Aaron Sagers
Dave Tango is well known for his ghost hunting fame, but it’s fitting the Linden, NJ, native is a trained illusionist since his life these past four years has been filled with magic. But it’s no trick. At 24, Tango has transitioned from prestidigitation to paranormal investigation and taken the lead on the new cable show Ghost Hunters Academy despite his lifelong battle with Tourette Syndrome, a disease which he’s raising awareness for with a benefit dinner in Westfield, NJ, this Sunday.
Ghost Hunters Academy, airing Wednesdays at 10 p.m., EST, on the Syfy channel, is the latest spinoff of Ghost Hunters, the paranormal reality-TV series that draws about three million viewers each week. Recruited by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, co-founders of the Rhode Island-based group TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society), around which Ghost Hunters is based, Tango has been with the main show since Season Two in 2005. But what began as an “investigator-in-training” position led to a regular investigator title and now to his leadership role on “Academy,” where he’s training young cadets to be ghost hunters.
Along with friend and fellow investigator Steve Gonsalves, 34, Tango travels the country in an R.V. with five Academy recruits to haunted hot spots. Since the Nov. 11 premiere, the team has visited the Eastern State Penitentiary and the Revolutionary War landmark Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia, and the battleship USS North Carolina in Wilmington, N.C. So far Tango’s new endeavor is already showing signs of being a hit after debuting with 2.07 million total viewers, making it Syfy’s most successful reality series premiere in nearly two years.
Tango says the real success isn’t judged by ratings but by the help he can provide to scared owners of haunted locations, and by the awareness he can raise for sufferers of the neurological disorder. Tango will do the latter by joining his father Bruce, a former Elizabeth police officer, for the third annual benefit for the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome on Nov. 29 at the Temple Emanu-EL in Westfield. Featuring performances by comedian Kevin Meaney and singer Kristen Sellers, Tango will appear at the event with Ghost Hunter pals Gonsalves, Dustin Pari and Joe Chin.
While taking a break from leading an investigation with fans at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum in St. Augustine, Fla., Tango sat down to discuss the paranormal, leadership duties and growing up with Tourette Syndrome. For a young guy experiencing so much success, Tango is remarkably grounded and gracious, and most of what he says includes an element of self-effacing humor.
Q: How did a magician from New Jersey get on a hit cable show, and then eventually get his own series?
TANGO: I had my own little group in Jersey and we contacted TAPS because we had a place that had potential. They came and let me and a friend be a guest on an episode. I just got along with everyone, and two weeks later I got a call and they asked if I wanted to give it a trial run … I haven’t messed up since then, I guess!
Q: I guess not. So what is the purpose of Academy?
TANGO: Our mission to find the next ghost hunter for one of our shows. It’s a tedious process … it’s really important because we’re showing how different it [paranormal investigating] is from the show. They’ll see Ghost Hunters and think we’re just in a place for 20 minutes because that’s what they see on TV. We’re in there for hours and hours. It’s really nitty gritty, and you sit down and stare.
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“This is a rare opportunity and you five have been selected from thousands of applicants.” – Jason