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.

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: 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 di erent 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 di erent 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 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.

LA: What places have you been to in RI that you’ve investigated paranormal activity?

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 o ce 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 o 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.

LA: Have you investigated places in RI with the show?

DP: Sprague Mansion and the Fire station in Harrisville. Oh yes, and the Conjuring House. Our team investigated that house 15 years ago. We were among the first people to investigate that house since the Warrens had investigated it. I remember I had my arm pulled up against the wall when I was unspooling cable. We hadn’t even started investigating yet. It wasn’t violent. It was just letting me know it was there. We have videos of doors opening and closing by themselves.

LA: Where in the US and internationally was the scariest supernatural event you experienced?

DP: The Saint Augustine Lighthouse in Florida. That was my favorite. It was the first time I had seen an apparition since my childhood event. We have video of a shadow figure leaning over the railing and witnessed a woman walking inside that then turned into a ball of light and disappeared. There’s only one way in and out of a lighthouse, so it was easy to go through the footage and see that we had activity that couldn’t be explained. I could actually see the pleats in her skirt. I’ve never seen anything so detailed in my career. Internationally it was the Clark Air Base in the Philippines. It was the only place I’ve ever investigated where every claim the client had told us about, we actually witnessed. Sometimes we go to places where nothing happens for three nights. Every night we were there, there was supernatural things going on.

LA: Does each member of your team have specific roles when you investigate and what type of equipment do you bring with you?

DP: For the show there’s usually about 5 other investigators and we also have a production team. When we do our investigations it’s usually one camera operator, one audio and 2 investigators. When I go out I like to use a simple audio recorder. For video, we use full spectrum. These cameras are modified to see the ultra violet part of the light spectrum down to the infrared…so beyond what the human eye can see. LA: What was the best capture on video or photograph you got?

DP: The best video that we captured was the St Augustine lighthouse. But we came across some amazing things. During Ghost Hunters International we were in South America at a hotel and we had photos of a ball of light that grew into the shape of a human. Down in Australia we went to a quarantine station where we had the photo of a boy staring out into the courtyard.

LA: How did you get the nickname “Paranormal Rockstar”?

DP: I was overseas somewhere and I was doing an interview through Skype with a guy from North Carolina and we talked about how di cult it was being on the road for 2 months being away from my wife and daughter. He said “Yeah but someday you’ll be able to turn around and tell them that you traveled the world like a Paranormal Rockstar.” The name just stuck from there.

LA: When you get a call from someone wanting you to come investigate their house, walk me through the investigation proces.

DP: They first need to provide us with a log for about 2 weeks of detailed activity that’s been happening at the home. Sometimes they just want to be on TV. So, we ask for the logs so we are sure they are serious about what’s going on and also gives us a blueprint to look at. We can see who is home when the things are happening, what the circumstances are, and what time of the day it is. All these things tie in to the di erent things we look at to try and find alternative explanations. We don’t jump to say everything is a ghost. A lot of the stu can be explained depending on other circumstances. If we go investigate, we interview the home owners and get a history of the home. For the show the process is long. Usually takes a couple nights and I like to go in and sit quietly to get use to the natural sounds of the house and environment. We set up equipment at certain points. Then we need to go back and review all the evidence. We watch all the video again. Having a lot of team members helps because there is so much footage to review.

LA: Do you ever deal with demons? Or just ghosts?

DP: I’ve never come across a demonic entity. I think the other side has good and bad but television really hypes up the demon thing. In the 29 years that I’ve done this, I’ve done one case where the fellow seemed to be under a darker influence of something but not demonic.

LA: Do you think people get possessed like in the exorcist?

DP: I think possession does happen. There’s a great book called “Hostage to the Devil” that covers 5 real life possession stories and exorcisms. But it’s not a as common as television wants you to believe it is.

LA: Do you have a bucket list haunt?

DP: Yes! I always wanted to go to the Greek Isles and do some of the caves and caverns. I pitched the idea but we never did it. Also, Egypt but we never made it there due to it not being safe.

LA: What buildings usually have the most paranormal experiences?

DP: Overall I’ve done a lot of hospitals, prisons and there’s always a mix of activity. A lot of the older parts of the country have the most activity. Any place where you have an older settlement you have the greatest chance for activity. That’s why New England is so good. We have Colonial America and all the natives that were here. A good example is where we are now at Anawan Rock.

LA: Is there ever a concern about stirring up spirits that might be best left alone?

DP: If you go into a place looking to stir up trouble than that’s what you’ll get. There’s no reason to do that. We can have a conversation with spirits by being very respectful. I think taking a more cerebral approach to asking them questions you’ll get more interaction from them.

LA: Wait, they actually answer you?

DP: Yeah, sometimes they do. We will get recordings. I keep it simple like yes or no questions. But on the recordings, you will get answers back. But I do believe there are certain things you shouldn’t go looking for. LA: Why do you think people are so obsessed with ghosts?

DP: I think it’s a natural question about what happens after we pass away. Obviously, the focus comes upon it now around Halloween but it’s a shared life experience, something we all wonder about. I put into all my lectures that we are spirits going through a human experience- and while we are here we should be learning from each other and growing together. We always want to know what happens after this. It’s a very human thing to wonder. I’ve found great comfort in my years of doing paranormal investigation that I can say without a doubt that the other side is real. That our spirit goes from this life into something else and I think that’s a wonderful thing and not scary in any way. When it comes to the afterlife, ghosts don’t have to be scary.

Although I didn’t see anything supernatural in the woods at Anawan rock it was definitely a great place for the interview and perfect since it was near Halloween. Dustin…you really do have the coolest job!

To learn more about Dustin and attend one of his lectures or events:

www.paranormalrockstar.com www.dustinpari.com www.twitter.com/dustinpari Facebook: dustinpari Instagram: @dustinpari