This year's location: Historic Wilkesboro

A sweet array of hunt locations: A three-day conference featuring multiple hunts, both early morning and night, and discussion panels and small-session demonstrations. Scheduled hunt locations include The Old Wilkes Jail, The Tory Oak, The Robert Cleveland House, and the Smithey Hotel, the Brown-Cowles House and the Old Slave Quarters, and the Presbyterian Cemetery.

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This year's theme: "Science, Faith, and the Supernatural"
Our panels and presentations are designed to be interactive and engage the entire conference community in discussion. We don't believe in "experts" here, only in your experience and belief and curiosity and passion. Mutual respect and open-mindedness are the only requirements, and no one has to participate against their will. Together, we share ideas and learn.

Tentative schedule (this will be updated as planning continues). All panel discussions at the Holiday Inn main conference room. Break-out sessions are in individual presenter's rooms

Friday

2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Check-in begins
Silent auction to benefit the Chad Austin family
Bo's Mystery Machine available for photographs
The Great Mental EVP Experiment--Can we create EVP's with our minds? (W.H.A.T. and Michael Potts)

7 p.m. Introduction: "Welcome to Haunted Wilkes" (Nicholson, Absher, Greer, Wright, Watts)

8:30 p.m. Gather in Historic Downtown Wilkes for hunts at jail, Cleveland House, Tory Oak, Brown-Cowles House, Old Slave Quarters and Presbyterian Cemetery

Saturday

Free breakfast at the Holiday Inn

Check-in continues. Morning hunts at Smithey's hotel/Dooley's Tavern

11 a.m. "The Art of Debunking"--Exploring healthy skepticism and the psychological effects of believing. Application of scientific methodology to the unseen (Jonathan Watts, Joe Wright, More TBA)

12 noon: "Go Toward The Light"--Are we "helping" spirits or is our goal merely to prove the existence of spirits? Do we act through arrogance or humility? Do we have a right to meddle in the afterlife? (R.G. Absher, Jeremiah Greer, Scott Nicholson)

1 p.m. Lunch break on your own

2 p.m. Break-out sessions (your choice):

"Ghost Hunting 101" (Jonathan Watts); "EVP Overview" (Michael Potts); or "Sensitives--do Normies think you're nuts?" (Nicholson)

3 p.m. "Christianity and the Paranormal"--What would Jesus do? How do believers approach the paranormal? Is it sacreligious to seek ghosts? (Sherrie James, Michael Potts, Jonathan Watts)

4 p.m. "Pure Numbers"--What constitutes hard evidence? What would you accept as irrefutable, verifiable proof of the afterlife? With so many ghost hunters on the planet, why has no one yet come up with solid proof to convince the masses? What would it take to get on FOX News? (Joe Wright, Jeremiah Greer)

6 p.m. Dinner Break on your own
Silent auction ends, pick up prizes

8:00 p.m. Gather in Historic Wilkes downtown for hunts

SUNDAY

Free breakfast at the Holiday Inn

Morning hunts at Smithey's hotel/Dooley's Tavern

Analysis of EVP experiment data

11 a.m. Panel: "History and site research"--How helpful is it to know about a haunted site? How do you prepare for an investigation? (R.G. Absher, Jeremiah Greer, Joe Wright)

Noon panel: "Self-analysis"--How do we as a paranormal community present ourselves to the world? Do we need to be taken seriously? Are we just a bunch of TV shows? Should we convert the "normies"? (Jonathan Watts, Scott Nicholson, Sherrie James)

1 p.m. Goodbyes.

Lodging: The 2009 Haunted Computer Paranormal Conference will be based at the Holiday Inn Express in Wilkesboro, conveniently located near U.S. 421 and less than five minutes from the cluster of hunt sites. We've secured a great seasonal room rate for the weekend of $74.99 a night, and panels will be held in the hotel's main conference room. Click here to reserve rooms with the conference discount or call (336) 838-1800. Room must be booked by Oct. 16 to receive the room discount. The hotel serves a free full breakfast. We have a block of 40 rooms set aside, with more available. There are also several other nearby hotels, though their rooms are $20 to $40 more per night on average. All room rentals are subject to Holiday Inn policies. Haunted Computer Productions is not responsible for any additional room charges.

SILENT AUCTION TO BENEFIT CHAD AUSTIN'S FAMILY

In memory of Chad Austin, friend and big-hearted paranormal investigator with a passion for the search. Chad was going to be one of the presenters at the Wilkesboro conference. We'll be holding a silent auction to raise money for the family he left behind, including his two small children. If you want to donate items for the silent auction, you can email Scott at greenparkparanormal@yahoo.com or mail items to 188AA Bernard Bledsoe Lane, Todd NC 28684. Chad will be missed but he will always be here in spirit. Thanks, Big Guy, for all that you shared.

Newspaper article on the 2008 event

check out the online Ghost Register for links to EVPs, stories, video, and other documentation

Scott Nicholson and Barry Fitzgerald of Ghost Hunters International at PSICon 2009 at the Lake Lure Inn.

The Second Annual Haunted Computer Paranormal Conference will be held in Oct. 23-25, 2009