Towns invaded by ghost hunters!

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Towns invaded by ghost hunters!
March 21, 2009
Vince Wilson
Examiner.com

All across the United States cities and small towns are being overrun by very nerdy people. Not Star Wars fanatic or Trekker level of nerdness, no, I am talking about paranormal investigators! Believe me, I know what I am talking about, for I am one too. Don't be frightened, we come in peace and we really are, for the most part, incapable of harm. All we want is to buy books on ghosts and listen to each other discuss how we are going to advance ghost research and look at all the new evidence we have collected. Depending on the budget at our disposal we can be anywhere from the heart of a major metropolis, to the worse sort of backwoods tourist trap this side of Hazzard County. With the proper web campaign and content we will draw like-thinking people from across the US in some cases. What are talking about readers is the ghost conference.

Now a ghost, or, paranormal conference is not a conference for ghosts obviously, it is a conference for paranormal enthusiasts. Ever since the advent of what can only be described as a modern day spiritualist movement, these conferences have been popping up like Hollywood celebrities at an all Asian adoption agency. A lot of the blame can be placed on the success of ghost hunter shows like, well, Sci-Fi Channel's Ghost Hunters. If you are a paranormal investigator, then no doubt you are planning to travel to a paranormal conference soon enough. Depending on where you live there may be several within a reasonable driving distance.


Some conferences however, don't even make it off the ground. The Second Annual TAPSCON paranormal conference in Clearwater, FL is a prime example.


Not all paranormal conferences are created equally. Some are grand in scale and may rent out an entire hotel or some popular haunted location like the Queen Mary in California. The larger one's will have very popular paranormal investigators and authors like (me!) Loyd Auerbach, Jeff Belanger or the guys from the Ghost Hunters cable show Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. They will also cost as much as $200 or more per person! Although my wallet screamed when I wrote that, these conferences can be very informative. Not to be outdone, smaller scale conferences try to make up for their lack of celebrity affordability (a TV personality can cost as much as $2000 a day!) with worthwhile content. Smaller in scale, but not in ideas, these conferences will include workshops on "how to ghost hunt", an open house for vendors selling books, paranormal investigative gadgetry and even the occasional medium will make an appearance. They will range in price from $40 to $125 depending on local more than anything.

I will be attending and lecturing at two very different conferences so far this year. This will give you an example how diverse conferences can be. Next week, the PHENOMENOLOGY conference comes to Gettysburg, PA. Gettysburg is well known for being one of the most haunted places in the US if not the world. The conference will be from March 26th to the 28th and will be loaded with content and great speakers. One of these speakers will be Dr. Barry Taff who investigated the original Entity Case! Also appearing will be John Zaffis who took part in the story that became the basis for the film The Haunting in Connecticut and Chip Coffee from the A&E show Paranormal State among others. In July, I will be attending a conference in Harpers Ferry, WV that will be much less extravagant. There will be guests from all over the area and some really good speakers, but not many you would probably know. However, we will be in a very haunted area.

Some conferences however, don't even make it off the ground. The Second Annual TAPSCON paranormal conference in Clearwater, FL is a prime example. It is in a state of limbo (no pun intended) for the time being for very complicated reasons. A large percentage of paranormal conferenes end up deader than the subject being studied. Always try to do a little research into a conference before attending. Keep watching the website and try to maintain a contact with someone involved. This goes for big and small conferences. If all goes well though, I hope to see you at one soon!