Paranormal event will offer something eerie for everyone
The keynote speaker at the 15th annual Butler Paranormal Conference is the niece of a couple who experienced what many call one of the most plausible alien abduction stories in U.S. history.
The conference will be held from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, April 30, at the Tanglewood Senior Center, off Fairground Hill Road in Butler.
Dan Hageman, conference director, said he is thrilled to welcome Kathleen Marden of Dayton, Fla., who will speak from 12:30 to 2 p.m.
Marden is the niece of the late Barney and Betty Hill of New Hampshire, who said they were abducted by aliens in their home state over the course of two days in September 1961.
“She will talk about the abduction from a modern-day perspective,” Hageman said.
Other scheduled speakers are:
* James Krug, who will discuss aliens on the moon and Mars at 11 a.m.
* Fred Saluga, who will revisit the purported crash of an alien craft in Kecksburg, Westmoreland County in 1965 at 2:30 p.m.
* Mary Fabian, who will speak on Bigfoot in Pennsylvania at 4 p.m.
* Kevin Paul, whose presentation is entitled “Urban legends and scared cows in the paranormal community” at 5:30 p.m.
Hageman said more than 50 booths will be set up with services and products like tarot card readers, palm readers, reiki specialists, crystals, scented oils, incense, jewelry, ghost-hunting and Bigfoot paraphernalia, T-shirts, paintings, and paranormal authors who will sign their books for those who buy them.
“Just a little bit of everything,” said Hageman.
Food and beverages also will be available, he said.
Hageman said the Butler Paranormal Conference normally attracts 250 to 350 people, or more.
He said interest and belief in the paranormal has increased due in part to the plethora of ghost-related or Bigfoot shows on television and the release of the federal government’s Project Blue Book files.
Hageman states with absolute conviction that he does not worry about folks thinking he is a crackpot for believing in the paranormal.
“I’ve had multiple things happen to me since the age of 5,” Hageman said.
Hageman said at that young age, he and his family saw a UFO near the Oneida Valley Reservoir on Route 38 in Oakland Township.
He said he also saw a triangular-shaped craft near the former Warehouse Sales on Route 38 near Eau Claire.
“This thing stopped directly above us,” Hageman said. “You could see an opening in the bottom of it, and two spheres bobbed up and down.”
He said one sphere began spinning and shooting sparks before the craft shot straight up and out of sight.
Hageman said he still watches the night sky in hopes of witnessing another craft or object.
“Once you have something like this happen, you never forget it,” he said. “That triangular-shaped craft, I can remember it just like it was yesterday.”
Hageman is the director of the Butler Organization for Research of the Unexplained, which is sponsoring the upcoming paranormal conference with the West Virginia Center for Unexplained Events.
Last year, the organization carried out almost 285 investigations after being contacted by county residents who reported sightings of Bigfoot, the dogman, UFOs or ghosts.
The organization works with other groups in the region with expertise in specific paranormal areas like UFOs or cryptids.
“It’s like putting the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle together,” Hageman said.
Admission to the conference on Saturday is $20.
