Do you like to ponder the possibility of the supernatural? Get into ghosts, UFOs, Bigfoot, Wisconsin folklore and the like? If so, the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference should be in your orbit.
This year, there's a pre-party at Falcoln Bowl (open bowling!), an all-day conference at the Irish Cultural Center and a full day of activities including a Bigfoot hike, ghost tour, visit to a Death Cafe and more.
"We're excited to return to where it started at the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center this year. It's a beautiful building, and it's also said to be haunted, always a bonus for a paranormal themed event," says organizer and author Tea Krulos, who founded the event in 2015.
Paracon MKE takes place Friday, Oct. 13 through Sunday, Oct. 15 and here’s everything you need to know:
Friday, October 13 – 7 p.m.
Friday the 13th Fest
Falcon Bowl, 801 E. Clarke St.
$10
The MKE Paracon pre-party features music by Spidora, Delicious Monsters, Lavish Waste and DJ Gothsconsin. The fun includes open bowling (starting at 10 p.m.), creepy cool craft vendors and a paranormal-themed costume contest hosted by Madison horror host Dr. Ivan Cryptosis. Admission is $10.
Saturday, Oct. 14 – 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Milwaukee Paranormal Conference
Irish Cultural and Heritage Center, 2133 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Free, with registration
The main event of the weekend boasts panel discussions, social events, special tours and an entire vendor floor full of local research groups, artists and crafters inspired by the paranormal.
Speakers will talk on paranormal phenomena, lake monsters and Wisconsin’s horror fiction history. There will also be a live recording of the Wisconsin Legends podcast, a presentation by the South East Wisconsin Paranormal Investigation Team, and special guest Jay Rath, who was one of the first to catalog Wisconsin paranormal cases online in the 90s with his site, The W-Files.
The event also includes over 30 vendors. Food and drink will be available for purchase. The conference is free – thanks to American Ghost Walks – but attendees need to register here.
Sunday, Oct. 15
MPC Activities Day
Various locations
Check out an open house at the Morris Pratt Institute, a Spiritualist school, an Art and Symbolism tour and Pop-Up Death Cafe at Forest Home Cemetery. Plus: Witches Faire at Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, a Bigfoot Hike, ghost tour of the Third Ward and more. For the full schedule and more info, go here.
"We're glad that Friday the 13th Fest is back after a few years and we've been able to add a couple of things to our Activities Day that we've wanted to for awhile like a Bigfoot Hike and an open house at Morris Pratt Institute," says Krulos. "It's going to be a spooky, fun weekend."
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
