FACT OR FICTION
Move aside Comic Con, there’s a new and more interesting convention in town: ScareCon or the first annual Paranormal Convention of India. It is a day dedicated to horror, ghosts, UFOs, demonology and hauntings; to be specific, to debunking myths about the paranormal.
“We have been working hard to create awareness about the paranormal and spread the right message, instead of just superstitions and myths. This is our effort to take our message forward while also entertaining the public,” says Sarbajeet Mohanty, co-founder of the Parapsychology and Investigations Research Society (PAIRS), the organisation behind the event.
The day-long event on October 28 will feature two important panel discussions. ‘Horror and Entertainment’ seeks to look at the depiction of ghosts and other paranormal beings in movies and television shows. Panelists include Dhwanil Mehta, the director of the upcoming The Final Exit; Parth Shah, the head of Parth Productions; Jitendra Pawar, director of the film Trip to Bhangarh and Karan Jha, the former programming head of RedFM. Mohanty will also share his memories of working on the Odiya series dedicated to the subject, Mana Ki Na Mana. “Through this discussion, we want to understand how such features are made, how the investigations are conducted and how this translates on the screen,” he adds.
The other discussion will have PAIRS members talking about paranormal research in India. Expect conversations about questions like ‘why are ghosts always shown in white’, a demonstration of telepathic experiments, a screening of the best paranormal trailer of the year. Paranormal teams will present their collected evidence to the audience, who will then choose the best of the lot.
PAIRS was formed in August 2016 by Mohanty and Pooja Vijay, who is a certified psychic developer and a reiki master. Their team of paranormal investigators and researchers, parapsychologists, demonologists, spiritual healers and counsellors visit ‘active spots’ armed with equipment like electromagnetic field (EMF) sensors or detectors, motion sensor cameras, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP) recorders and touch sensors to record and later analyse abnormal energies. The convention is a way of taking their message to a larger audience. “We want to put out the facts, not change beliefs. You don’t have to accept it but don’t ignore it,” Mohanty says.