Spokane man ain't afraid of no ghost | Arts & Culture

If there’s something strange in your neighborhood, it’s probably Alex Mickschl.

Mickschl is a Ghostbuster fully equipped with a proton pack, ecto goggles and the Ectomobile he drives around town.

“My best friend and I, when we were kids, about 11 or 12, we saw the movie Ghostbusters and we fell in love with it,” Mickschl said.

Mickschl and his best friend, Shane Scott Carter, remained fans for over 20 years.

“As kids we had to build our own toys because they didn’t have anything cool back then. So we built stuff out of whatever junk we found laying around and had a good time with it,” said Mickschl. “Unfortunately he died of cancer a couple of years ago. So I decided to do this in the same tradition that we built stuff as kids.”

Mickschl built the Ectomobile piece by piece.

“As kind of as a memorial for him and as therapy for me,” Mickschl said.

The Ectomobile is comprised of parts found all over the world, including surplus Alaska State Trooper light bars and huge computer components.

“I consider it a big art project,” said Mickschl. “It took me a couple of months to build it, but the hard part was collecting all the pieces. I researched the movie quite a bit. I tried to find as many of the same devices and pieces that they used.”

Since the original Ectomobile was built in the early 80’s, finding parts was a challenge.

“Amazing thing about Hollywood is when they build stuff they take junk laying around and turn it into amazing gadgets in movies,” said Mickschl.

The Ectomobile gets a lot of attention around town. The Ghostbusters have been seen at several charity events in the Spokane area. Those events include Walk MS and fundraisers for Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

“A lot of people think I’m a real Ghostbuster. That I do this for a living,” Mickschl said.

Though Mickschl ain’t afraid of no ghost, he’s not going out of his way to chase them down either. He is actually a Spokane firefighter.

“We’re both here to help the public. Ghostbusters charge a little more for their services,” said Mickschl.