Hermes Trismegistus, signaling that interest in occultism behind the ghost phenomenon

there's also a poster of Marilyn Monroe in this lab which, idk, may also actually mean something actually

we're haunted by the specter of gifted kid programs and Columbia University

we're forced to confront the centuries-old history of psychical research, seances, mediums, and other things you wouldn't at first glance assume would be related to ghostbusters

as it turns out, ghost hunting and seances and mediums are intimately connected, as ghost hunters have made clear

Wendy got into the weeds on Thelma Moss, an actress turned psychic to the stars, who then became a parapsychologist researcher at UCLA

as it turns out, there are several connections between Thelma Moss and Marilyn Monroe

through the Actors Studio, through Hollywood, and through UCLA

we discuss the Flying Tigers

Reid discussed the military-industrial complex's ability to cast projections into the sky (which no don't think about UFOs and these scenes in Ghostbusters)

again with the psychotronic weapons

possession, dissociation, and the weaponization thereof

sex magic(k)

the concept of buildings as means of channeling power, almost a leylines type of understanding

temple of Gozer and the backstory of Ivo Shandor

somehow we get into the Tunguska Event

what was Winston's real mission? given his special forces training, it's open to speculation. if he was trained in Wing Chun, he likely studied under Jason Lau and/or at Camp Cobray lmao

here's the last installment: it was largely my section so my notes/images are gonna be a little bit more detailed here

I got pretty in the weeds on Dan Aykroyd's career, interests, colleagues, business interests, and family history

it's a lot of *serious research* and no vibes, I assure you

Moses Znaimer, the "sexually aggressive" producer who worked with Aykroyd in his early career

Ivan Reitman, the very curious director/producer and frequent collaborator with Znaimer and Aykroyd

Reitman's been a fascination of mine for a while

I see

Officer Aykroyd

Harahan, Louisiana, "the expert profiling city in the world"

growing up, the Blues Brothers was one of my favorite movies

Aykroyd was an early investor in the Hard Rock Cafe chain, itself backed by Mecca Leisure Group and old 'Mayfair Set' money

one of his collaborators in Hard Rock Cafe was Isaac Tigrett

Aykroyd and Tigrett then founded the House of Blues chain

the thing is, Tigrett is a follower of Sathya Sai Baba

as it turns out, Mecca Leisure Group also employed Jimmy Savile for many, many years, back when they were a dancehall company

Dan Aykroyd's father's book, A History of Ghosts, contains an uncritical, glowing endorsement of Sai Baba

things start to feel a little differently when you realize that Aykroyd's got indirect yet strong business connections to multiple fuckin' weirdos, man

further, what the fuck

crystal head vodka

Aykroyd also bought a house in Laurel Canyon

specifically the one owned by Mama Cass Elliot

Aykroyd said the house was haunted

re his family history, here's Dan Aykroyd's great-grandfather, "Samuel Augustus Aykroyd, DDS (1855–1933), pioneer, dentist, philosopher, ethical humanist, and foot soldier in the Spiritualist movement"
#dentistwatch

Samuel Aykroyd corresponded with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle re spiritualism and was a Swedenborg enthusiast

here's a picture of the entity the Aykroyd seances regularly summoned, named Azur

the Aykroyds were from Lily Dale, at one point perhaps the psychic capital of the world

this is supposed to be Dr. Aykroyd meditating, surrounded by ghosts

shifting gears, we got into some of the potential connections between Aykroyd and the Simon Necronomicon

my contention is that Aykroyd was probably a regular at Magickal Childe bookstore

there's too much in Ghostbusters (1984) to think he wasn't acquainted with the Simon Necronomicon, and later entries in the series make this clear

like, very clear

in Reagan's 1980s, Hollywood took a hard right turn

at the same time, there was a sudden uptick in films about psychics

the rightward push was larger, of course, but the psi trend was put out by the same people, for reasons we can only assume

Ghostbusters poses societal question: who are you going to trust - sus ass shrinks and scientists shaking people down with psychotronic weapons or an inept yet well-meaning government bureaucrat pointing that fact out?

we get the world we deserve, I suppose

finally, at the end of the episode Wendy Painting does tarot readings for me and Reid using the Suzanne Treister Hexen 2.0 deck as well as the traditional Waite-Rider deck

I absolutely adore this deck but I had never used it before, and I believe Wendy said it doesn't always behave (maybe because it's so heavy with external symbols or something)

however, Wendy's first reading was so incredibly accurate and personal and freaky that I had to cut it, and we did a second reading that was also extremely accurate yet more suitable for public consumption