UNO Paranormal Society to hold summit

Last year a 165 people attended the first annual Paranormal Summit at UNO. The society is set to host the second annual Paranormal Summit this Friday Oct 12 at 6 p.m. at UNO. 

The UNO Paranormal Society is a student organization that has networked with many of Nebraska’s professional and hobbyist ghost hunters to present the Paranormal Summit.  Admission  is $5 with a student ID and $10 for the general public. Expect a healthy dose of scientific discussion about huntings and hauntings, as the society gleefully combines both.  You can also expect access to some really neat equipment and people who know everything there is to know about paranormal hunts.

“We have a lot of engineering and science students,” Dave Pares, faculty sponsor and adjunct professor of Meteorology and Geography, said. “We use much of the same professional grade equipment [as the professionals], including electronic voice phenomena recorders (EVPs), audio analyzing software, and cameras and video recorders for the scene.”  

Paranormal activity is still not a hard science, but the group works to establish scientific methods of testing for and proving the phenomena, Pares said. They also work closely with many of the organizations that will be present at the summit.  

This year, some of the guest organizations include Heartland Paranormal, ORBS (Omaha Research Beyond the Supernatural), and PRISM (Paranormal Research & Investigative Studies-Midwest).  At the summit, each group will present their best findings of the paranormal in their careers  and elaborate on the methods and equipment they use in each investigation.

That main event of the summit will be the ghost hunt.  On-air at MavRadio, Pares and students Matt Judah and Kyle Finley, described how attendees will be divided into small groups, led to various places on campus, and allowed to take their own EVP readings.  Later, the data will be analyzed and determined if there was any activity.  

“There’s no reason for our group to leave UNO, there’s plenty of activity here,” Pares said.

With a history of readings around campus, the ghost hunt promises results for at least some of the groups.  For those interested, the three are also core to the UNO UFO Study Group, which brings space and extraterrestrial prospects to the table, using much of the same equipment and methods as in the Paranormal Society.

Proceeds from the event will go towards covering the group’s fees and for a new piece of monitoring equipment. All the profits will be donated to the Squirrel Cage Jail.  The Jail possesses rotating cells, and has been around since 1885.  It’s a historic site, and one that lots of ghost hunters have monitored before. 

“We did an investigation there once, and found a lot of evidence of a ghost cat,” Pares said.  “When we would call it over, the EVP monitors would spike, then go down.”

Pares, Judah, and Finley all understand that many people think paranormal findings are crazy, but they all explained that they retain a healthy doubt in most of their findings.  They explained that it’s only after they cannot explain it another way, that they categorize it as paranormal, and even then, it’s not concrete.  All their data is posted online for the public to see and analyze, and the MavRadio show discusses it, general science, and whatever may come up for discussion.

The Paranormal Summit will offer a little something for everybody.  The stories and fun of ghosthunting, as well as a serious scientific discussion of methodology will give UNO students and faculty, as well as a broad array of community organization first-hand experince with the paranormal. 

  The MavRadio hosts will be present, and will bring their humor, passion and scientific approach to paranormal activity to anyone who wishes to join them.  It was a great success last year and the group is hoping for more. The summit is a great way to get out, enjoy some spooky fun, and save some money while supporting a student organization. For more information, contact the UNO Paranormal Society at unomahaps@gmail.com.