Hull-house Interview - Blog Posts

Hull-House interview with the Ghoul Boys

I finally watched the interview Ryan and Shane did with the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum (The Haunting of Hull-House with Shane and Ryan of Ghost Files) and it was great.

They talked with the Hull-House Education Coordinator Nadia Maragha who not only did a great job as an interviewer but also seemed to be a fan of Unsolved and Watcher too.

The video started with the history of the Hull-House and the interviewer also told them about the space they had the interview in. I really liked that Ryan and Shane just sat there and listened. I love listening to what those two dorks have to say as much as the next queer but it was also great to listen to someone who knows what she is talking about and just watch Ryan and Shane.

They also talked a bit about the role of the Hull-House today - it is a museum on a college campus and part of the University Illinois-Chicago. The video will also be seen by the students of the university.

The interviewer said “Hull-House hasn’t really engaged very much with its supernatural history” and I find that incredibly interesting. Watcher got invited to Hull-House instead of reaching out first which I also find very amazing.

Shane said: “I think if you get people to read into these things or get them interested in these things then it’s worth what you’re doing. I’m sure there’s a ton of people who don’t know about Hull-House or Jane Addams or anything that goes on here cause it does seem a little more localized.”

And he is right, I did not know about it before but now I do. ^-^

Ryan said there is value in learning about other people’s beliefs and I agree with that 100% (and may I just say, the man is an absolute treasure).

They talked about locations they investigated - most creepy locations, favorite locations, and dream locations.

One question was especially interesting to me: How do they avoid sensationalizing places with a heavy history, how do they keep the balance between that and the comedic aspects of the show?

Ryan gave a very careful/thoughtful answer (seriously watch the vid) and he also said that believing in ghosts is perhaps one of the more optimistic things you can do because it proofs that there is something after you die. “Trying to kind of find proof of that is something that still drives me in terms of just my natural curiosity of the world.”

On how to get started with ghosthunting, they had this to say: use the phone you already have and go to a haunted place (Ryan), be safe, be vigilant, wear some boots, don’t go into a condemned building (Shane). Both answers I love because it’s basically just: “This is accessible, you don’t need fancy equipment”, and “Be safe, don’t get hurt”.

Nobody ever got to check out the attic! It is so cool to me that they were the first ones who hunted for ghouls and devil babies there. Amazing.

The interviewer said it is common that people don’t want to go upstairs because they don’t feel right about it, even if they don’t know about the haunted history.

Some random things:

Shane said when he was in grade school, he wanted to be an art teacher.

Shane did a project in school where had to present something about insects and he edited a video about bees.

Bergaraism - The Science We Don’t Know About Yet. A nice little reminder of “There is other science we don’t know about yet”. :D I enjoyed that a lot.

The interviewer also spoke about her own beliefs which was SUPER interesting.

Also, I really like her flower pen! ^-^