Coverage of the gathering of America's original paranormal community: Troy Taylor's Haunted America Conference 2016 in Alton, Illinois. Hear from Sherri Brake, Greg Newkirk, Barb Huyser, Kari Bergen, Steve Litteral, Keith Age, and History Goes Bump! Visit BigSeance.com for more information. 

Pssst... Want to leave voice feedback? Use the SpeakPipe Link!

In this episode:

• Intro :00

• Join me on a field trip the the Haunted America Conference! :40

• More about the conference, the speakers and personalities, and the friends I met! 1:34

• Troy Taylor’s welcome, a reflection on the history of the paranormal community, and the speaker’s panel. Speakers not mentioned specifically in the rest of the episode are Rosemary Ellen Guiley, Rene Kruse, Scotty Roberts, Alan Brown, Len Adams & Luke Naliborski, and April Slaughter. 4:35

• My interview tour through the exhibit room begins with Barb Huyser, who has been to every single conference in the last 20 years. Barb looks back at the growth of the conference and the community. You can find more about Barb and her team at SmallTownGhosts.com. 6:59

• Sherri Brake is an author and is the owner and founder of Haunted Heartland Tours. Visit HauntedHistory.net for more info. 11:07

• Kari Bergen has been coming to the conference since 2003, but this is her first year having a table in the exhibit room. She was selling her mixed media artwork inspired by antique and vintage pieces. She repurposes interesting materials in her art! You can find her store, EphemeraObscura on Etsy. 14:29

• Greg Newkirk, Director of Planet Weird’s Traveling Museum of the Paranormal and the Occult talks about the haunted and cursed items in the museum. Some of the items include a plank from the Amityville horror house, a piece of a haunted mine, a haunted doll (more on that later), and a mysterious crone that has been causing a stir lately. Some of their items can be checked out on a 24/7 live surveillance camera. Visit paramuseum.com. 15:49

• After the conference wrapped up, Troy Taylor shared the strange and unexplained encounter of the haunted doll named Ruby from traveling museum. Find the Facebook page of the Traveling Museum of the Paranormal and the Occult to see a screenshot of the mysterious photo of Ruby at the center of the story. 21:27

• I ran into Steve Litteral of the Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum in Rockford Illinois. This mansion was featured on one of my favorite Ghost Hunters episodes a few years back. 23:56

• Keith Age, host and associate producer of the Booth Brothers’ “Spooked TV” documentary series on the Syfy and Chiller Channels. He is also the founder of the Louisville Ghost Hunters Society. 25:50

• Some of the presentations and speakers that went on in the main room at the conference included Alan Brown with a presentation on haunted Bed and Breakfasts, Scotty Roberts and his paranormal adventures in Egypt, and Rosemary Ellen Guiley on the Djinn, Shadow People, ETs, and the Black Eyed People phenomenon. Sherri Brake had her talk on the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum. Luke Naliborski, who does a great job leading tours, talked about “Strange Stuff”. Troy Taylor came back with Rene Kruse to talk about some of their experiences in the paranormal. And Sarah Soderlund, who is a forensic psychologist, had a presentation that really resonated with me. She studies neurolinguistic programming, profiling and also specializes in psychopathy. So she talked about the Psychology of the Paranormal. 27:34

• Saying my goodbyes to Diane and Denise of History Goes Bump! 29:12

• Tim Prasil’s Spectral Edition (Married - with Ghosts) 31:31

• I received an awesome e-mail with compliments, but also some great suggestions on research with after death communication! afterlifeinstitute.org 35:30

• Voice Feedback #1 - Guitar player hears himself play a song in a dream and then wakes up able to play the same song! 39:21

• Voice Feedback #2 - A question about Annabelle, the famous haunted doll now featured in a movie of the same name and The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2. 41:17

• Go to BigSeance.com/contact to learn how to leave feedback for the show!

• On the next episode, we’ll talk to Tim Stevens, a paranerd and independent film director. 42:55

• Outro 43:08

Record your voice feedback directly from your device on my SpeakPipe page! Call the show at (775) 583-5563 (or 7755-TELL-ME). I would love to include your voice feedback in a future show. Visit BigSéance.com for more information.

Please help The Big Séance Podcast by subscribing, rating, and reviewing the show on iTunes, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, or Google Play Music.