Dr. James Harvey was born on February 17th, 1957, in Fernfield, Washington, and is a psychiatrist and alumnus of Johns Hopkins University. He is the father of Kat Harvey and the widower of Amelia Harvey. Amelia's sudden death in 1993 prompted James to give up his conventional career as a therapist and move onto parapsychology, which he used as an attempt make contact with his wife (who he now believes is a ghost). His work led him to Whipstaff Manor in Maine, where he moved with his reluctant teenage daughter under orders from Carrigan Crittenden to exorcise its inhabitants.