You wouldn’t be able to tell from the eager and interested attendees that filled the well-lit rooms, but the paranormal lingers at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, the site of the 11th Arkansas Paranormal Expo.
Linda Howell, an investigator with the Arkansas Ghost Catchers, is particularly well-versed in the history of paranormal happenings at the museum. When she’s not seeking out the supernatural, she’s introducing it to ordinary Arkansans through her haunted tours.
One apparition she described is “Sarge,” the spirit of Otto Kaufman, a man who once inhabited the very grounds where the expo is now held. Sarge dwells in the museum’s tower, while his wife, Lena Kaufman, can be seen in the mirror of a women’s bathroom, Howell said.
“A lot of times when I had my tour running,” Howell said, “there would be people who came with their loved ones because they’re the ones who believed. After the tour, they would say ‘Huh, there’s something to this.’”
To her, the Arkansas Paranormal Expo is a similar experience since it exposes people to the paranormal in ways that are convincing and interactive — similar to her tours.
Skeptics and believers alike can interact with experts, listen to speakers discuss topics and purchase items and readings from one of the many vendors at the event, which started Saturday and concludes today.
The head of the expo, Rhonda Burton, another paranormal investigator and the co-founder of the Arkansas Ghost Catchers, is excited to see the community get more involved in the unexplained.
“To me personally, I want to share the knowledge of the paranormal and I want to give the younger generation the opportunity to experience these things,” she said.
This year, despite the rain, Burton said more than 400 people had attended. Over the years, the expo has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History. All the proceeds from the event go to the museum.
The expo caters to a variety of different interests, including ones that have little to do with ghosts.
“There is a difference between some of the things here, but we thought it would be good to key into that,” Burton said. “Even though it isn’t paranormal as in ghost hunting, it is still something most people don’t understand.”
Whitney Leggett, a self-described witch, ran a table that provided tarot card and psychic readings. Though her interactions with the paranormal are different than Burton’s or Howell’s, there’s overlap in their experiences.
Leggett says she is “clairaudient,” meaning that she can hear spirits. For her, it manifests in a strong ringing in her ears. The ability helps her with readings and strengthens her connection with those who need her services.
“Last night when we were setting up, the ringing in my ears wouldn’t stop until I actually went up and stopped this person,” she said. “I was like ‘Listen, I have to tell you this, and please don’t freak out, but there is someone around you and they want you to know that they’re proud of you.’”
“That’s when he told me that he lost his father last week and that it was really good to know that his father was still around him,” she said.
On the ghost-free side of the paranormal spectrum were Robert and Michal Swain, who ran a Bigfoot table.
“He got interested in it after watching the movie ‘The Legend of Boggy Creek.’ It takes place here in Fouke, Ark.,” said Michal, who has become more interested in the idea of Bigfoot thanks to her husband.
“For a kid, that was really something, the possibility of Bigfoot being in Arkansas,” said Robert, an Oklahoma native who moved to Arkansas early in life.
Robert has had one Bigfoot sighting in his life; he was awestruck by the large beast.
“It was in broad daylight and I was driving down the road. That’s when something crossed the road right in front of me. It was very quick and about 9 feet tall,” he said. “Two steps and it was gone.”
They both acknowledge that many doubt their beliefs. The skeptics don’t faze them, though. “If one person has had a sighting and it’s real,” said Michal, “that means that, well, it’s real.”
The expo’s second day is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.