LOCAL PROFILE
DUSTIN PARI Paranormal Rockstar By L.A. Reilly
“Be Brave – Be Kind – Never Give Up” Dustin grew up in Providence RI and after graduating college with a degree in multimedia production he worked for Fox News for many years. Eventually he became a paranormal investigator and travels the world like a “Paranormal Rockstar”. Dustin is best known as a paranormal researcher, lecturer and author with numerous appearances on the series Ghost Hunters, Ghost Hunters International and Destination Truth. He travels the world looking for answers and expanding his understanding of the seen realm. For the interview, Dustin met me at Anawan Rock on the border of East Providence and Rehoboth. Anawan is part of the Bridgewater Triangle and is claimed to be the site of UFOs, crypto creatures, and other paranormal phenomena. We went into the woods to do the interview which was a perfect setting for my questions. LA: Tell me about your first paranormal experience that happened at your home in Providence, RI when you were nine.
spirits that we can ask questions to, move objects those are “Intelligent Spirits” Those are the ones we look for so we can learn more about.
DP: I was in my bedroom around the time that I go to sleep. I got this weird feeling and I looked at the doorway and there was this “Shadow Figure”. It was about 6 feet tall and looked like vapors in the shape of a human. I was terrified. I covered my head, said my prayers and waited for it to go away and I never saw it again. But that was the beginning. It was my origin story. It’s what got me interested in the paranormal.
LA: What places have you been to in RI that you’ve investigated paranormal activity?
LA: After that first experience, what investigations did you do on your own? DP: I never had any other experiences growing up but I read about local legends and local ghost stories. As a kid I started doing local exploring on my own. Once I started driving, we went to explore places in RI like the Ladd School. There were multiple buildings on the property. The Fogarty building was the hospital building and there were a lot of different things you’d come across in there. Sounds of a boy crying in the old shower room where he was murdered by another patient. There were rumors of shadow figures in the woods and sounds of screaming throughout the hallways. There are different classifications that people have come up with over the years. There’s “residual energy” which is when someone had done the same thing over and over again while they were alive. It’s not a spirit. They can’t interact. So if you see something that always walks the same path and doesn’t interact with you then its residual energy. Energy that’s been imprinted there. If there are
DP: First place was the Ladd School and there was a place in Smithfield called “The Witch’s Cottage”. We would go there and look around and basically scare ourselves with the stories we heard. Sprague Mansion in Cranston which actually ended up being in an episode of Ghost Hunters. There’s also a fire station in Harrisville and we also did a lot of private residences. LA: How do you hear about these places? Do people come to you? DP: The one’s I’ve done locally people have contacted me directly through email. The ones for the show we can suggest places that we investigate. LA: How did you first get on the TV show Ghost Hunters? DP: I was watching the show one night after work and saw they were filming in RI. They showed the water tower in Warwick and they had an office in Apponaug. I emailed everyone on the show. They let me be a part of their “Home Team” which meant I couldn’t be on the show but I could help investigate local places which was really what I wanted to do anyway. It took off from there. After a long time working on the cases I think they realized I was sincere in what I was doing and they let me on the show. Shop In RI 49
