Our first reader submission comes from Geoffrey Colon of Brooklyn, New York, who attended Univ-Con last weekend.

With various seminars titled "Project Stargate," "Science and the Sensitive" and "Tapping Into Your Sixth Sense," an outsider like me wondered if Univ-Con should be labeled a fantasy convention. Because of my skepticism of the paranormal prior to my arrival I really didn't know what was in store. Was it going to be a bunch of freaks who took everything they thought they heard or saw with no grain of salt? Unlike other conventions I have attended to see what they were all about (UFOs, aliens, etc.) those within the paranormal community were not quick to judge or expect me to take what they presented as ultimate proof. They didn't say, "we have evidence here which is going to convince you of the other side." They didn't get upset if I said, "I don't believe." They were not there to make me believe. And because of this, the evidence presented in some of the seminars was more, not less believable.

At the pinnacle of the convention, I attended the presentation of "Paranormal State," a new show produced and presented by television network A&E. This real life series made a lot of sense to be debuted at Univ-Con. The show features cast members made up from the Paranormal Research Society, a group consisting of present students and graduates from PSU. This show took everything that was presented to me in the various workshops and packaged it into a half-hour weekly show for television. The episode drew cheers and a standing ovation at its conclusion. It even made me think, if I can be presented interesting findings from the paranormal and question the existence of paranormal activity after being a pronounced skeptic, what will this TV show do to alter the conscience of millions of viewers who can tune into the show and its ghostly findings on a weekly basis? That answer is still an unknown.

photo: Geoffrey with "Paranormal State" cast member Heather