In an Interview Magazine Q&A conducted by friend and composer Danny Elfman (he of the paranormal pop culture band Oingo Boingo), Burton says, "I’ve seen things and felt things. I think most people do. I think it’s just how much you suppress it."
For a director whose subject matter has already involved the paranormal, as with Beetlejuice, The Corpse Bride and Sleepy Hollow, this news isn't entirely surprising. Yet Burton goes on to say that while he doesn't come right out and exclaim, "'Oh, my god, I was abducted by a UFO,' or 'I’ve seen these ghosts'," he does feel their energies - as with "certain hotel rooms in Venice."
He and Elfman also discuss hanging out in graveyards - which the director describes as positive and celebratory - and a time when the pair worked together in a studio supposedly haunted by a child spirit.
The entire interview is a candid conversation between long-time friends and pop-culture icons, and this particular passage is a straightforward, honest discussion about the paranormal.