This season, more so than any other, brings to mind grisly images of ghouls, mummies and zombies. While most people dismiss these as fleeting superstitions with no basis in reality, others feel that the occult has something very real to offer -- and not just in October.
"A lot of people think that being interested in the paranormal means you have to believe in ghosts or vampires or whatever, but this is not true," said Ryan Buell (junior-film and video), director of the Penn State Paranormal Research Society (PRS).
"It's anything that cannot be explained," he said. "I've seen things that I can't explain."
Buell created the club a little over a year ago and said it was a "roller-coaster ride" trying to get official club status, as well as to get members to join. "We've just been fighting to get our name out there," Buell said.
One year and $10,000 later, the PRS is ready to launch its biggest event yet: The Paranormal Conference, with special guests demonologist Lou Gentile, novelist Elaine Mercado, published UFO theorist Curt Sutherly and psychic Carla Baron of MTV's Fear.
Baron will kick off the conference at 9:30 tonight in HUB Heritage Hall with a dissertation she described as "bridging the gap between this dimension and the next." The event will be free for students.
"It won't be a sideshow. If there are requests for readings, I will be open to handle those on a case-by-case basis," Baron said. "But, there will be no crystal ball; I won't be wearing a black robe."
Baron described her method as more personal: "I want to read people to get into their higher selves, so that they can develop and craft their own gifts in their own life to improve the quality of work, relationships and all kinds of things."
Baron is no stranger to State College. She works with area police on the Cindy Song abduction case. Though she is not allowed to discuss the details of the case, she said there are "some leads we're working out," despite the fact that she feels the case is cloaked in "shades of gray."
Continuing the weekend's festivities, novelist Elaine Mercado -- author of the haunting memoir Grave's End -- will be speaking to students about her experience of living in a haunted house at 8 p.m. Saturday in 102 Forum. It will be proof, Buell said, that "hauntings really do happen."
The next morning a series of workshops begin, facilitated by distinguished speakers and members of PRS, covering various topics from voodoo to vampirism.
At 6:30 Saturday night in 102 Forum, demonologist and radio talk show host Lou Gentile is scheduled to talk. Buell predicts this two-hour lecture, with over 100 slides, will be the "darkest" event of all.
"If you're going [to the Paranormal Conference] for scares, this is one you can't miss," Buell added.
Gentile said his lecture, and demonology in general, goes much deeper than that, however. "I'll be covering everything from ghost-haunting to natural phenomena to Satanism," he said.
To describe his job with the Catholic Church, Gentile broke it down like this: "Basically, there are two kinds of demonologists: the bad, who conjure demons to do their bidding, and the good -- which is exactly what I am -- who know how to interact with the demons and collect the kind of evidence that the clergy need."
Gentile, who trained under one of the world's seven exorcists licensed by the Catholic Church, admitted he's seen his share of "wacky and strange things" in his line of work.
After more workshops Sunday afternoon, the conference will culminate at 6:30 that evening with a lecture by Curt Sutherly of the United States Air Force. Buell called Sutherly a "real-life Mulder," referring to the character from the X-Files who believes in extraterrestrial life.
The cost to students for a full event pass is $15 and single events -- with the exception of Baron's lecture -- will be $3 each.
