Thank You, DragonCon

DragonCon 2018 is in the books. My two panels were well-attended providing lively discussions related to paranormal investigations. I spent the last two days with 85,000 of my closest cosplay buddies at Atlanta’s largest fandom convention. It was fantastic.

The Paranormal Track is housed at the Sheraton Hotel and provides close contact with some of the best paranormal people working in the field. My first session was a 6-member panel discussing researching paranormal activity ranging from private residences, well-known active locations, client interviewing, and the future of academic paranormal research. Each panelist expanded upon unique researching techniques they employ, specific to the location or subject-matter. It was reassuring the number of people looking for the correct/proper way to investigate. The second panel was equally engaging.

To be sure, there are a lot of women paranormal investigators. I met them at the second panel focused on “Women in the Paranormal.” Of the estimated 52% of Americans who believe places can be haunted by ghosts, the majority of believers are women, according to the Chapman University study (2017). Yet, women are not that well represented in the television paranormal series. Indeed, of the 12 current productions, only 3 shows involve women, with 2 leading the investigations. Of course, these productions are tied to advertising dollars, and, admittedly, women like to watch men on tv. That’s the para-tainment path.

However, women work in the boots-on-the-ground paranormal teams who respond to private citizen concerns. They lead investigative teams; they host podcasts; they blog. They won’t appear on television soon. They’ll be the ones with the crazy, hard-to-believe stories from the general public. I hope to return in 2019 to share some more of mine.

Thank you, DragonCon for allowing me to present and to attend your insanely popular convention celebrating nearly every realm of fandom. PS. Please invite me back!