Coordinating and organizing a paranormal convention can be pretty scary. And it’s not just the subject matter that’s spine-tingling.
For first-time organizers, Gail and Mel Willis of Thunder Bay, Ontario the Lake Superior Paracon is all part of giving Canadians a taste of what happens regularly in the United States.
“We started thinking about it two years ago and then seriously planning last year,” Gail Willis said. “Now it’s starting to ramp up.”
The couple has travelled down to the Michigan Paranormal Convention and the New Jersey ParaUnity Expo in the United States.
“We were there and said, ‘How come there isn’t one in Canada?’” Mel Willis asked. “There are so many people and it’s so interesting.”
The duo has built up a network of friends in locations across North America and figured the Lake Superior Paracon was something they could do.
Occurring October 4 to 6, the convention will kick off with a Q&A panel moderated by explorer of the unexplained Jeff Belanger with Leanne Sallenback and Corine Carey of Beyond the Haunting, psychic medium Kerrilynn Shellhorn, Shane Pittman and the Six Nations Investigating Paranormal Encounters team (Art Martin, Jay Smith, Todd Thomas, Sr. and Trevor Thomas).
Gail and Mel Willis started Lucky Paranormal three years ago in 2021. The name comes from their pet bird Lucky who was the only one of her brood of six to hatch. Unfortunately, their feathered friend died before they started the group.
“We’ve both been involved in paranormal stuff,” Gail said. “Then we got more heavily into the investigating probably two and half years ago.”
During that period, they investigated Trowbridge Falls, the Silver Islet General Store, the Fort William Historical Park, the Mather-Walls House in Kenora and they visited the Carl Beck House in Penetanguishene.
“We’ve been to a lot of different places — even in the U.K., and we still think that Thunder Bay has the most haunted locations,” Mel said, with a laugh. “We might be a little biased.”
The two have been on investigations with Shane Pittman in the past including the Palmer House in Sauk Centre, Minnesota and Virginia City, Nevada.
Both Gail and Mel have their own business and the ghost investigating they were doing on the side grew and evolved into the Lake Superior Paracon.
“When we’re talking to other people, like clients and (the paranormal) slips into conversation, they’re like, ‘Oh, no, I don’t believe in that … well, wait a second. There was this one time,’” Gail said. “They tell me this huge story about a ghost experience they had when they were a child.
“So, it reaches and connects everybody,” she added. “We all have that curiosity, I think.”
Photo courtesy Gail and Mel Willis