Interview: Dustin Pari, paranormal expert of Ghost Hunters

Paranormal expert, Dustin Pari, will bring his ‘Ghosts: Do You Believe?’ tour to Delmar Hall on Wednesday, April 10. Pari, of Ghost Hunters, will take event-goers on an interactive journey through haunted encounters and much more during the show.

Pari, recently took some time to chat with ReviewSTLs Jeremy Housewright in advance of the show.

JH: What can you tell us about the tour and what can St. Louis fans expect from the show?

DP: It’s going to be really exciting, man. I think it’s going to be more than, than people thought possible and I’m really excited to do it. It’s going to be presented in, in two parts. The first part I’m going to kind of give a little local history about each theater that we’re going to along the way, share some of their own spooky activity, and then there will be a nice little presentation regarding my own path and my own journey in the paranormal history of paranormal research. And then we also have some great evidence from some cases that I’ve done both on and off television, some visual evidence to discuss, and some audio to play for the crowd. And then the second half, I will give them an opportunity to ask me their questions and to open up some new discussions about their thoughts of, of what happens after we pass away. I will be talking about some specific ghost to, you know, the Saint Louis area. Each location we go to, we’re going to get some stories about the theaters themselves, as there’s so many theaters have different ghost stories and such. So, we want to make sure that we keep the local history alive and a lot of people who go to a lot of these theaters and they don’t even know the stories of the spirits that happened backstage or when the theaters closed down. So, I want to bring that to life and, and really get people interested in their, their hometown haunts.

JH: What kind of got you interested in ghosts, growing up.

DP: So, yeah, I like to refer to my gateway ghost that that started when I was nine years old, seeing what we would now classify as a shadow figure. That was the first thing that I’d ever seen. Those can be various types, but the one I saw was a humanoid shape about 6 ft tall and it was in my childhood bedroom doorway, and as a kid, it just frightened me. I never wanted to see that thing again. I covered my head, I said my prayers, and, funny enough though, it planted that seed and as time went by, I became more interested in it. And then, I started going to the library and reading like books about local hauntings and paranormal stories and activity. And, I went from never wanting to see it again to traveling 27 countries looking for activity. So, it definitely left its mark on me.

JH: Can you tell me about memorable investigation that you’ve had?

DP: You know, I’ve had two that come to mind. One of my favorites will always be the lighthouse down in Saint Augustine, Florida. I was with the Ghost Hunter show at that time and that was the first full body apparition that I had seen. We saw a woman walking around the upper level inside the lighthouse on the stairwell and I could see the pleats in her dress. I could see the curls in her hair. On the television show, it just looked like this white kind of blur, moving back and forth. But what the camera couldn’t make out, we could see, and it was truly amazing, and it made me feel good because for so many years, I’ve been investigating on my own and now as a part of the team I actually was getting to witness this type of activity. And then, the best case I’ve ever done, we went overseas with the Ghost Centers International Show, and I went out to the Philippines. We did a place called the Clock Air Base. And that is the only case to date that everything that was reported by our client; the white misty apparition that they saw on one of the levels, the footsteps that they heard in the hallways, the disembodied voices of American soldiers, we witnessed it. We documented it and it was great because not only, not only do we get to experience all that. But when we were done, we played it back for our client, who is now an elderly man. He was one time a young security guard there and he became a laughingstock of the town. People said that he was a drunk, that he was crazy, that these stories were all made up, and for us to show him evidence of, of what he witnessed, so many years ago, this guy just broke down crying like it was such a release for him to have this evidence and to know that, yeah, this actually did happen. So, on many levels, that was one of my favorite cases.

JH: How do you approach people who are skeptic when it comes to ghosts?

DP: I think it’s good to be skeptical about everything, not just ghosts like our entire life, like ask questions. And I mean, that’s the title of the show is ‘Ghosts, Do you Believe?’ It’s not me trying to force beliefs upon people. I want people asking questions. I want people thinking about the bigger questions of this life and what happens to us afterwards. So I, I encourage good, healthy skepticism. The only thing I ever ask is just for people to be polite, you know, just not be rude to each other, if you don’t agree or if you think different things. But, I think it’s good to think differently.

JH: One thing that I’ve always wondered is, do you think there’s certain people who are prone to seeing ghosts and then those who are not?

DP: I think that we all have some innate ability to communicate with the spiritual realm. I think our world unfortunately keeps us kind of distracted and divided with everything else, so that we don’t think much about our spiritual self. The only time we start to think about it, maybe is when we lose a loved one or a friend. I think it’s something that is very intrinsic to our being here. Maybe some people are more talented in that arena than others, but I do think it’s, it’s something that’s within all of us. We just need to work on it a little bit.

JH: Have you ever been truly scared during an investigation?

DP: I get scared all the damn time. I am not false brave. Let me tell you, I don’t try to boast that I’m some brave guy. I won’t watch horror movies. I don’t like horror movies. I don’t like haunted attractions like haunted houses. So, when I go to an investigation, it’s not the spirits that bother me. I don’t like long dark hallways with a bunch of open doorways. So, when we’re in an old prison, or an old schoolhouse or hospital, I’m always worried about that pop out scary moment. A true spirit usually doesn’t act that way. Usually, it’s very subtle but a lot of these places are abandoned, old buildings, vacant buildings and we’ve had interaction with, you know, the unfortunate case of homeless people that are just kind of squatting there. We’ve had weapons pulled on us before, so that part can be terrifying.

JH: What kind of advice would you give to someone who’s interested in, you know, looking into being a paranormal investigator?

DP: I mean, obviously come see the show. But, but I think it’s important to read. There’s so many great books about this topic. Books that have been written by various researchers over the years and you can kind of go through it and see what they’ve done, see what they’ve tried and then come up with your own ideas, you know, and the most important thing is just to be honest about it. I appreciate that we want to believe, I appreciate that we want things to happen, but the tougher you are on the evidence that occurs, the better your case will be. So, just keep it honest. Do your homework, do your research, do your reading and just, you know, get out there and try new things.

JH: I’m a big movie fan. So, of course, horror films are something that I have to review quite often. From your point of view, do movies like The Conjuring and films like that, do more harm than good for people interested in ghost hunting?

DP: It’s a double edged sword. I investigated The Conjuring house about 10 years before the movie came out. I was one of the 1st 10 people or so to investigate the place. The problem with Hollywood is that it really extrapolates the stories, and it makes a lot of fabrication for entertainment purposes. and there is where we have people that, Yeah, it’s good because it stirs up conversation and makes these stories known. But then people are afraid. I’m doing an event in a couple of months at The Conjuring house, and I have people that are afraid to go there and it’s nothing you need to be afraid of, but they’re afraid of the stories. I was like, well, 90% of the movie is made up.

JH: So, did you ever get a chance to meet The Warrens?

DP: I met Lorraine Warren. Ed had already passed by the time I came around. But, I do a lot of work with their nephew, Mr. John Zaffis, who lives nearby in Connecticut. John and I have traveled, actually, we investigated The Conjuring house together many years ago. So, I’m fortunate to have a lot of their knowledge passed along through him.

JH: Let’s just say somebody’s on the fence about going. What would you tell them to get them to go?

DP: I think this show, honestly, has the capability to change someone’s life because it will change the way they think about, the afterlife, and also, how we live this life. Are there pictures and things that will make you question this reality, versus what could possibly be there? Yeah, of course. But I don’t believe it to be scary, but I really think that it’s insightful and, in many ways, motivational.

See Dustin Pari on Wednesday, April 10 at Delmar Hall. Tickets for ‘Ghosts: Do You Believe?’ are still available at https://www.thepageant.com/event/ghosts-do-you-believe-041024/. (Photo: Mark Dunn)