5 Best Things About Ghostock 5

Ghostock 5, the most recent of the semi-annual paranormal conventions hosted by Patrick Burns in Savannah, Georgia, was so exhilirating and so packed with information, thrills, fun and friends, that I find writing about it a bit intimidating. So I have decided to try to divide this review into the five things I loved best about Ghostock 5.

The first thing will have to be the hosts and the staff. Patrick formed Ghost Hounds, the paranormal group out of the metro Atlanta area to which I belong, so I see him and Pam quite often during the year. Yet, when Sunday came around and we had to say goodbye at Ghostock, I felt that I was going to really miss them, and I do. Patrick, despite being on Court TV's Haunting Evidence, has no arrogance at all. He travels constantly as a very popular guest at paranormal events and conventions all over the country, yet he is just as excited as the rest of us when Ghostock runs around. It is a labor of love for him, and Pam is a willing and accomplished partner as well as a warm, loving human being and a wonderful reiki practitioner who made the chronic pain in my shoulder go away. Thanks, Pam! Pam and Patrick make every participant in Ghostock feel special and included.

Until this year, the rest of the "staff" of Ghostock has consisted of Denise Roffe, who is an absolute wizard at procuring fascinating places for us to investigate, not to mention being a skilled investigator herself and a highly amusing person to talk to. This year, Patrick expanded his staff to include a few more volunteers, including my husband Ken, who was terribly happy to get to handle the webcam for the free live webcast. He's never too happy when he's away from technology too long.

The second thing I loved was the guests. The keynote speaker was Dr. William Rolle, who has been a parapsychologist for 50 years! This living legend has been a featured investigator in famous cases featured on Unsolved Mysteries and other tv programs, most notoriously the Tina Resch poltergeist case and that of the Wyricks, subjects of "A Haunting in Georgia."

In fact, the Wyricks were there as well, or at least Heidi and her mother were, as well as her aunt, who has written a book about the case called "The Veil." They were very friendly, down to earth people, just like any Southern family except that Heidi happens to see dead people, and has since she was four.

We had excellent, enlightening talks from psychics Reese Christian and Tiffany, paranormal investigator and author Dusty Smith, and a presentation from Dave Schrader of Darkness at the Edge of Town radio on the basics of ghost hunting which managed to be both hilarious and entertaining. Patrick and Pam shared useful and interesting information as well. But my personal favorite guest, this Ghostock and last, was Savannah's own Murray Silver. Murray is just as eloquent and spellbinding a speaker as you would expect from a man who has been a concert promoter, a rock photographer, written books about Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis, AND been a special assistant to the Dalai Lama. His philosophy of ghosts and the afterlife rings as true for me as anything I have every heard.

Where was I? Oh yes, the third favorite thing. That would be the investigation. My little team of four, of which I was the leader, investigated a furniture store which is alleged to have a music-loving ghost who turns the radio on and off. We did not find any evidence of such a ghost, but we had great fun taking pictures and doing EVP work and all the things that paranormal investigators love to do. Some of the other investigation groups actually had some intriguing experiences, and brought back some particularly fine EVPS. (EVP stands for "electronic voice phenomena," and it is the term for discovering voices on tape that do not belong to anyone who was actually visibly present at the scene at the time. Many people, including myself, find them among the strongest evidence we can gather.)It's a great opportunity for absolute newbies and experienced investigators to work together.

Fourth thing would be Savannah itself. I love that city so much. I love the beauty of the squares, the friendliness of the people, the permeable sense of history, and the all-encompassing presence for those of us who believe of the supernatural.

I'm going to have to let the fifth thing be Scaryoke on Thursday night. Ghost enthusiasts really have a flair for dressing up, and the costumes added a fine touch to the karaoke. Patrick, dressed as a dead pirate, did a dead-on (no pun intended!) impression of Davy Jones of the Monkees, too.

Well, that's five things, and it really didn't begin to cover it. I do have to cheat and add one sixth things, which is the other convention attendees and the ones who hung out in the chat room and watched the webcast all weekend. It's a pretty small Con and at the end of the week, I think everyone felt as though we'd all known each other a very long time. I know I did.

Patrick says that he does Ghostock twice a year because a year seemed too long to wait to get to do this all again, and I agree one hundred percent. I can't wait to go back May 8-11, 2008, for Ghostock Six!