Scarefest 2017

Well, it's Sunday night and I'm still completely exhausted from yesterday's festivities! On Saturday, September 30th, my boyfriend and I drove down to Lexington, KY to attend the area's biggest Paranormal/Horror/Sci-Fi convention...The Scarefest!  While this was our fourth...or maybe fifth...time attending, 2017 actually marked the convention's 10th anniversary, and trust me; things have changed A LOT since we first attended back in 2008.

Once again, the convention was held at Lexington's Rupp Arena. We arrived about 15 minutes prior to the doors opening, which was a bit of a cluster fu...uh, you know. There was a HUGE line to get in that stretched back into the food court area of the arena, yet before you even got into that line, you had to go get in another line to purchase your tickets and receive your arm band. And once again, there was absolutely no one around pointing you in the right direction. Luckily, we noticed that the long line was NOT where we needed to be, at least not yet, so we didn't waste too much time standing around like idiots, lol.

When the doors finally did open, out of the several entryway doors available, people were only being herded into ONE set. Still, people were fairly polite and made it in pretty quickly. We needed to be quick this year, because the first speaker we wanted to see was scheduled for 11am. We went directly to the room where the speaker was to be but the doors were locked. We walked way onto the other side where there was another entry to the lecture rooms, and found that way blocked off. Upon asking how to get where we needed to be, we found that the volunteers had no idea. Since most of the other lectures were to start at 11:30, it was surmised that they just weren't ready yet. At this point, my back was already starting to hurt and I was ready to just leave, lol. We finally walked back to where we went first, yanked the door open, and barged in on a lecture already in progress.

The lecture I had chosen for our first of the day was Ken Boggle's Paranormal Hangover. At this point, I have to make a confession---I had no idea who Ken Boggle was. However, I was intrigued at the title of his lecture, as the phenomenon of the investigation "hangover" is one I've been studying for awhile. As it turns out, the lecture had absolutely nothing to do with the energy drain and sickness that tends to plague paranormal investigators after an investigation. Instead, the lecture was more of a gossip session with Ken, who not only was at the convention as a speaker and tarot reader, but who had been a sponsor for several years.

Because of his work with Scarefest, he has had the opportunity to meet and hang out with a LOT of the paranormal and horror celebrities that come each year. And he was HILARIOUS! I swear, I have never laughed as hard in my life as he told tales of Corey Feldman's weird behavior and demands, getting into fights with festival organizer, Patti Starr, and Zak Bagans' legendary demeanor. I'm pretty sure I had met the male version of me and was quite disappointed that I didn't get to go back and get my cards read by him. Please go check out his website, Tarot by Ken, and give him some love!

I was in a much better mood after seeing Ken, and since we had a few minutes before our next lecture, we took a short stroll around the front section of the vendor's floor. Aaron immediately made a beeline to the table for the Kentucky Browncoats, a group that apparently does all sorts of really cool activities devoted to Firefly. Again, a confession: I have never watched that show and have no idea about anything pertaining to it...but everyone at the table was really, really nice and Aaron seemed to be in absolute Heaven, lol.

Soon, I reached my own state of ecstasy when I stumbled upon the booth selling tons and tons of paranormal non-fiction books...at $2 a piece! There were lots of other great deals on ghost hunting equipment, home decor, DVDs and shirts, but I'm a book nerd, so I walked away with $20 worth. Apparently, Patti Starr is closing her physical shop or something, and was liquidating. She was stopping by to check on the booth while I was dragging my huge bag of books out, and was very kind. She thanked me several times for the purchase.

By that time, it was getting close to our next stop of the day...the Mystery Science Theater 3K panel!  Unfortunately, Joel had to cancel, but Bill and Mary Jo put on a really great question and answer session. I absolutely love MST3K AND Rifftrax, but since I was kind of young when the show was in its heyday, I never really knew a whole lot about its early years. So, the panel discussion was hilarious AND pretty informative for me. Bill was especially hilarious, especially when discussing the learning curve for controlling the Crow puppet.

Next up was a lecture by Adam Bonnett, otherwise known as Glider. Adam Bonnett is a former employee of Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, and has really made a name for himself by being one of very few paranormal investigators in a wheel chair. His talk, The Paralytic Paranormal Affect, focused on not letting physical limitations stop you from doing what you want to do. He also talked about how being in a wheelchair made him somewhat of a 'rolling trigger object,' and that his mere presence seemed to draw out activity at times. It was an interesting talk, especially since I've been to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum enough times to be able to relate to his experiences there.

After Adam's talk, we made a difficult decision---instead of going to another lecture right away, we had to take a lunch break. The Rupp arena has a few places in its food court, but in years past, we never had a great meal there, lol. This year was better, but still not great. We both got subs at Subway, and while we were waiting, ran into our friend Matt and his son, Ryan. We talked a bit as we ate, then made plans to meet up later that evening for dinner....because Aaron and I had to run back over to the lecture section for our next speaker!

Last year, we had seen Kyl Cobb give a talk about the real facts behind the case used as the basis of The Exorcist. We were both really impressed by the amount of research and fact that was presented, so we were thrilled to see Kyl back this year. Kyl was scheduled to give several talks this year, and we chose the one entitled The Exorcism of David Glatzel and The Devil Made Me Do It Murders. Holy cow! I wasn't super familiar with this case...another of the Warrens' fraudulent debacles...and I really learned a ton of really interesting information. Kyl Cobb is one of the best researchers I've ever come across and I cannot recommend him enough. If you never get a chance to see him in person, definitely pick up one of his books. As a disclaimer...if you're a huge fan of the Warrens and their work, you MIGHT not necessarily agree with Kyl's views, no matter how much evidence he provides, lol.

Speaking of great researchers, our final speaker we saw Saturday was Shannon Byers, the Paranormal Genealogist. She gave an excellent presentation on the real facts concerning Waverly Hills Sanitorium. As you probably know, there has been a lot of misinformation passed around as fact about this favorite spot for ghost hunters. Shannon did a great job breaking down her research and showing how things like the estimated 63,000 deaths just couldn't be true. She also shared some fascinating facts, such as why the 'death tunnel' stopped being used as such prior to 1945, an air show disaster that took place on the grounds, and the story of a murdered orderly that many people tend to overlook in favor of the less than truthful tales.


As a weird side note, during the talk, the lights in the room kept going off or dimming. Within seconds of a volunteer turning them back on, they'd lower, flicker, or completely turn off again. It was comical and kind of spooky...but was nothing more than the people in the adjoining room turning the lights off to show a film. Since the rooms were actually one big room, divided by a dividing wall, the lights were on the same system, lol.

We rounded out the evening by hitting the vendor floor one more time, making the full rounds this go-around. I'm really proud of myself---I kept my spending under control, buying only books. It wasn't because there wasn't anything I wanted to buy, though! This year, the vendors seemed to really outdo themselves. There were tons of great artisan pieces, as well as vintage toys, apparel, books, etc. I could have easily spent a thousand dollars. I think one of the things holding me back was just sheer exhaustion. We crammed in as much as we could this year, seeing lectures almost straight between 11am and 7pm. The day flew by and we capped it off with a fun dinner at Red Robin with our buddies.

I was left completely exhausted, but I wouldn't change it for anything. We got an opportunity to see some great speakers, visit with out-of-town friends, and get an excellent kick-off for the Halloween season! If you were at this year's event, check me out on Facebook, and let me know what your favorite part was!

ScareFest 2016 Recap

This past weekend, my boyfriend and I made the drive to Lexington, Ky to attend the tri-state's largest paranormal and horror convention----ScareFest! The festival/convention is hosted by ghost hunter and author Patti Starr, and features tons of vendors, paranormal lectures, celebrity panels, photo ops, autograph signings, costume contests/cosplay, and much, much more! 2016 marked a landmark event with ScareFest kicking off the first National Ghost Hunting Day by coordinating what may have been the world's largest ghost hunt.

I always have a really great time at ScareFest, although admittedly, this year's lineup of guests and celebrities just didn't seem as strong as it usually is. That may have been a blessing, though....the lines for celebrity meet and greets were actually quite short and for each lecture we attended, we were able to walk right in and get a good seat.

Since the lines were so short, I went ahead and got autographs from the Ghost Hunters, Jason Hawes and Steve Gonsalves. Tango was there, and I had my picture taken with him as well with the other two, but for some reason, his autograph was an extra $10 and I just didn't bother with it, lol. The woman taking the money for the autographs already thought that I hadn't paid for my other autographs, so I didn't want to confuse her any more than she already was, lol. I had met Grant before, but this was my first time meeting the other guys. They weren't rude or anything, but they weren't especially chatty or accommodating, either.

As for the lectures, we chose to go all paranormal this year. There were a few celebrity/movie panels, but nothing we were dying to see, so we went with:

1. Kyl T. Cobb: The Facts Behind the Exorcist---Kyl gave an impressive and really interesting account of the true story that inspired what many claim is the scariest movie of all time. Being a historical researcher myself, I found it very...satisfying...seeing how a little detective work resulted in finding the actual 'possessed' boy and the facts surrounding his case. The lecture included a brief discussion on demonic possession in general, with comparisons to demons in western vs. eastern cultures. The whole thing was very well done; Cobb was a great public speaker, has plenty of credentials, and shared some really interesting facts that I had never heard before.

2. Steve Kulls: Sasquatch: The Truth You've Been Told vs. Actuality---This was another great presentation on fact vs. fiction. The discussion included many aspects of Sasquatch lore, including a vocabulary lesson on where the terms 'Sasquatch' and 'Bigfoot' originated, but the main focus seemed to be on the Patterson-Gimlin footage. Digitally enhanced and stabilized footage was presented, as well as information about how the alleged confessions of a hoax didn't actually happen the way the media portrayed. Oddly enough, I had already seen most of the enhanced footage presented in a class I took last year, but it was still fun to watch.

3. Shannon Byers: How Not to be a Ghost Hunter---Known as the Paranormal Genealogist, Shannon Byers is one of my favorite researchers of the paranormal and we have eerily similar philosophies, lol. Seriously, almost every single thing she presented in this How Not to be a Ghost Hunter presentation was something that I've blogged about, have said in the past, or what I currently practice and preach, lol. So, unfortunately, I really didn't LEARN a whole lot, but it was very validating that others out there take the same approach as I do. Shannon had given a presentation on Friday, I believe, about the truth behind Pearl Bryan and the hauntings of Bobby Mackey's, and I'm REALLY disappointed that I missed that one---I've been preaching for years about all the misinformation that is spread about that place and our less-than-stellar investigation experience there back in 2007.

In addition to checking out the speakers, we spent plenty of time out in the vendors' area. I bought a stack of used books on the paranormal, a Ghostbusters t-shirt for my son, some novelty soap items, and even some items for mine and Aaron's Halloween costumes! It was fun walking around and seeing the way everyone was dressed...and there were plenty of people dressed as clowns. With the creepy clown panic going on throughout the tri-state area and down south, I thought that was pretty brave of them! We also got to enjoy a fairly good lunch in the Rupp food court. The best part was waiting in line for our Chinese food, and seeing Tom Savini waiting for HIS Chinese food, just like any other non-celebrity.

Overall, this wasn't the best year for ScareFest in terms of attendance or level of celebrity guests, but I still had a great time, and I'm glad that we concentrated on the paranormal lectures this time. As a paranormal investigator, I feel that it is REALLY important to attend educational events such as this in order to not only learn some new skills and learn what is currently happening in the field, but to also network with others. A paranormal investigator can never have too many resources to draw from, and ScareFest definitely provides an opportunity to meet and learn from some of the best in the field.

ScareFest 2015

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I made the two and a half hour trip to Lexington, Kentucky to visit the country's largest horror and paranormal convention---ScareFest! I hadn't been to ScareFest since before Luke was born, so I was really looking forward to it! ScareFest, which is owned and operated by Patti Star, the president of Ghost Chasers International, is in its 8th year. It seems like in the past, every time I wanted to go, we had something else planned that weekend or something else prevented us from going, but this year nothing was stopping us!

The trip up was pretty uneventful except for some rain. It cleared up for awhile, but as soon as we got out of the car at the Lexington Center parking lot, it started raining again. Getting soaked was NOT a great start to the day. Anyway, we got there around noon, with the first speaker we planned on seeing starting at 12:30pm. We planned on attending a talk by Ben Hansen, from SyFy's Fact or Faked, called "Profiling the Hoaxers: Eliminating the Hoaxers from the Truly Unexplained."

Unfortunately, Ben's presentation relied heavily on the PowerPoint presentation that he prepared and there was NO SCREEN in this particular room.  Apparently there HAD been a screen, but it was moved and misplaced the night before during a wedding rehearsal. Ben also had NO MIC, which wasn't a huge problem in this particular room, but a performance was going on in the lobby at the same time involving very loud music.  At this point, I was getting frustrated, so I can't imagine how Ben felt.  Still, he turned it around and pulled off a wonderful discussion. Even without the actual photograph/video examples his presentation was educational and entertaining as he spoke about his background, different investigations presented on the show, book recommendations, and how easily a hoaxer can be caught---just by talking to him/her IN PERSON. Ben really stressed the importance of interviewing people face to face, since so much of our communication is done non-verbally.

I was quite content with what was presented, but due to the snafu, Ben agreed to reschedule for later that evening, for anyone wanting to see the full presentation later on in a different room, which I thought was very gracious of him.  And, on a personal note---he's just as cute in person as he is on television!  He just seems like a funny, smart, and overall sweet kind of guy. I probably could have stuck around and fan-girled for awhile, but we had to move on to the next presentation.

We arrived at the American Horror Story panel a few minutes before it started, so we got stuck in the back. It made seeing a little hard and honestly I watched most of the discussion through the giant phone the chick in front of me was holding up, recording with.  Still, our location gave us a chance to get a first glimpse of the crew waiting outside the room to be introduced. Again, I felt a twinge of fangirl crop up when Amazon Eve (Erika Ervin), Naomi Grossman, Matt Fraser, Jamie Brewer, Rose Siggins, and of course, Jyoti Amge came in.

I've been a huge fan of American Horror Story since the first season, but Aaron only started watching it with me during Freakshow and fell in love with little Ma Petite (Jyoti Amge). In fact, I think Jyoti was the big draw for a LOT of people, as most of the people we were sitting near were discussing her before the show.  I thought it was hilarious how she keeps insisting that people don't treat her like a baby, yet whenever she spoke (she had someone interpreting for her) the whole audience let out a collective 'Awww!,' me included, lol. You just couldn't help it---she was absolutely adorable and Aaron and I agreed that she looks much tinier in person. But, the entire panel was extremely interesting to listen to...and kinda dirty, lol. The orgy scene kept coming up, and apparently a few members of the cast had had some previous experience!

Naomi sort of led the pack, but each member present had plenty to say, and said it very well. Before Freakshow even aired, I was fairly familiar with most of the people on the panel, having read about them, or watched documentaries or other shows they'd been in.  Still, it was definitely cool to hear them in person discuss their experiences on the show, but also what they had been doing AFTER the show. One touching moment came when a fan asked about people with different disabilities and different issues relating to and looking up to the cast members and Matt told a story about a little boy he had recently met who had the same physical disability as he did.  He was able to connect with this little boy, but he was also able to talk with his parents and give them advice and tips on things the little boy would be experiencing, how best to deal with those things, and how to make day to day activities a little easier.

After that, we took a quick break for lunch in the convention center's food court. I had chicken strips and fries and Aaron had a hamburger from Sunset Strips. It was a disappointing meal, but was enough to sustain us for the next few events. Following lunch, we headed back to see Josh Gates, formerly of Destination Truth.

The line to get in to see Josh's presentation, which was simply titled "Destination Truth with Josh Gates", literally wrapped down one side of the hallway and down the next. I honestly didn't think we'd get a seat, but miraculously, there was plenty of room for everyone. Again, being seated toward the door, we got the first glimpse of Josh waiting in the hall to be introduced. In the past, I had heard that Josh can kind of be a jerk to people when he's 'off the clock,' but I guess since he was being paid at the time, none of that shone through, lol. He was actually a really likable, really hilarious guy to listen to.

His talk was set up as a Q and A session, and the audience had plenty to ask, especially about his many, many travels. Much of what he talked about I had either seen on his shows or read in his book, but his skills as a story-teller made it just a really unique, fun experience. And yes, like Ben Hansen, he was definitely a cutie in person.

Immediately following Josh's discussion, we headed upstairs again to see the Fright Night panel. When Aaron and I were looking over the schedule of events, planning on what to see and do, he mentioned that he really enjoyed the movie. I had never seen Fright Night, so we decided to watch it together...and I was hooked. This year marked the 30th anniversary of the film and it was a real treat to hear William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Stephen Geoffreys talk about their experiences. As an added bonus, director Tom Holland was there via Skype. The crowd was a little thinner than it was for AHS, so our seats were good and Aaron even got to ask a question about working with Roddy McDowell that elicited a wonderful response from everyone on the panel.

By the time that panel was over, it was 6pm and we were getting tired and hungry, but we weren't done yet! We spent about an hour going through all the vendor booths and took home some awesome goodies. We bought Luke a plush Bat Girl and two t-shirts. I picked up a book from C-Bus Paranormal and a RHPS Riff Raff Funko figure. Aaron picked up a few gift items, and we got mom an answer mat to use with her pendulum.  The vendor floor was over double what it had been during our first visit over 6 years ago, but I think we at least got to see everything once. There were some really cool props, stilt walkers, plenty of people wearing crazy awesome costumes, tattoo artists and body piercers, celebrities, paranormal teams, and more.

Overall, I had a great time, even though things started out a little rocky. There were so many other seminars I wanted to attend and speakers I wanted to hear, but there just wasn't enough time to fit everything in. I also would have liked to have focused more on the paranormal side of the conference, but since I was with Aaron, I tried to make sure we did things that would interest him as well---and I don't regret it. Both horror panels we went to were fabulous.  Hopefully, we'll be back again next year!