The Strange Life and Mysterious Disappearance
of Professor Sebastian Pott
New York City, NY 1968
Sebastian Pott was born in Amityville, New York to Doctor Samuel Pott and Mrs. Gwendolyn 'Wendy' Pott on Friday, October 13th, 1922. His father, a veteran of the first World War, worked as a local pediatrician. His mother was an aspiring novelist.
Dr. and Mrs. Pott with baby Sebastian,
Amityville, NY, March 1923.
At a very young age Sebastian had an affinity for the generally unseen world of the supernatural. He would claim to see things like shadow people and hear disembodied voices. His parents took him to see doctors but none could find anything definitively wrong with the boy. Most chalked it up to a vivid imagination.
Discussing Sebastian's 'observations' was discouraged by his parents but, unfortunately for them and perhaps fortunately for us, encouraged by his father's older brother, his uncle Jack.
Jack Pott in New York City, NY, 1930
Jack Pott was a Medium, Spirit Photographer, and clever, talented charlatan who cashed in on the public's fascination with the paranormal in the late 1920s and into the 1930s. He loved to drop by the Pott residence, freeload for a few days, and regale the family with tales of his travels and the strange and terrible wonders he had seen.
As time went on and Sebastian got older, Uncle Jack would talk to him about what ghostly phenomena he'd seen or heard and then Jack would incorporate the material into his act. By the time Sebastian was 13, Uncle Jack came by less and less often, stayed for shorter and shorter periods, and spoke less and less about the supernatural. While part of the reason for this was Sebastian's father Sam tiring of his brother's antics, Sebastian himself felt there was something else, something peculiar, going on with his Uncle.
The last time Sebastian saw his Uncle Jack, indeed the last time anyone did, was on a Winter evening in 1937. It was the night before Thanksgiving and Sebastian went outside to fetch extra firewood, only to see his Uncle sitting on the back porch, drunk, scarred, and sobbing. When Sebastian asked what had happened, Jack Pott gave him a barely coherent, rambling tale of his life over the previous year. His story was sketchy and incomplete, many elements being unclear and even out of sequence. There was something about a coven or cult, money, a baby, and...a demon? A demon baby? Sebastian tried to convince his uncle to come inside but Jack refused. He stood up, kissed Sebastian's forehead, said goodbye and to give his love to his parent, the rest of the family, and then he walked off into the cold, windy night never to be seen again.
Sebastian Pott at New York University
New York, NY, 1941
This traumatic event didn't dissuade Sebastian from pursuing his interest in parapsychology but rather spurred it onward. In whatever spare time he had, the young Pott read anything he could find on the supernatural, from ghost stories to academic studies on the subject. Sebastian attended elementry, middle, and high school locally but with his gifted intellect he was able to win an academic scholarship to attend college at New York University. There he studied English Literature, History, International Cultural Studies, Parapsychology, and Philosophy. Two years after entering NYU, Sebastian was drafted into the US military to serve in World War II. His high intelligence and various areas of knowledge had him rapidly assigned to the Military Intelligence Division and soon after the Office of Strategic Services.
Pott was honorably discharged in the Autumn of 1945. While offered a job to work in Washington, DC, Sebastian decided to immediately return to NYU and complete his master's degree. Actually degrees; three of them to be exact. After graduation, he spent a year touring the United States, investigating locations said to be haunted or the sites of assorted strange phenomenon. He also met with and interviewed over twenty-five different clergyman, writers, historians, Native American elders, and others on the subjects of classic [old world] folklore, urban folklore, mythology of the Indigenous People, and reported psychic activity. It was at this time that Pott began recording much of what he learned under the title, 'The Curious Cases', which were copied down in a series of composition notebooks.
Pott eventually returned to New York City and began teaching classes at both NYU and Columbia University. His focus was on World Folklore and Mythology. He also wrote and assisted with numerous peer reviewed papers on the subjects of folklore and parapsychology over the next 25 years or so before taking a three year sabbatical to focus solely on research and write the copious amount of notes that would eventually become his legacy. Prof. Pott continued investigating claims of paranormal in person and had numerous first hand encounters with the supernatural, though he confined the details to his own writings and the confidence of only his closest friends and colleagues, of which he maintained only a few. One of these people was his personal assistant for over 35 years, Nancy Strode. Strode was known to be fully supportive of Professor Pott and his work but also constantly insisted he take a real vacation once in a while. He never did.
In the fall of 1978, Doctor Samuel Pott passed away and Sebastian, at the age of 56, traveled back to Amityville to take care of things and relocate his mother to live with him in New York City. On the way, approximately 13 miles from his destination, Sebastian became lost as a result of a sudden thunderstorm with high winds that created limited visibility. He ended up in the small New York village of Meretown. The place looked idyllic and peaceful but driving through it filled Pott with dread and he went through it without stopping until he was able to reach the correct road. He would later discover that no such place as 'Meretown, NY' existed.
Sebastian's Mother passed peacefully in her sleep in 1982 and he was left very much alone family wise. Most other members of his extended family had moved away from New York State over the decades and he had lost touch with the majority of them some time prior. As 1984 approached, Prof. Pott noted a noticable increase in ghost sightings and unconfirmed reports of supernatural phenomena all around the New York City area. He looked into dozens of incidents, certain that the increase was no accident.
Just a few months prior to the formation of the Ghostbusters and the Manhattan Crossrip of 1984, a 62 year old Prof. Sebastian Pott told his assistant and friend Nancy Strode that he was finally taking that vacation she was always suggesting. He left a manilla envelope for her, as well as keys to a safe deposit box she was previously unaware of. Included was a note on top that read...
'Off to visit Meretown.
Thank you for your friendship and all you have done over the years.
With Warmest Regards,
Pott.'
The fate and final whereabouts of Professor Sebastian Pott after that day are unknown. He left hundreds of thousands of dollars to Nancy Strode, as well as making her the executor of his will. Included in his final wishes were that a large contribution of the money he had made through investments and savings be donated to New York University, Columbia University, and various scientific and parapsychology organizations and institutions. Also included in his will was a request that his life's work, the in-depth study of the supernatural and all he had written on the subject, 'go where you feel they will do the most good'.
This final notation is what eventually led to his material being shared with the Ghostbusters. Recently, the full and final transfer of all his notebooks, sketchbooks, photography, and other research has been transfered to Ghostbusters Inc., International. The money exchanged that didn't cover the legal and other expenses of the process went to a scholarship fund in Prof. Pott's name.
-From 'The Strange Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Professor Sebastian Pott - A Brief Biography of a Parapsychology Pioneer', by Adam Dickstein and Dr. Raymond Stantz. Appearing after the introduction in the book 'Professor Sebastian Pott's Hosts of Freaky Ghosts', published 2026 by Ray's Occult Books and Ghostbusters Inc., International.
According to Nancy Strode, now Nancy MacNeil, Prof. Pott had encounters with anomalous events and entities for most of his life. He revealed to her at one point that he had personally seen no fewer than 100 ghostly apparitions, witnessed objects move and even levitate all on their own, heard and recorded hundreds of hours of audio evidence including voices, laughter, screams, and indistinct Electronic Voice Phenomena, and felt everything from cold spots to sudden extreme heat to a sticky, ectoplasmic residue that rapidly dissipated.
His writings will share details on those encounters in the upcoming excerpts from his book.
Stay tuned,
Adam Dickstein
Ghostbusters Inc., International.
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Barking Alien
There are numerous classic Horror Film references in this post, exclusively from the 1960s and 1970s. Did you catch them? To be revealed!
