Survey: Kingston is a Conductor for Paranormal Activity

Published on: 2011/10/27 - in Entertainment Featured

This week FlightNetwork.com, a Canadian online travel agency, released the result of a poll asking travelers about their spookiest, scariest travel opinions.

In a media release for the survey results, special mention was made of a “particularly knowledgeable respondent” who informed pollsters that the entire city of Kingston, Ontario ‘is built on limestone and is a conductor for paranormal activity.’

The identity of that respondent was not provided, but Kingston area resident (and GhostBuster star) Dan Aykroyd might agree with that assessment. The actor, comedian and entrepreneur is an expert in the paranormal and occult – carrying on his family’s long history of interest in the supernatural.

According to a National Post article about Aykroyd, his family’s penchant for the paranormal began with Dan Aykroyd’s great-grandfather, Samuel Augustus Aykroyd.

As a child, Dan’s father Peter would spy on his grandfather’s regular seances at the family’s farmhouse north of Kingston, and that experience fostered a long time fascination with spiritualism and the paranormal, as chronicled in his 2009 book “A History of Ghosts: The True Story of Séances, Mediums, Ghosts and Ghostbusters“.

Of course, Dan Aykroyd has gone on to have a successful career that’s been scattered with paranormal influences – from the “Ghostbusters” franchise that he created, co-wrote and starred in, to his more recent endeavour in spirits of a different sort: the award winning Crystal Head vodka.

In the recent Flight Network poll, a majority of respondents – 57.3% – said they believe in ghosts, compared to 42.7% who described themselves as skeptics. And when asked what they would do if they saw a ghost, 38.5% of respondents said they would try to engage it in conversation, while another 27.4% would try to snap a photo. Only a third of respondents (33.8%) said they would run or hide.

Asked about the country’s most “dastardly destinations”, the Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta earned top honours with 29.6%. Old Montreal came in second with 20.9%, with Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, British Columbia on its heels with 20.1%.

Although survey takers were provided with a list of places to choose from, some additional locations were written in. Along with the Kingston promoter, respondents mentioned the Keg Mansion in Toronto and Crowsnest Pass in Alberta.

The Halloween themed poll was one of many that FlightNetwork.com has created.

Its CEO, Naman Budhdeo, was recently named to the 2010 top 40 under 40 awards, presented by The Globe and Mail and The Caldwell Partners – which recognizes the leadership, vision and achievement of Canada’s young leaders.