00:00Our next guest, you will know his name from the many movies that he has produced over a period of
00:05decades, including Ghostbusters.
00:08You know him from Saturday Night Live, but more appropriately, you know him from the latest program that he's doing
00:13on the History Channel,
00:15The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd. Dan, welcome to the ARE.
00:19Thank you very much.
00:23So, Dan, just a very quick story.
00:27Twenty-five years ago, I'm at the National Association of Broadcasters Convention.
00:31I, you know, it's the first time I've seen celebrities up close and personal.
00:35I never knew Whoopi Goldberg was that short.
00:38And I turned the corner, and there's Dan Aykroyd in front of a big poster that says Strange Universe.
00:44So, he was obviously promoting or looking to syndicate a program, and I approached Mr. Aykroyd, and I said,
00:50Have you ever heard of Edgar Cayce?
00:52And Dan laughed at me. He said, Heard of Edgar Cayce?
00:55I come from a family of mediums. You do, Dan, don't you?
00:59Well, they certainly studied mediums.
01:01My great-grandfather was an Edwardian spiritualist.
01:04His name was Sam Aykroyd. He was a dentist in Kingston, Ontario, and a member of the Lillydale spiritualist community.
01:12So, the writings of Edgar Cayce were always lying around the old farmhouse when I was growing up as a
01:18kid.
01:19My great-grandfather was kind of the researcher in town here in Kingston.
01:24If a psychic sideshow or act would come through town, that would be either the, for instance, I don't think
01:33the Fox sisters ever came to Kingston, but he certainly saw them.
01:35He would sort of do an analysis and write them up for the local paper and people who were interested.
01:41The Bang sisters and the Campbell brothers, they were precipitated painters, and my great-grandfather saw them in person and
01:48would write about their activities.
01:53In the 1930s, he was walking down the street in Kingston, and a man walked up to him, and he
01:58said, Dr. Aykroyd, I believe I have a gift.
02:02And his name was Walter Ashurst, and he was a locomotive mechanic, and he said, I think I have a
02:08gift for mediumship.
02:09So, he became basically the Aykroyd family medium from the 30s right until the late 40s when he moved to
02:15Los Angeles, and the seances in the old farmhouse stopped.
02:19But my dad's book, History of Ghosts on Rodale Press, outlined some of the great events that happened in the
02:25farmhouse there where, during the seances on a Sunday, the big black cars would roll up,
02:31and the matrons would come all in black and with their husbands or partners, and my great-grandfather would, in
02:37effect, be the emcee for these spiritualist seances.
02:42And Walter Ashurst would change form, would change voice, would, at one time, he crumpled himself into a, you know,
02:50kind of a strange little ball and knelt on the back of the chair,
02:55and he was talking about nuclear physics, and sort of after the seance, everybody was trying to put it together,
03:00who this might be,
03:02and come to find out later that Steinmetz, the great physicist, was a, he had scoliosis, and he used to
03:10work by kneeling on the back of a chair.
03:12It's exactly what Walter Ashurst did in that session.
03:15So, he was a very simple man.
03:17He smoked, they gave him, he got paid in turret cigarettes.
03:20That's how they paid him for each seance.
03:22And there were many things that he could have not, not have known that, that came out in these wonderful
03:26channeling sessions.
03:27So, the family's always been interested in it, and the writings of Casey were around.
03:31Of course, I've read the, Jess Stern's biography, and I'm fascinated by, by Casey and the fact that, really, your
03:41guest talked about remote viewing.
03:43He was the first remote viewer, really, of any note and credibility.
03:47And now, that remote work is still going on at the Monroe Institute.
03:51You can go down there and train the American military, although they're not talking about it, they're using it actively.
03:58And Edgar Casey was the, was probably the, the proponent of remote viewing in a practical way that, that assisted
04:06people materially and substantially.
04:08That's what's so beautiful about it, is that there were material and substantial advantages from his intervention in people's lives
04:15and his readings.
04:18So, I mean, you had acknowledged, and of course, he was a pioneer, the gold standard of sorts.
04:22If that is the case, especially now where we're living in an age, your television program and six others on
04:28the History Channel testify to this.
04:31Why do you think, and a lot of people have this question, not just me and this audience,
04:34why do you think there's never been a, a four or five or six part series on a major network
04:39or a biopic on, on this man?
04:42I think it's coming.
04:44You know, right now, there's a lot of focus, especially on my show with, on the paranormal, the supernatural.
04:52We, we do do a, an episode about his, Edgar Casey's healing powers.
04:57And, uh, you know, I have the body, that beautiful phrase that he used to say, I have the body
05:02and the fact that he was sleeping was wonderful.
05:06I love sleep and I dream very loosely.
05:09And, uh, just to think that from Casey's dreams came all again, this beautiful material, substantial help to people.
05:15Uh, I think it's only a matter of time before there'll be a focus.
05:19Now, John Cusack, the terrific young actor, writer, producer, he wrote a Casey movie, which I saw the script of.
05:27And, uh, I was supposed to play a skeptical doctor in it at some point, but I don't think he
05:32ever got the financing together.
05:33But it was a very, very good depiction of Casey, uh, very human and very warm.
05:39And, uh, and Cusack would have played a young Casey in it.
05:42Um, I don't know what happened with that script, but, uh, somebody should pick it up.
05:45Now with streaming services, uh, all kinds of people are making feature films that don't have to just go into
05:50a theater and play for four weeks.
05:53They can play forever.
05:53Now there's so much content out there, so many more content producers and buyers, uh, that I, I, I think
06:00it's time for an Edgar Casey, uh, uh, feature.
06:04I've spoken to my producers about doing a whole, uh, unbelievable special on him.
06:08We did one episode about his healing powers, but, uh, I'd like to focus on, uh, on maybe doing a
06:14three or four part story.
06:16About his, you know, predictions of, uh, natural events of history of, uh, of, uh, of, uh, of earthquakes.
06:23Uh, uh, one of my favorite stories of course is, is the dream he had.
06:27He's, he's in Paris and he's having lunch, uh, with the Duke, uh, Duchess of Windsor.
06:33And the tab comes out and it's $13 and 75 cents.
06:37And he says, I can't pay this in the dream.
06:40I can't pay this.
06:40This is at a time when he was having trouble, uh, putting his mortgage mortgage forward.
06:44He bought the house, but he didn't have the mortgage and, uh, he knew it would come.
06:49And, uh, Jesus appeared to him and said, don't worry.
06:53Uh, it's going to all be taken care of.
06:55And then a check arrived, I think on the Monday that the mortgage was due for $1,375, 1375, 1375
07:05in the dream, 1375 in the check.
07:07Now, talk about a confluence of, of spectacular lucid dreaming, premonitive dreaming, the hookup of the two numbers, and then
07:17you throw in the Christ there.
07:19It's a fascinating story.
07:20Uh, wonderful and all about, uh, the magic and coincidence of, uh, uh, of life and the afterlife and the
07:28invisible world that, uh, we can partake in but, but can't see.
07:32And I know, uh, the Tommy house story is the one you're going to first cover on, uh, the, the
07:38unbelievable.
07:39And of course, for those of you in the Casey universe, you know, this was Edgar's nephew.
07:43He was, I think, six months old.
07:45He was convulsing.
07:46Uh, he's ready.
07:47He's, he's going to go.
07:48Uh, his father, of course, is a doctor.
07:51And, uh, Edgar is called on a dark night on a train.
07:55You can, you can feel the mud on his boots, the rain on his hat.
07:57He gets out and he's supposed to give a reading for this young kid.
08:02And he does, and he prescribes belladonna, which is a deadly nightshade.
08:06And of course, one doctor gets up and leave.
08:08Another doctor says, you can't do this.
08:10And the mother says, Carrie house says, you've got to do this.
08:13And of course, the child ends up, uh, living.
08:16So, uh, Dan, that's the story you're going to be covering the first time out for, uh, the unbelievable.
08:22But you say that there may be some other stories behind that.
08:25Well, I've proposed to our producers that we do a whole, a whole hour of unbelievable on Edgar Casey that
08:32we, we focus on, on so many of, uh, other of his predictions and, uh, and his cures and his
08:39remedies and, uh, and just the man himself, how, how simple and beautiful he was.
08:44Uh, and surprising little quirky things, uh, such as, uh, he felt that Coca-Cola syrup and water could be,
08:52uh, a remedy for kidney disorders, not the carbonated beverage, but you mix the water and the syrup and you
08:58drink that.
08:59Uh, also he smoked cigarettes and he thought, Hey, five or six smokes a day.
09:03Nah, not too bad.
09:04He, any, and alcohol in moderation was not a bad thing for him.
09:08So, uh, just, uh, you know, the simplicity and the humaneness of the, of the guy, uh, a possessor of,
09:16of these amazing gifts.
09:17Uh, here he is, uh, you know, not a superman, uh, certainly a man with superpowers, uh, in a way,
09:24but, but, but, but a man and a human all the way.
09:26Uh, and that, uh, that kind of vulnerability, uh, I, we would like to, uh, to, to depict who was
09:32the man, where's this gift come from, where is, what's the source of the information?
09:37And indeed, do you have to be a Christian to accept it?
09:41Can you not believe, you know, strictly in, uh, in Christ?
09:45Can, can, for instance, can, uh, you know, can people of other faiths accept the work of Edgar Cayce?
09:51This is something we would, we would like to explore.
09:53Well, Dan, thank you so very much for joining us.
09:56I hope we'll get you again right before that program airs on The Unbelievable.
10:01Dan Aykroyd, everybody.
10:02Thank you, Dan.
10:03Appreciate it.
10:07Just, just a quick story.
10:09I just, you know, the synchronicities that are abounding now are kind of neat.
10:13So, we had heard that the Tommy House story was going to be covered on this television program.
10:18And Valerie and I had dinner with some of the producers at the History Channel said,
10:22please get me Dan Aykroyd's, uh, information.
10:25I really want to speak with him.
10:27I want to bring him in here.
10:28I'd really like to bring him to Virginia.
10:29You, at least, at least, at least let's get him on Zoom.
10:32Tried and tried.
10:33One producer tried, another, nothing happens.
10:35Okay.
10:35We did a private conference for some, some well-known people here about six weeks ago.
10:43John was involved with it as well.
10:45And this author brings an entourage of five other people.
10:49And one of the people is Donna Dixon Aykroyd.
10:55So, you know, here's intention, right?
10:58This is our intention.
10:59You move your feet.
10:59You do the things you're supposed to do.
11:01You have a firm belief that things can, can cut.
11:04This is, this is things showing up.
11:07This is resonance causation.
11:09People call it law of attraction, what have you.
11:11But, you know, uh, being able to see this story on this network is going to be fascinating.
11:16And I had heard, and Dan has kind of confirmed it, they want to do more Casey stories, and
11:21I know that delights all of us.
11:22So, thank you for being here.
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