The Real Ghostbusters (1988) 1

Today is National Ghost Hunting Day so, who ya gonna call?

After that unoriginal opening and the cover to the side, it’s a no brainer as to what we’re gonna talk about today.

The Real Ghostbusters (1988) 1

This Johnny-come-lately non-holiday began sometime before 2017 at the insistence of Haunted Travels as a way to begin the ghost hunting season and the season for haunted attractions.

The actual kick off date does shift each year, but the day remains the same. Kick off is the last Saturday in September.

While Ed and Lorraine Warren of the Conjuring franchise may be the current sweethearts of the supernatural set, the quintet from the Big Apple are still the favorites.

Saturday Night Live alum Dan Aykroyd proposed the story and script and Harold Ramis polished the finished product.

The 1984 film starred Aykroyd, Ramis, Bill Murray, Rick Moranis, Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts and Ernie Hudson. Ghostbusters earned $240 million in the U.S. alone with another $50 million abroad on a $30-million-dollar budget.

Ghostbusters II was released in 1989 followed by the 2016 gender-changing remake and Ghostbusters: Afterlife in 2021.

Our comic book adaptation is based on the Columbia Pictures Television and DIC Entertainment collaboration The Real Ghostbusters syndicated animated series that ran from 1986-1991.

NOW Comics, founded in 1985, began publishing The Real Ghostbusters comic books March 28, 1988.

Oddly enough, NOW Comics held the North American rights while Marvel Comics held the European publishing rights. Material from both companies would be reprinted by the other at times.

NOW Comics published two volumes of The Real Ghostbusters, the first running 28 issues and a second with only four. A spin-off series featuring breakout character Slimer was launched, publishing 19 issues.

For more information on the comic book history of the franchise, read Ghostbusters: Past, Present and Future.

For more facts about ghosts, read on.

Malaysia, United States and Canada have the highest percentage of population who believe in ghosts, 57 percent, 47 percent and 44 percent respectively. Of those 47 percent of Americans who are believers, 30 percent claim to have been awakened by a ghost in the bedroom during their lifetime.

Countries with the lowest percentage of belief are Germany with 25 percent, the Netherlands with 23 percent and Brazil at 21 percent. Oddly enough, the first recorded poltergeist activity occurred at a farmhouse in Germany during the ninth century.

Ghosts are credited with haunting places while poltergeists haunt people.

If you believe you are being haunted, here are some tips on how to remove the offending spirit from your presence.

First, just by speaking with the ghost or poltergeist. Some are reasonable and can be negotiated with.

Next up are the tried-and-true Holy Water and spiritual cleansings.

There’s always smudging. That’s when the smoke from a smudge stick clears the spirit from the area.

White candle clearing is pretty much what is sounds like.

If feeling froggy, there’s Feng Shui, the rearranging of the room’s furniture.

To trick the spirit, pour white rice as close to the exterior of the foundation of your house as possible. Apparently, ghosts are OCD and will go out to count the grains. A couple of days later, pour salt over the rice to prevent the spirit from reentering the house.