CHICAGO—Hovering above the press conference outside his Chicago home, writer, director, actor and humorist Harold Ramis was pretty transparent about his intentions: “I ain’t afraid of no ‘busters.”

“They may be beloved, but they’re not likely up for the task of taking me down,” Ramis said in reference to America’s most renown ghost hunting team, The Ghostbusters. “I spent a good portion of my life analyzing these paranormal investigators, and I’m surprisingly well-versed in their techniques.”

Ramis held this press conference following his death Monday morning. In life, he was known for his shenanigans at both Playboy and the Second City, as well as on the sets of the films National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978), Caddyshack (1980), Stripes (1981), Groundhog Day (1993), Analyze This (1999) and several episodes of NBC’s The Office.

“I’ve always just done what I wanted to do and what interested me, and I’m not going anywhere” Ramis said, adding that he’s eager for the opportunity to be the “spook-inest ghost with the most, or something.”

The Ghostbusters arrived on the scene just after Ramis’ departure to collect readings. The usually chatty team declined to comment, and Dr. Egon Spengler was curiously absent. – GS