Hans Holzer in the 1960s.
Posted on 05/01/2009 8:52:06 PM PDT by JoeProBono
Hans Holzer, whose investigations into the paranormal took him to haunted houses all over the world, most notably the Long Island house that inspired “The Amityville Horror,” died on Sunday at his home in Manhattan. He was 89.
The death was confirmed by his daughter Alexandra Holzer.
Mr. Holzer — who wrote more than 140 books on ghosts, the afterlife, witchcraft, extraterrestrial beings and other phenomena associated with the realm he called “the other side” — carried out his most famous investigation with the medium Ethel Johnson-Meyers in 1977. Together they roamed the house in Amityville, in which a young man, Ronald DeFeo Jr., had murdered his parents and four siblings in 1974.
The house had become notorious after its next owners claimed to have been tormented by a series of spine-chilling noises and eerie visitations, set forth in the best-selling 1977 book “The Amityville Horror: A True Story,” written by Jay Anson.
After Ms. Johnson-Meyers channeled the spirit of a Shinnecock Indian chief, who said that the house stood on an ancient Indian burial ground, Mr. Holzer took photographs of bullet holes from the 1974 murders in which mysterious halos appeared.
Mr. Holzer went on to write a nonfiction book about the house, “Murder in Amityville” (1979), which formed the basis for the 1982 film “Amityville II: The Possession”; he also wrote two novels, “The Amityville Curse” (1981) and “The Secret of Amityville” (1985).
Hans Holzer was born in Vienna and developed an interest in the supernatural when his uncle Henry told him stories about ghosts and fairies. He studied archaeology, ancient history and numismatics at the University of Vienna but left Austria for New York with his family in 1938, just before the Nazi takeover.
After studying Japanese at Columbia University, Mr. Holzer indulged an infatuation with the theater in the 1950s. He wrote sketches for the short-lived revue “Safari!” and the book and music for “Hotel Excelsior,” about a group of young Americans in Paris, which opened in Provincetown, Mass., and proceeded no farther. He also wrote theater reviews for The London Sporting Review.
He earned a master’s degree in comparative religion and a doctorate in parapsychology at the London College of Applied Science. He went on to teach parapsychology at the New York Institute of Technology.
In 1962 he married the Countess Catherine Genevieve Buxhoeveden. The marriage ended in divorce. In addition to his daughter Alexandra, of Chester, N.Y., he is survived by another daughter, Nadine Widener of Manhattan, and five grandchildren.
In pursuit of ghosts, Mr. Holzer began investigating haunted houses and recording the testimony of subjects who believed that they had had paranormal experiences. This field research, usually conducted with a medium and a Polaroid camera, provided the material for dozens of books, beginning with “Ghost Hunter” (1963).
Mr. Holzer called himself “a scientific investigator of the paranormal.” He disliked the word “supernatural,” since it implied phenomena beyond the reach of science, and did not believe in the word “belief,” which suggests an irrational adherence to ideas not supported by fact. Nevertheless, he held in contempt electronic gadgetry for detecting cold spots, magnetic anomalies and the like, preferring direct communication through a medium.
He did believe in reincarnation and past lives (he vividly recalled the Battle of Glencoe in 1692 in one of his Scottish lifetimes) and was a Wiccan high priest, as well as a vegan.
He felt completely at ease with ghosts. “In all my years of ghost hunting I have never been afraid,” he told Leonard Nimoy on the television series “In Search Of” (for which he was a consultant). “After all, a ghost is only a fellow human being in trouble.” Specifically, a human who has died in traumatic circumstances, does not realize he or she is dead and is, as he told the Web site OfSpirit.com in 2003, “confused as to their real status.”
His continuing ghost quest yielded books like “Ghosts I’ve Met” (1965), “Yankee Ghosts” (1966), “The Great British Ghost Hunt” (1975) and “Hans Holzer’s Travel Guide to Haunted Houses “ (1998). But he had a wide-ranging interest in paranormal phenomena and the occult, reflected in books as varied as “Beyond Medicine” (1973), “Inside Witchcraft” (1980) and “Love Beyond the Grave” (1992).
Mr. Holzer saw life on the other side in sharp detail. As he described it to the Web site ghostvillage.com in 2005, it is strangely like this side, and bureaucratic to boot. The dead who become restless and wish to return to Earth for another go-round must fall in line and register with a clerk.
Hans Holzer in the 1960s.
Now he knows the truth. ;-)
Did he ever find Casper?
“was a Wiccan high priest, as well as a vegan.”
“Mr. Holzer saw life on the other side in sharp detail... it is strangely like this side, and bureaucratic to boot. The dead who become restless and wish to return to Earth for another go-round must fall in line and register with a clerk.”
:(
Hans Holzer started my lifelong fascination with ghosts. I was about 7 years old, watching the Art Linkletter show, and he came on with a photo of the Grey Lady on the staircase, talking about his book.
I took one look at that photo and thought whaaaat is this?? Hooked ever since.
Where's the proof?
More kook fringe nonsense.
Hell is peopled with bureaucrats and endless registration forms....
> “The dead who become restless and wish to return to Earth for another go-round must fall in line and register with a clerk.”
Huh? If Holzer said that, that sounds far-fetched. I just remembered watching Dragonball animation and that’s how Goku got back from the dead.
Heaven is freedom....
Sounds like the DMV.
>>Hans Holzer started my lifelong fascination with ghosts. I was about 7 years old, watching the Art Linkletter show, and he came on with a photo of the Grey Lady on the staircase, talking about his book.
I took one look at that photo and thought whaaaat is this?? Hooked ever since.<<<<
Hi there WS!
Seriously, or “seriesly”, I think I saw the same show. About the same time I became fascinated with the subject, and have been hooked, with an extremely guilty conscience, ever since.
The Bible says we shouldn’t conjure the dead, but what if they’re already here? Such a mystery...
I’ve had an experience or two, and have prayed for guidance about it.
Anyway, Mr. Holzer’s writings were fun and fascinating. My he have reached a better place, and Lord willing, may he let someone know about it. :)
Godspeed.
Art Linkletter stays in fast lane Globetrotting TV pioneer is publishing 28th book on 94th birthday Image: ART LINKLETTER Damian Dovarganes / AP Art Linkletter, who turns 94 on July 17, still lives a busy life.Sun., July 16, 2006
What I remember is when I was a kid Hans Holzer investigated a house on Montauk Hwy, only a few blocks from where I lived.
It was on local NY tv, and he used the medium I think he was most famous for, Sybil.
Does anyone remember that? I’ve wanted to know more about it for years.
I met Dr. Holzer. He was a wonderful man. He is the grand old man of all Ghost Hunters. He started it all back in the late 1950s. Rest in peace Hans—keep investigating now from the other side.
He gave up the ghost.
RIP.. I love his books.
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