INTERVIEW: Ken Boggle, star of ghostly new Hulu series, on his life with the dead
Photo: Ken Boggle is one of the paranormal investigators featured on Living for the Dead. Photo courtesy of Hulu / Provided by press site with permission.
The new reality series Living for the Dead follows a group of LGBTQIA+ paranormal investigators as they travel around the country looking for scary locations that raise the hair on the back of one’s neck. The show premieres today, Oct. 18, on Hulu and features the ghostly adventures of Alex Le May, Juju Bae, Ken Boggle, Logan Taylor and Roz Hernandez.
The team’s travels on the inaugural season are varied and diverse, including tucked-away places off the tourist map and other locations that have become legendary for paranormal experts. One of them is the Clown Motel in Tonopah, Nevada, which is essentially a clown-themed motel in the middle of the desert. Well, the Living for the Dead team is ready to check in to the place — and perhaps never check out.
Boggle is one of the featured stars on the show, which was created by the team behind Queer Eye. He’s an expert tarot card reader and identifies as a psychic medium. He’s been in the ghost-hunting business for more than a decade and has taken on the role of being an “uncle” figure on the series, providing his wisdom on how these investigations will turn out.
Recently Boggle talked with Hollywood Soapbox about the new show. Here’s what he had to say …
On the excitement that comes with being on Hulu …
“Oh my goodness, it’s mind-blowing. I had no idea it was going to be like this. Dude, one of my clients that I read tarot cards for lives in L.A., and she’s like, ‘You’re on the 405.’ I’m like, ‘What the hell does that even mean? What do you mean?’ She’s like, ‘There’s this massive billboard on the way to the airport.’ Then they sent us this information in an email that there’s going to be billboards all over L.A. and one in Times Square. I can’t believe that. My mind is melting. It’s the most surreal experience of my entire life.”
On how he became connected to the creative team behind Living for the Dead …
“I was minding my own business on Twitter, and I got a bunch of different direct messages saying, ‘You’ve got to do this show.’ … I had already had a small little program already on a streaming platform that ran for three seasons. I’m like, ‘I’ve already done TV. I’m not really sure I’m going to do it again,’ but my producer from that series said, ‘Well, tough. I just talked you up, so don’t let me down, Ken. You have to at least try.’ So I filled out the forms and did the things, and I was still kind of apprehensive about it until I started really working with the casting company. They were amazing, and then I got to meet some of the production people. They were phenomenal. Then it was like, I have to do this. The further I got into it the more I realized this is the most unbelievable opportunity, so it all started from just a couple direct messages and tweets. Then we all went to a casting thing, a chemistry test, and I met Logan and the castmates. And we got on like wildfire. It was just amazing, and here we are best friends traveling the country doing what we love to do. It’s a phenomenal experience.”
On being accepted in this group of paranormal investigators …
“Being LGBTQ+ and being in the community, you are pretty used to not fitting in, and you’re pretty used to people not liking you. So you develop this thing of, ‘Oh, they’re not going to like me, or this isn’t going to go well.’ … But from the moment I met Logan, I looked at him and said, ‘If I’m on this show, I promise you that I will hold your hand, and I will be your best friend. And I will love you because if we make it together, I will support you always.’ And we kind of made a little pack that if we made it on the show, we would take good care of each other, and then it became a thing where I did that with Alex, Rob and Juju, and since then we’ve developed these phenomenal relationships where we talk every day. And truth be told, when I came back after wrapping, I went into a heavy period because I missed them. I legitimately missed them, so much so that I cried last week when I was in L.A., and we went to the premiere and I got to see their faces again. My heart erupted, so yeah it was scary at first. But as time went on, you could see not only why you should respect these people because of their talents, but also you could see their hearts. And we formed a tight-knit family. Not to overuse the word, but we’ve become a little family of weirdos — and I love it.”
On how he sees his role on the reality show …
“I’m basically Uncle Ken. That’s what they all call me because I’m the oldest. I’m basically like the rock. I have done paranormal investigating for 15 years, so when Logan was 14 or 15 years old is when I started paranormal investigating professionally. And so I’ve been reading tarot cards, and that’s a big part of my contribution is to use the tarot to add a layer of detail to what’s happening in the haunting and to the people who are living through the haunting, to kind of look into their lives. Beyond that and the paranormal investigating aspect, I just think I’m the uncle. I have the shoulder for everyone to lean on. I have a clear direction, and I have a clear path, having done paranormal investigation for 15 years. I have a really good understanding of how things go and what the protocol is and what the processes are.”
On what the public believes about tarot cards …
“There’s so much fear wrapped around the tarot. I think my real mission when I started this was to change people’s lives, to make people’s lives better with a deck of cards. I’ve had 10 years of outrageous success with that, so it’s a daily thing. … They’re really profound, and in my 31 years of shuffling cards, I’ve done things with a deck of cards that even blow my mind in terms of helping people get their lives back together, putting families back together, or helping people break free from their struggles and their toxic relationships.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Living for the Dead premieres today, Oct. 18, on Hulu. Click here for more information.
