|
Location, Location,
Location:
 Hey
guys it's Ray Stantz here again. Being that 2004 is the
20th anniversary of this great company, I figured that I'd
give you all a taste of how things have changed since that
first year we were in business as popularized in our movie.
So I am going to give you a tour of the places that hold
great meaning for this organization.
First up is Columbia University. This is the place
that gave Pete, Egon, and I the grant to allow us to begin
to realize our dream of studying the popular phenomena of
ghosts and the supernatural.
Next up is the main branch of the New York Public Library.
This is where we ran (quite literally) into our first
human-like manifestation, that gave us the crucial data on
actually capturing an holding a ghost indefinitely.
 This
is the facade of the bank that was nice enough to not look
at our credit when they allowed us to get a loan for a
considerable sum to start our ghost busting business.
It is now no longer a bank, hell the Bank of Manhattan has
merged so many times not even Louis could keep up with it.
 This
brings us to 55 (was 550) Central Park West, sans the top
three floors. This is of course the site of our famous
duel with Mr. Stay Puft. As you can see the church and
the high rise have since been restored. (the apartment,
under our suggestion, was rebuilt with out the Gozerian cult
temple, for obvious reasons)
And finally like everything else in this world we return to
our starting point, Columbia University, to the building that Egon worked at
after we went bankrupt in the late 1980's where he furthered
the research that He and I started as Ghostbusters.
Now it is the site of our offices at Columbia University as
adjunct professors of Parapsych 307 and Paranormal Studies
101. |
|
The Tools of
the Trade
 Proton
Pack
 The
number one piece of Ghostbusters tech. This baby is
what makes us Ghostbusters. It is the culmination of
years of research between Ziggy and myself. The proton
pack is a portable nuclear accelerator. It creates a
low powered positive ion field that is exported to
 the
positron collider, which in turn takes the positive ion
field and funnels it into a focused ion stream. This
stream can be fired at will by the operator by depressing a
small button on the side of the gun box. There are
many levers and switches on the gun
 box
that can have varying effects on the type of stream that is
fired. The stream, being made of positively charged
ions, is naturally drawn (with a little coaxing) to the
negative ions that make up most paranormal manifestations.
Ghost
Traps
 Once
a ghost is entangled in the ion stream it needs to be placed
in a temporary storage container to be brought to the main
ecto conatinment unit (ECU)/protection grid. The traps
are highly portable lightweight devices that first hold a
ghost it what I like to call "the inverted cone of silence",
basically it is a
 high
powered beam of pure positive ions. This holds the
ghost in place so that the pack operators can shut down
their streams. Then the trap operator hits the foot
pedal and the the ghost is sucked into the cartridge of the
trap encased in a miniature laser containment grid for safe
transport to the ECU.
Ectomobiles
 The Ectomobile(s)
are our company cars, so to speak. The original ECTO-1
was a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ambulance. The car is sought
after for it's highly
 recognizable Caddy "Fins" This was the
most extreme year for fins which makes this car a hot
collectors item. I worked my ass off restoring that
car, but a
proper restoration was put off when we were forced to shutdown.
Before our 1989 reopening, the ECTO-1's engine seized up and luckily enough,
a second 1959 Ambulance surfaced. This one was purchased from a
private collection and was in better condition. It was dubbed the
ECTO-1a and was fitted with updated ghost sensing (ect o-location) gear, and
Dr. V. added a ton of marketing tools, such as the scrolling LED signs,
Brighter multi-colored lights and advertising graphics.
The
Firehouse
Our o riginal HQ,
and my personal residence. This building was an old New York City firehouse,
that we bought from the city in late 1983. Though it was an
unique fixer-upper, it was still quite expensive, but it fit my image
of what The Ghostbusters were, a paranormal first-aid squad.
(Actually it was the pole. -Dr. V.) Due to the substandard
wiring the Firehouse needed massive overhaul to support the grid before
we could open for business. The Firehouse received a second, more
thorough refurbishing/restoration in 1984 when Mr. Peck(er) caused the containment
unit to blow by shutting off the protection grid.
Actually we're in the process of another restoration. (see
no sign) Even though the Ghostbusters-International
franchise offices moved to a larger complex in Manhattan, the
Firehouse still functions as the base of operations and
staging area for the Original Ghostbusters team that I lead
on a daily basis.. |
