DREW Sinton can see dead people.

The 40-year-old from Melbourne has been seeing ghosts nearly all his life, but he isn't scared.

We wouldn't usually ask this question of anyone - let alone a man - but: is he a dead root?

How did you discover you could see dead people?

I don't know. I just became used to [seeing ghosts]. As I got older and learned more, I was able to see the ghosts more clearly.

Do many people tell you you're full of it?

Well, it's not a respectable occupation, but it's something I've always been interested in and that's what keeps me going. But even when I get people wanting my opinion about a ghost they've seen, and I give them an explanation that they may not like, they turn nasty and think I'm a fraud. You just can't win.

What do ghosts look like?

People see ghosts in different ways. A common image is a cocoon of light, but others may see a black shadow or just a full-fleshed human. In fact, at one ghost-sighting place [in Melbourne], we had three different people who described the same ghost differently. It's how people see it.

How do you hunt them down?

People come into my shop, The Haunted Bookshop, or they call me up and say, "We've got a ghost." Then I go out and find it.

Do you use big proton guns?

No, I just tell them to go away, and they listen and just go. Ghosts will just go away if you tell them to.

Have you ever been scared of a ghost?

No, I've never been scared of the dead; it's the living you've got to look out for.

Do you have ghosts you hang out with?

No, but when I'm wandering around town, other people say to me they can see interesting characters hanging around me.

Where do ghosts like to hang out?

A common pattern is in houses, hospitals and pub hotels. This is because ghosts can't create their own energy, so they need to feed off others.

Do they ever score when they go out?

It's funny, because when I used to sit in a [psychic group] circle, one of the women was saying she'd have to stop having sex [in order] to tell the ghosts around her to go away. But there are examples of ghosts having had sex with the living.

Have you had sex with a ghost?

I haven't, but I've come into contact with people who claim they have.

Do they find it better than the living?

Yeah, they encourage sex with the dead.