Dragon*con countdown: Patrick Burns, paranormal investigator

Dragon*con countdown: Patrick Burns, paranormal investigator
September 2, 2010
by Carl Holman
Creative Loafing

Every year, Dragon*Con’s celebrity guest list includes more than TV/movie actors with cult followings. Culture Surfing counts down to the Labor Day fantasy convention with a series of short profiles of Dragon*Con guests who specialize in more surprising disciplines.

What is your title, and where do you live?
I'm a paranormal investigator and one of the three stars of TruTV's "Haunting Evidence. I lived in the Atlanta area for 13 years, but now live full time out of an RV motor home with my girlfriend, paranormal author Marley Gibson.

What do you do in your job?
I search for evidence of paranormal activity where it is reported. I attempt to substantiate claims of activity utilizing technology.

How did you get interested in this?
Ghosts have been a life-long curiosity of mine. My own grandmother's ghost was seen in the home she had lived in at the time of her death. That had a profound impact on me as a child when it happened, and only deepened my interest in the paranormal as a field of study and experimentation.

Have you been do Dragon*Con before, and what will you be doing this year as an official guest?
I've been coming to Dragon*Con every year since 1996. I've been speaking about the paranormal at D*C since 2000, so this marks my tenth consecutive year as a guest speaker. Back when I started speaking at Dragon*Con, ghost hunting wasn't a household word like it is today. I've watched it explode in popularity over the last decade, and I was there when it was still obscure to most people.

Do you have a message about your vocation you can sum up in a sentence?
I encourage people to take reports of paranormal activity with a healthy dose of skepticism, but that doesn't mean one should be cynical - keep your mind open to all possibilities.

Are you fan of Dragon*Con-type genres?
Definitely a fan! I love science fiction. The Star Wars films are probably my favorites, but I love “Star Trek” as well.

What’s your web site?
My official website is http://patrick-burns.com and I can be reached at ghostgeek@ghosthounds.com

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