Ghostbusters New Timeline: Before the Movies

The Sumerian civilization forms in Mesopotamia. The Sumerians invent writing (cuniform) and the pantheon worshipped by the Sumerians and their successors, the Babylonians and Hittites, include many colorful figures such as Marduk, god of the city; his nemesis, the great dragon Tiamat; the warlord Koza'Rai; Gozer the Gozarian, and its minions Zuul and Vinz Clortho; and the "concubine" Heel.

The rise of Sumeria is from Historical accounts. Marduk and Tiamat are authentic figures from Babylonian myth. Gozer, Zuul, and Vinz Clortho are, of course, from Ghostbusters. Heel is from Ghost Busted. Koza'Rai is from Displaced Aggression.

An "old god" named Dumazu the Destroyer dies (or is destroyed?), and is entombed in a temple. The temple is located in the land that would one day be known as New York. An artifact called the Relic of Nilhe, the only way to revive the dead god, is broken and scattered, though one shard is buried near Dumazu itself.

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime

An Egyptian chronicle mentions a powerful Hyksos diety known as "Zuul, the Gatekeeper, minion of Gozer"

Ghostbusters, from the research Venkman quotes to Dana Barrett. Louis Tully, posessed by Vinz Clortho, relates colorful details of Gozer's career during such events as "the third rectification of the Meketrex supplicants" and "the last reconciliation of the Vuldronaii" but there are no dating contexts given

The historical events related to the legendary rise and fall of Camelot occur.

The placement of the historical basis of Camelot in the sixth century is Historical Theory. The Ghostbusters visit Camelot in Displaced Aggression #3

A Renaissance painter--possibly Piero della Francesca or Raphael--paints an image of four angels and a cherub. The figures bear distinct resemblances to five people who would not be born for some five hundred years: the archangels are Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, Egon Spengler, Winston Zeddemore, and the cherub is newborn Oscar Wallance. Speculation following this revelation in 1989 would include that the painter had a psychic premonition.

Conjecture from Ghostbusters 2. Egon, while not an art scholar (that we know of, anyway...), identifies it as "Late Renaissance" work, possible "Raphael or Piero della Francesca" Venkman helpfully offers "I think it was one of the Fettucinis..."

June 25. Birth of Vigo Von Homburg Deutschendorf, who later terrorizes Eastern Europe as a despot and necromancer known most famously as Vigo the Carpathian, but also as Vigo the Cruel, Vigo the Despised, Vigo the Torturer, Vigo the Unholy, the Scourge of Carpathia, and the Sorrow of Moldavia.

Ray's research in Ghostbusters 2 on Vigo's legends. His full name is seen briefly on Egon's computer record. I should note that Wilhelm Von Homburg was the name of the actor who played Vigo, and Will and Hank Deutschendorf the twins who portrayed Dana's son Oscar. The exact date is conjecture, and a tribute to "Lord Vego" of Ghostbusters.net

Vigo the Carpathian paints his dynamic self portrait. Following a common practice of the time, he paints it over another, older work depicting four strange archangels and a cherub. Unbenownst to the world until 1988, Vigo ensorcelled the painting to contain his essence after his death

Ghostbusters 2. Date is conjecture from the> Ghostbusters 2 adventure module for Ghostbusters International

Vigo the Carpathian is killed by his subjects, having lived 105 years. He is shot, hung, stabbed, and drawn and quartered. Before finally expiring, his severed head delivering the prophesy "Death is but a Doorway, Time is But a Window; I'll be back"

Ghostbusters 2

Ancestors of Dana Barrett emmigrate to the English colonies of North America, presumably on the Mayflower.

Conjecture from a line in the script for Ghostbusters 2; it doesn't actually mention the famous Mayflower, but it's a logical conclusion posited by Dr. Riddle of Ghostbusters.net

Release of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In the story, English businessman Ebeneezer Scrooge is visited by the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, who convince him to renounce his greedy ways and embrace the ideals of Christmas. Unbenownst to the world at large, the Ghosts are real. Their next recorded manifestation is to greedy scumbag Woodrow Wainwright Fraser III sometime in the 1970's.

Past, Present, and Future The date of A Christmas Carol is, of course, historical account. Unlike the classic animated episode "X-Mas Marks the Spot", there is nothing to say that Scrooge was a real person in this reality. Perhaps the Ghosts appeared before Dickens himself?

The New York Pneumatic Rail Road (NYPRR) is first built, the brainchild of Alfred Beach. As envisioned by Beach, it serves as a system of mass transit in Manhattan despiet early opposition of corrupt politico Boss Tweed and others. It is later phased out in favor of the famous subway system; some parts of the pneumatic are abandoned; one juncture, Van Horne Station, becomes an important early part of the return of Vigo the Carpathian in 1988.

Ghostbusters 2, which took some liberty from the work of Alfred Beach from Historical Accounts. In real life the Pneumatic Transit only ran one line that was 312 feet long, and was closed down after Beach's store burned down in 1878. Van Horne station is fictional. Thanks to "ECTO-1" and Ben King (Kingpin) for some interesting research on the matter--for more details, go here

Members of the Stantz family immigrate to the United States from Switzerland;

Conjecture from an unused scene in Ghostbusters 2

Death of prominant attorney Ballard Wright. A few years before, he had fallen in love with "woman of ill repute" Hazel Mayfield and asked her to marry him; she refused. The affair had become fodder for the gossip columns, and Mayfield had become depressed and withdrawn prior to his death.
After his death, Wright's spirit lingers in Mayfield's apartment, manifesting jealousy when any female tenants come home with male company.

Tained Love

Ivo Shandor, an Albanian medical student, forms a cult dedicated to the worship of Gozer the Gozarian, an ancient Sumerian deity also known as The Destructor and The Traveller. Shandor believed that society was too sick to survive, and performed many "unnecessary" surgeries, experimenting with the pacifiction of humans. He also branched out into architecture, creating the design for 550 Central Park West, the 1984 residence of Dana Barrett and Louis Tully. His cult had over one thousand members at the time of his death.

Ghostbusters From Ray and Egon's research. The production notes included in the DVD release reveal that the name "Gozer" actually came from a documented haunting in New England (the notes unfortunately do not include a date, or you can bet I'd cite it), though the creature's history as a Sumerian god is fictional.

The Titanic sinks after hitting an iceberg, killing more than 1500 people.

Historical Accounts. The Titanic finally makes it to New York City on December 31, 1988, as seen in Ghostbusters 2 The depiction in GB2 does confict with some historical facts; however, they were facts not known until the Titanic was actually found and explored in the late 1990's: there was no huge hole in the ship caused by the iceberg, and in fact no hole that size and shape is on the ship now as it sits under water. Also the letters 'RMS' were not on the name plate as shown on the ghost ship.

The New York Central City Albany derails, killing hundreds of people.

Historical accounts, embellished in Ghostbusters 2. Winston gets to see a spectral version of the train up close. Once again, as with the NYPRR, some liberties were taken: in real life, the train was running light and only two people were injured when the train jumped its tracks and crashed through a wall. The wreck caught fire, but there were no reports of fatalities. In a bit of irony, the train they show in the tunnel was a steam engine so wouldn't have been used in a subway tunnel, yet the actual 'Albany' was an above ground train and was indeed a steam engine.

The grandparents of Egon Spengler, originally of Ostrov, Poland, emmigrate to the United States.

Conjecture from the script of Ghostbusters 2. I theorize the Polish branch of the Spenglers are still nominally Jewish, in part because Harold Ramis is Jewish.

Gangsterism flourishes among the Prohibition. The most notorious crime boss is, of course, Al Capone, who runs the Chicago underworld with an iron fist.

Capone and other gangsters appear in The Other Side

The Fred F. French Company builds it's "urban utopia" on the slums of Goat Hill. By 1990, the building is owned by Woodrow Wainwright Fraser III.

Past, Present, and Future

The publication of Quantum Futuristics by Dr. Slausow, where he predicts a futuristic society on Mars in 2060. The work is known to Ray Stantz, and later appears quite presentient when the Ghostbusters visit a Mars colony in 2060

Displaced Aggression #3.

The explosion of the comic form before and during World War 2, known by comic book historians as the "Golden Age", would see many artists coming to prominance. One of the most renowned is Frank Bancroft, who in collaboration with writer Karl Miller, would create "Super Gods" and other comic book heroes who would still be published at least five decades later.

Ghostbusters: Con-Volution. Frank Bancroft is clearly based on real Golden Age artist Jack Kirby, co-creator of Captain America, the New Gods, and most of Marvel's Silver Age heroes. The mention of his "feud" with Karl Miller is probably a satire of Kirby's collaborations with Joe Simon in the Golden Age, and Stan Lee in the Silver

Criminals Tony and Nunzio Scoleri are electrocuted. They were sentenced to death by a young judge named Steven Wexler in one of the first cases of his forty-plus year career. They would be summoned back to try and take revenge on Wexler by the slime of Vigo the Carpathian in 1988.

Ghostbusters 2. The date is not actually given in the final film, and is conjecture from the movie's script (and is given in GB2#1). The names Tony and Nunzio are mentioned on Ghostbusters.net, so I'm honestly not sure how accurate they are...list them as Conjectural for now.

October 28. Janine Melnitz is born to Fritz and Denise Melnitz, and raised in Brooklyn.

Exact date is Conjecture--Annie Potts' birthday is October 28,1952, which more or less matches the age they give her in Ghostbusters International (The animation squarely establishes her birthdate in 1958; Tory Brown's web site does not list a birthday for her). The names of her parents are conjectural. It is assumed, though not established, that the Melnitz family is Jewish--one more reason I posited the Ostrov Spenglers as being of Jewish descent (more common ground for Egon and Janine). "Melnitz" is a legitimate name, but Dr. Riddle is unsure as to the exact origin, probably Hebrew, Slavic, or Germanic.

May 2. Birth of Winston Zeddemore, the son of construction worker Edward Zeddemore and his wife Lucille. By 1985 he has at least one nephew.

Conjecture. Fandom seems to have latched onto the idea that Winston is older than the other three original Ghostbusters, and may have served in Vietnam--note that if I kept to year derived from Ghostbusters International, he would've been born in 1962, and would instead be the youngest Ghostbuster. Ernie Hudson' birthday: Dec. 17, 1945. The date May 2, 1954 was provided by Dr. Riddle, from Tory Brown's fan site "Real Ghostbusters Out of Control". Mother's name is from Richard Mueller's novelization of the first movie. Edward Zeddemore is actually from an RGB episode written by Mueller, and his background as a construction worker is also referenced in the 2004 novel The Return There is room for speculation that Winston has more siblings, as the GB1 novelization speculates he could be one of twelve children The name "Zeddemore" is believed to be fictitious. Nephew was mentioned in Ghostbusters: Legion#1

October 13. Birth of Raymond Francis Stantz to Doctor David Stantz and his wife, the former Carolyn MacMillan.

1953 date derived from 1990 age of 37 in Ghostbusters International; the animation establishes a much later birthdate in 1959. Ray's Exact date is conjecture provided by Dr. Riddle, from Tory Brown's fan site "Real Ghostbusters Out of Control".(Dan Aykroyd was born July 1, 1952) Middle name is a fan conjecture derived from Ghostbusters ("Come here, Francine...") David and Carolyn's names are, again, from Shiela Paulson fiction. . Ray's parents are deceased by 1984: the property he puts up for collateral in Ghostbusters was left to him by them.
The novelization of the first movie suggestt that Ray has two siblings: an older brother, Carl, who is in the USAF and is married with two sons; and younger sister Jean, who is divorced with a daughter, and lives a bisexual lifestyle in California. It also suggests that Ray's father was a doctor and his mother was a housewife. Thanks to Miss Janine for this information.
Fan fictions by Shiela Paulson conjecture that Ray was about eleven at the time David and Carolyn died in an auto accident, and that afterwards he was raised primarily by rather uncaring foster parents. This is all fan conjecture, however. The Gb1 novelization suggests a more recent death of the Stantzes, about eighteen months before the movie (ie early 1983). To add Carl and Jean to the story, Dr. Riddle suggests that perhaps Ray was David and Carlolyn's clear favorite, which would explain why he got the house they were born in and, by the novel's accounts, neither of the three Stantz siblings talk to each other (I can also imagine Carl disapproves of Jean's life style) (It gets really wild in a "what if" story Paulson did, "Father to the Man", which speculates on a really shocking true identity of David Stantz...

Peter Charles Venkman is born on October 25, to Charlie Venkman and the former Margaret Abernathy.

Year derived from Ghostbusters International. The date of October 25, 1957 was one obtained by Dr. Riddle, from Tory Brown's fan site "Real Ghostbusters Out of Control". (Bill Murray was born Sept. 21, 1950) Venkman's middle name is conjecture from fan fictions, and is named after his Dad. The names of Venkman's parents comes from fan fiction guru Shiela Paulson, so are technically conjectural.
In his novelization of the first movie, writer Richard Mueller reportedly conjectures that Venkman was raised in a circus. Ironically enough, Mueller himself would void that idea by creating Charlie Venkman--though there is some sentiment that perhaps Charlie grew up in a circus.
Dr. Riddle believed the name "Venkman" fictitious until uncovering people who actually have that name, living in my own home state of Indiana. He believes it is probably derived from the same roots as the word "fink" (The word �Fink� means a contemptible person, someone who�s considered mean, low, a coward or a cheat.) Fits him.

Parkview Mental Hospital is built in New York City. Unbenownst to anyone, it is built atop the tomb of Dumazu the Destroyer. Construction workers uncover the buried shard of the Relic of Nilhe; archeologists are unable to identify it, and by 2011 it ends up in the American Museum of Natural History

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime

October 8. Dana Barrett is born

Age given in Ghostbusters International. About all we really know about her family is that her parents are still alive in 1983, and might live too far away to see their daughter regularly (Ghostbusters). A line in the Ghostbusters script would suggest she's yet another Scorpio, too...but Sigourney Weaver was born October 8, 1949, so I conjecture that as Dana's birthday

November 21. Egon Spengler is born to Dr. Edison Spengler and his wife Katharine. Egon is given a very strict upbringing stressing academic success, so much that he was allowed no toys. Egon eventually attends Columbia University for four years, Oxford for two, and spends an extended residency with Gnostic monks in Carpathia; as a grad student, he studies under preeminant condensed matter and particle physics scholar Dr. Harold Teplitz, who flunks him on the basis of his "wild" theories.

Year based on Egon's age as listed in Ghostbusters International (Readers of the Classic Timeline also know this was "confirmed", in animated continuity, by the EGB episode "Back In The Saddle") Harold Ramis was born on Nov.21, 1944. December 5, 1956 was a date provided by Dr. Riddle, from Tory Brown's fan site "Real Ghostbusters Out of Control". Shiela Paulson's name for Egon's father is Elliot, while I called him Newton in my old stories--I decided to split the difference and suggest the name Edison. Katharine is named again from fan fiction. Egon mentions that he wasn't allowed any toys (save a Slinky that he straightened) in Ghostbusters 2 Teplitz, and Egon's academic history, are from Ghost Busted, which is somewhat contradictory to the GB1 script assumption that Egon studied at MIT.
The novelization of the first movie conjectures that Egon has a brother, but this is unsupported by the totality of canon, which paints him as an only child. Thanks to Miss Janine for the information.

April 18. Birth of Louis Bartholomew Tully.

Date is conjecture from Rick Moranis's birthdate of April 18, 1954; in Ghostbusters Louis throws a party to celebrate four years as an accountant; assuming he graduated from a four year program, he would be twenty-six in 1984. (Thanks to "born2bustheads" and "Princess Artemis" for pointing these facts out). Note that in the Classic Timeline, as GB1 is placed in 1983, Louis was born the same day in 1957. Name "Bartholomew" is conjectural--he has the middle initial "B" in the Ghostbusters International role playing books--the age in that book was disregarded, however, as it would imply Louis was born in 1960, which contradicts the movie whether it took place in 1983 or 1984. Louis's mother is apparently widowed or divorced before 1989--Louis mentions in Ghostbusters 2 that he "Had a roommate, but then my Mom moved out." The script for Ghostbusters 2 introduces Louis's cousin Sherm, a dermatologist, but as he didn't appear in the final movie his existance is only conjectural (Sherm does appear in GB2#3)

Among the Miller Meteor Cadillac Hearse/Ambulances manufactured this year are two vehicles that, when aquired by the Ghostbusters in 1983 and 1988, would be the two incarnations of the famous ECTO-1

Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2. The exact model year of the ECTOs comes from a post by Zack on Ghostbusters.net.

November 15. Birth of Ilyssa Selwyn, birth name unknown. She is adopted by Jeremiah and Fabianne Selwyn of the Chicago Institute for Ancient Eastern Studies. She spends much of her childhood with her adopted parents as they travel throughout Asian and European archeological sites, and on the lecture circuit.

Promotional pdf for Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Janine Melnitz attends the World's Fair at Flushing Meadows. She leaves with two souvenir coins that she keeps as good luck charms. She gives one of these to Egon Spengler in 1983, on the eve of the Ghostbuster's battle with Gozer

Conjecture; this was actually from a scene edited from Ghostbusters that showed up as an "extra" on the 1999 DVD release. As I thought it was a cute scene, and it doesn't violate continuity, I thought I'd add it to the timeline...

Winston Zeddemore, son of construction worker Edward Zeddemore, is drafted to fight in the Vietnam War.

Conjecture. Winston's service in Vietnam is a popular fan assumption, though unsupported by any canonical evidence--though nothing I know of refutes it either, It IS mentioned in the GB1 script that he has extensive military experience 1971 is eighteen years after his conjectured birth in 1953.

At some point in his youth, Winston is involved with a woman named Janelle. She drowns and dies; Winston mourns her for many years before he allows himself to love again.

"The Other Side, Part 3" Whether this would be before being drafted, in his teenage years, or after, is unknown. Arguably, this could have happened as late as the early 1980's, before Winston became a Ghostbuster; as the other Ghostbusters didn't recognize her, it's safe to assume that she died before he met them.

Peter Venkman enters college. He eventually attains doctorates in parapsychology and psychology.

Date is conjecture, assuming a graduation date of May 1973 (Venkman was born Oct. 1954). Venkman's doctorates are established in Ghostbusters, though there's always the sneaking suspicion that he earned them at one of those "Send us your money we send you a doctorate" Correspondance Schools--the script for Ghostbusters credits Egon for making Venkman finish grad school. The exact timing of Venkman's meeting with Egon Spengler is unknown.

Louis Tully graduates from high school, and attends college majoring in Accounting.

Assumes he attended college for four years before becoming an accountant; he celebrates four years in the field in Ghostbusters

Death of Jeremiah and Fabianne Selwyn during a cave in. Their adopted daughter, Ilyssa, at that time attending Kuwait's Seisemme Academy, later attends the University of Illinois, via scholarships from the Chicago Institute, the Trompe Corporation, and the Shandor Foundation. She earns a PhD in Anthropology from Columbia University, and one in Applied Archeological Sciences from UC Berkely.

Promotional pdf for Ghostbusters: The Video Game

Democrat Lenny Clotch is elected Mayor of New York City.

Conjecture. In the Real World, Ed Koch was first elected in 1977. Lenny's party affiliation comes from the novelization of the first movie, his full name from the novelization of the second.

The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future appear to twenty-two year old Woodrow Wainwright Fraser III, a greedy man who is aspiring to be even richer. As they did with Ebeneezer Scrooge in the Dickens story, they try to get him to mend his ways, but fail--Fraser instead tempts the Ghost of Christmas Present with his own hedonistic ways, and the ghost ends up posessing him to share the life style of privledge. The other two Ghosts appear to Fraser every Christmas Eve thereafter, but have no success in tempering Fraser's greed (he buys his own father out of the company in a hostile takeover ten years later) or convincing the Ghost of Christmas Present to release itself from Fraser.

Past, Present, and Future. Fraser's exact age, and the numbr of years the ghosts had been hassling him is unknown. The ghosts had been visiting him since he was 22, however, and he bought his father out of the company at age 32; thus, the first visit could have taken place no later than 1980, and that would be if Fraser was 32 in 1990. Despite his prematurely grey, thinning hair (which he insists was a side effect of the stress of the visits) he appears to be older than this, meaning the visits started earlier.

Art restorer Janosz Poha and his sister emigrate to the United States. The sister marries an American with the last name Crendall; by 1988, they have a young son, Alan, who is old enough to remember his Uncle Janosz, though the family has no contact with him from 1989 through 2011.

Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime. Alan Crendall, one of the Ghostbuster recruits in the game, is "somewhere in [his] twenties" in 2011, which obviously means he was born after 1981. On the other hand, he's old enough to remember Uncle Janosz before his mother breaks all contact with him after Ghostbusters 2. If more information comes to light letting us nail down Alan's age more clearly, it will be reflected in future revisions of this Timeline

Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Peter Venkman, and Micheal Draverhaven use a device of Spengler's design, Stantz's construction, and aided with knowledge of Polynesian runes provided by Draverhaven, that attempts to open a portal to the "spirit world". The device fails and explodes, and Draverhaven is driven insane and attacks Stantz. He is committed to Albany Psychological Corrections Facility. Unknown to the future Ghostbusters at the time, the cause of Draverhaven's insanity was the awakening of his psychic ability to talk to and control paranormal entities.

Ghostbusters: Legion#3 While the flashback supposedly takes place ten years before the story (six months after Gozer), the date has been arbitrarily moved five years before the story; as mention is made of the experiment being important in Venkman gaining his degree, 1980 actually works better in context with other parts of the Timeline.

Louis Tully becomes a Certified Public Accountant

Ghostbusters. Louis throws a party to celebrate four years as an accountant.

Dr.s Egon Spengler and Peter Venkman are employed by Columbia University to do parapsychological research. By 1984, they are under the department management of Dean Yaeger.

Conjecture. It is never established, but the impression is given that Egon and Venkman met in college, and worked together since. Dean Yaeger is from Ghostbusters