Egon Spengler sleeps an average of 14 minutes per day, leaving him "a lot of time to work." Egon was very interested in paranormal phenomena, even while working with Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman at the University. He and Ray Stantz studied paranormal literature in their spare time and were interested in theories of reincarnation. Egon was usually the first to interview case subjects, adding to their mantra, "we're ready to believe you." Examples were Dana Barrett from her Zuul encounter and her carriage phenomenon with Oscar. Even people Peter called "schizo" always went to either Egon or Ray to describe their
Oswald Spengler in 1914, but publishing was delayed by World War I. Due to a congenital heart problem, Spengler was not called up for military service. During the war, however, his inheritance was largely useless because it was invested overseas; thus he lived in genuine poverty for this period. When "The Decline of the West" was published in the summer of 1918, it was a wild success. The perceived national humiliation of the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and later the economic depression around 1923 fueled by hyperinflation seemed to prove Spengler right. It comforted Germans because it seemingly rationalized their downfall as