The state of Ghostlahoma is up and running!

Tickets are on sale now for the 6th annual Ghostlahoma/OKParaCon event. This year we are excited about having the event in the old Center Theater in downtown El Reno. We have more room, a bigger and better stage and an outstanding audio and video system this year!

The Mustang Times has already written an article about the event Click here to read the article.

This is the first year we have used social media as one of the main resources of getting the word out about the event and so far people are proudly sharing that they will be visiting the State of Ghostlahoma this April 23rd. Click here to find us on Facebook

The 2011 speaker line up has been announced and we are very happy to have Oklahoma's best featured at this years event. Two brand new speakers at Ghostlahoma will be Texas native but Oklahoma bound Ken Gerhard. We realize that people want to learn more about creatures like Bigfoot and because he has worked in the state and has proven to have an informative and fun platform we are more than excited to have him join the speaker line up. The AbandonedOK team may seem to be a bit elusive to ghost hunting teams and people wanting to work with them, but that's not the case. We are happy to have them join the line up as they will showcase what they do as Urban Explorers, visual historians and photographers. We welcome the AOK team to Ghostlahoma!


Vendor Tables- We only have a few spots left. The lobby of the theater will have great vendors sharing their books, services and goods for guests.
New this year, we are offering sponsorships. Why? A sponsorship not only will advertise your business or group, it helps us budget for the line up of hard working volunteers that have been with the conference since it all started. If you are interested in any of these opportunities, please email us at tonya@ghouli.org and we will work with you to and your budget to help you get involved with this great event.

• Will call Tickets- This year we will be offering "Will Call" if you purchase online. Like with concerts, the Will Call line will be a lot faster and hassle free.
• Day of event- the ticket pricing will be the same this year. But, it will take you a bit longer to get into the event. We do recommend you pay in advance.

Ghostlahoma books and custom t-shirts will be available. We have never had "event t-shirts" before, but no worries. The shirts will NOT be an event advertisement or dated. They are not advertisement shirts. We will have more custom items for purchase this year that you would normally never see at a paranormal conference but we are not allowing the event to be a swap-meet or flea market! :) We encourage everyone to browse through goods and take home the talent that Ghostlahoma has to offer.


We will be posting soon about after hour events and tours as we get confirmation!

Grab your tickets here and learn more about the event! 

Ghostlahoma- ParaCon has been launched!

Ghostlahoma has over the years become one of Oklahoma’s biggest annual events. The 6th annual OKParaCon has promoted some of the states best authors and talents in the state of Oklahoma. The conference has introduced nationally recognized presenters concerning subjects of the unexplained. ParaCon is a fun event for all ages and families. The original conference started out in Oklahoma City at the now demolished historical church  off  North Classen Boulevard. The event then moved to the old Paramount building in Historic Film Row in Downtown Oklahoma City. As we realized we needed more space, the event was then moved to El Reno Oklahoma. We chose El Reno Oklahoma because of  the historical significance, tourism opportunities, preservation efforts, great people and of course because it’s on Route 66.  We hosted the event in the historically haunted Elk’s Lodge right outside of the award winning downtown El Reno. ParaCon has outgrown the Elk’s lodge but we are happy to have the event in the heart of downtown El Reno. ParaCon/Ghostlahoma will explore a new home in 2011. The event location has been chosen and we hope to fill the seats of the historic Centre Theater.

The speakers have been confirmed and the date is set for this years event. We are very excited about hosting this event in a brand new (to us) venue at the currently being renovated old theater in downtown El Reno. Tickets are on sale now and we are already getting vendors wanting to share their goods and services at this Oklahoma event.

We are happy to welcome Ken Gerhard to Oklahoma, although he is not a stranger to our state. Ken has worked in Oklahoma for many years now with his research concerning crypto-creatures. We are also very excited to have some of Oklahoma's best authors and speakers presenting. We are diving head first into the state of "Ghostlahoma" and we hope you enjoy the adventure! Cullan Hudson and Teri White has presented at the event in the past and we are excited to have them both back so we can get up to date on all the great legends, locations and tales floating around our great state. Tammy Wilson will be highlighting Oklahoma Ghost Towns. Her presentation may not have a big "spook factor", but for history buff's she is sure to please even the skeptical. Tonya Hacker of GHOULI usually does not do presentations at ParaCon, but this year she has decided to take a step up and hit the stage offering a brand new presentation concerning ghost hunting, along with spine tingling EVP's that her team has collected over the years. We will also have a special guest that will be offering a glimpse into the often controversial subject of "Urban Exploration". If you love photography you will love this presentation. There is something for everyone at this years event!

If you have not noticed the ParaCon name is being changed to Ghostlahoma. There are many conferences taking place across the nation using the "Para-Con" title. We take pride in offering a fun, educational and entertaining conference that will satisfy all walks of life. From history buffs to skeptics our event always delivers. We do not hire TV actors to speak at our events because we enjoy our states history and legends. We also have found it to be repetitive to have "celebs" come and show us what we have already watched on TV. We also keep our costs down because we are not paying for celebrity presentations. This allows us to offer patrons a high quality event for a very fair price. 

We are looking forward to seeing everyone in El Reno this April 23rd.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE LINE UP AND INFORMATION

Thank you for supporting the state of Ghostlahoma!

12 things I have learned in 12 years

After 12 years of working hands on in the field in the state of Oklahoma I have learned the following....


1) Ghosts do not wear sheets or appear as light strings or balls of dust.
2) not all ghosts are of old people or spooky little kids
3) ghosts will only make themselves know when you are NOT looking for them
4)critical thinking and common sense are the new "paranormal" according to some teams in the state.

5) just because it looks haunted, does not make it haunted.
6) ghosts do not like our technology
7) there is not "thrill" in this field unless you have a great imagination.
8) if there is "hype" with a location, chances are there is next to nothing there. (this applies to paranormal teams as well, hype does not mean they are reputable)
9) people can and often do create the illusion of a haunting.
10) there has yet to be good photographic evidence of a "ghost". Orbs are not ghosts not matter how much you want to believe they are.
11) people that claim to speak to the dead usually can not. If they will not be tested, skip them, they always find someone to believe them.
& 12) more and more people are claiming to be ghost hunters/paranormal researchers because they watch it on TV. In the past 12 years, I have met more ignorant people than I can count. If it's on TV, it's not real. It's for "Entertainment", why is that so hard for people to understand?   


Tonya J. Hacker

Kicking off 2011

Just wanted to give a quick update as to what is going on with the GHOULI team. We are currently screening and meeting up with potential team members this winter and spring. the GHOULI team is a lot different than what is seen on TV and in comparison to other Oklahoma based Paranormal teams. We work together, as a team. We do not have titles or rankings. We all work together to find locations to explore and research. We all have talents outside of being "ghost hunters". Most of us are photographers, authors and hold other specialties that make us who we are and have been for well over 11 years. We do not wear matching t-shirts or have a mobile command unit or car magnets. We do this because we love it, not because we are wanting to get a TV show or exploit the field of parapsychology. We do work with a lot of groups in Oklahoma, but they are not all ghost hunters. We take pride in the fact that we work with a plethora of talented people that have the mindset of history and preservation when it comes to Oklahoma's abandoned and forgotten places and history.

We will be meeting up with several new people for some photography outings. If you would like to meet up or have a location you would like to photograph and explore, please contact us at tonya@ghouli.org

Oklahoma's Paranormal Conference is April 23rd. Information and details will be posted soon. The conference will be in El Reno, Oklahoma.

Investigations- As always, privacy is #1 with GHOULI. We will be continuing investigating a local business and residential homes. We will also be working on several larger investigation locations as the weather warms up.  If you have a location you would like us to research, please contact us at tonya@ghouli.org

GHOULI has teamed up with some great people in Oklahoma. AbandonedOK.com and Strange State

We would like to invite you to offer your opinion on this class C EVP that was collected by GHOULI team member Andrew during a preliminary investigation. The recorder was left alone, across the local business away from the few people still in the building. It has been cleared that it is not a team member making this sound. To us, it sounds like singing, but we are not sure. Please analyze this EVP for us and offer your opinion on what you hear or think. We will not post our opinions or translations until later. Audio file is unedited.

CLICK HERE TO HEAR EVP

We are looking forward to a great 2011 and getting to know more of you all!

Sincerely, 

Tonya J. Hacker

www.ghouli.org

Oklahoma's Ghost Conference Returns April 23, 2011

We are very happy to announce that the Oklahoma Paranormal Conference will be taking place in 2011 after taking a year off. Last year, with the state of the economy we decided to not host an event. We take pride in working to provide a quality event for a reasonable price. We realize we have a lot of travelers attend our events so we do our best to offer travel discounts, host hotels and even discounts for those traveling from out of state.

We have been working with the El Reno Convention and Visitors Bureau, the City of El Reno and the El Reno Main Street program to relocate the conference to a bigger and better venue. We have chosen the historically significant old Center Theater in Downtown El Reno. Smack dab in the middle of downtown conference guests will have food, travel, tours and shopping available within walking distance.

 

The event will kick off around 10:30 to 11 am on Saturday, April 23rd, 2011. We will post the speaker line up and day and evening events very soon. Tickets are scheduled to go on sale towards the end of January.Groups of 10 or more will be offered special discounts. Some vendor tables will be available if we feel that the items will  be of interest of conference patrons. In the evening we invite guests to choose from a variety of specialized tours hosted by the citizens of El Reno where all proceeds go towards historical preservation. Tours range from riding on one of the last standing cable trolleys to taking an exclusive walking tour of the historical buildings that are full of rich history and a ghost story or two. All tours are affordable and fun for all ages.

Ghostlahoma will offer some of the areas best speakers and presenters when it comes to subjects of the unexplained. Paranormal researchers, Historians, Photographers, Authors and even Crypto-Creature experts. We invite everyone to discover the state of "Ghostlahoma" in 2011 and see another side of our great state presented by individuals that have a reputation of skill, knowledge and fun and informative information.

 http://www.elrenotourism.org/  <--- discover why we have this event in El Reno, Oklahoma.

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ON FACEBOOK!

We will keep you all posted!  

We wish everyone a safe and wonderful Holiday Season!  ~GHOULI Team

Strange Creature found on Deer Cam? Hoax!

Just this week I received a message in my in-box stating a very alarming message.

"I have recently been given pictures that were taken on a family plot of land in Wister oklahoma on Nov 30 2010 at aprox 1 45 a.m by a camera trap that was in place to track deer movements what was captured on the other hand was no flippin deer and was nothing short of creepy as hell it was a bipedal humanoid type thing that apeared to be attemting to investigate the pile of corn left for the deer and was startled by the camera trap cause it looked right at it I've attached one photo and would really apreciate any insight on this matter because there are some freeked out people here you may also contact me by phone at...."

So, I look at the photo and I will admit it's a very creepy image. The thought of something like "that" prancing around in the woods scares me a bit. I took a peek at the photo. First glance, photo shop job. Then I just started searching the net for unusual photos caught by a deer cam. Within seconds I find the same image, plastered all over the internet. This is a big deal on the internet right now. Some paranormal researchers are actually reporting it to be unexplained while others are realizing it's not what it appears to be.

Even local media is jumping the bandwagon concerning this strange creature. It makes you wonder what ever happened to the concept of investigative reporting. Here is an example of one media source that is ready and willing to believe anything that's posted on the internet.



Viral videos are everywhere on the internet. People fall for them all the time, even "professional paranormal experts". Genius marketing or someone that has a lot of time on their hands, or both. No matter what, it totally works!

Here is the original story posted about the creature. Same story, different place.

"A deer hunter at Berwick, Louisiana, has captured a strange image of something wandering through the Louisiana woods at night. The hunter near Baton Rouge reported to the media that he found this bizarre image on his deer stand camera."

The image was apparently a marketing gimmick created by a hunting company called Wildgame Innovations they posted the image on their Facebook page and created a small story to make it seem real. Then they changed the the source of the image to a production of a movie titled Super 8. But, the Super8 news website is denying the accusations of this viral video. I found it odd that Steven Spielberg would need assistance with promoting a film. It's my two cents that the Wildgame Technology has sold a lot of deer cams. Not only hunters are using them but ghost hunters are jumping on the bandwagon without taking a few minutes out of their day to research the truth about the image.

This deer cam capture has been "debunked" by the many people that are not ready to jump to conclusions concerning creatures and paranormal phenomenon. Creepy image indeed. And I'm not too ashamed to say that the woods do freak me out. I would much rather spend the night in a rumored haunted building compared to camping in the deep woods. Perhaps images like this is what keeps me away. I am totally aware that creatures like this are not real but it would be my luck to be the first to come face to face with something this freakish. I will leave the crypto-hunters to do their job. I will stick with investigating rumors of ghosts .