A ‘haunt’ingly great time
Photo above: One of the vendors featured at the third annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Haunted Con on Saturday, March 19 at the EQT REC Center in Waynesburg is the “Haunted Hills and Hollows” books display. Kevin Paul, lifelong Greene County native and author of the who published “Haunted Hollows” books, will also be a guest speaker at the event.
To the right: The third annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Haunted Con, Saturday, March 19 at the EQT REC Center in Waynesburg, features a wide array of guest speakers and vendors focusing on the paranormal. One of those popular vendors returning is the Wretched Child, which sells unique dismembered doll art.
1331 Studios will be a vendor at the third annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Haunted Con on March 19 in Waynesburg.
UFOs, Bigfoot, witchcraft and other unexplained paranormal events will be among topics of discussion at the third annual Southwestern Pennsylvania Haunted Con, slated for Saturday, March 19 at the EQT REC Center in Waynesburg.
“The SWPA HauntedCon attracts people of all walks of life from many different areas, and it generates great interest in paranormal tourism in Greene County, which is a good thing,” said organizer Kevin Paul.
Paul, a Greene County native and author of the “Haunted Hills and Hollows: What Lurks in Greene County, Pennsylvania” book series, has studied and researched paranormal activity and says he has experienced incidents of unexplained encounters since he was a child.
In 2018, he and co-author Rosemary Ellen Guiley released their first book, “Haunted Hills and Hollows: What Lurks in Greene County Pennsylvania.” Paul released the second installment in October.
“In the first book, Rosemary and I set out to not only explore documented Greene County history but tie it in with a remarkable amount of reported paranormal activity in proximity to known locations of clashes between Native Americans and colonial settlers of what is now Greene County,” he explained. “During our journey we discovered an untouched, undocumented, and often unreported wealth of high strangeness in the form of cryptids, shadowy figures and shapes, hauntings, strange lights in the sky and non-human entities.”
Paul said the second book, “Haunted Hills and Hollows 2: Still Lurking in Greene County Pennsylvania,” takes a “distinctly Appalachian look at the spirit world that surrounds us constantly, and I believe demonstrates that truly what happens to the land happens to the people, and vice versa.”
He’ll talk about his experiences during a presentation at 3 p.m.
“In my opinion, far too often we expect the unseen entities to interact with us on our terms, with little effort at understanding on our part,” he said. “I don’t believe that’s how it works. The spirit world communicates with us directly, daily, and often through signs, symbols, and metaphors, none of which can be registered let alone interpreted by a chirping box in a dark room in the middle of the night.”
Paul said he is excited about this year’s event, its schedule of guest speakers and vendors.
Other presenters include:
10 a.m.: Clairvoyant, clairaudient and clairsentient Mary Petrella, a facilitator of the healing arts who works soul-to-soul with clients to share powerful insights;
11 a.m.: Brian Seech, founder of Center for Cryptozoological Studies and the Center for Unexplained Events, who has been investigating paranormal activity for more than 30 years;
1 p.m.: Author and paranormal lecturer Stan Gordon, whose presentation will address “An Illustrated Historic Synopsis of Pennsylvania’s UFO and Bigfoot Encounters”;
4 p.m.: Mike Familant, host of “In the Shadow of the Big Red Eye,” who will share his experiences researching and tracking down the truth behind Bigfoot.
Vendors at the event include psychics and mediums, paranormal authors, clothing purveyors and those selling books, jewelry or other metaphysical items or supplies.
Author and paranormal investigator Ed Keleman will also be hand, selling books, coffee mugs, white sage candles and stickers. Also scheduled to appear is Tony Lavorgne, whose “Legends & Lore” podcast explores the history and tales of ghost stories, mysterious crimes and murders, UFOs, witchcraft and other occult happenings still thriving in the Greater Ohio Valley region of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and beyond.
Guest emcee for the 2022 event is WBOY 12’s Shayla Klein who, along with Shyla Parsons, has been exploring mysteries of the Mountain State for WBOY via their Paranormal WV series since 2020. Klein is a digital reporter for WBOY 12 News, which covers Clarksburg, Fairmont and Morgantown.
Admission to SWPA HauntedCon is $20, and tickets are available on the Eventbrite website as well as at the door on the day of the event. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Flenniken Public Library of Carmichaels.
The EQT REC Center is located at 400 EverGreene Drive, Waynesburg.
For more information, email hauntedgc@yahoo.com, call 724-255-0464 or visit the SWPA HauntedCon Facebook page.