Well, the 4th Annual Ghost Hunter's Getaway is over. A BIG THANKS to all volunteers and supporters who helped make it such an amazing success! I've been meaning to put up a recap of the GHG '06 events, so I thought this was a good opportunity to test out AGHOST's new blog. So here it goes...
For those who aren't aware, AGHOST organizes a conference every year called the "Ghost Hunter's Getaway", to help raise funds for the group. Last year we held the event in Port Townsend, WA. This year with the help of author Jefferson Davis, it was held at the Hotel Elliot in Astoria, OR on November 11th and 12th, 2006. Details of the event can be found here.
Most of the AGHOST members and guests began to arrive the Friday night before the conference (November 10th), and congregated at the Hotel Elliot's lounge. Ross Allison (AGHOST President), Jeff Belanger, and I drove down from Seattle that Friday night as well. With the typical Seattle traffic and the bad weather it took us close to six hours to travel from the Seattle area to Astoria, a trip that normally only requires about three hours :-s We arrived at the Hotel Elliot around 8PM, and after socializing for a while, we finished setting the conference area for an early start on Saturday morning.
The event kicked off the next morning with author Jefferson Davis, and then a double-header by AGHOST's president, Ross Allison. All in all, I think the event on Saturday went very smoothly. We had some great speakers, some of whom are AGHOST members, and great vendors such as the Gargoyle's Statuary. We also had our share of technical glitches, but nothing AGHOST's most awesome Technical Director couldn't figure out ;)
Unfortunately, many of us were manning the tables most of the day so didn't get to see many of the lectures. I missed Jeff Belanger's lecture, which I was kinda bummed about, but heard it was very well done. I had the opportunity to help out with some of the multimedia aspects of Joshua Alper's lecture, which I think everyone enjoyed, despite a few glitches. I was also really excited to get to speak again this year, and discuss some of the technical projects I've been working on at AGHOST. After working so hard on these projects it was a real treat to be able to discuss some of the cool tech-related aspects of the group, such our Media Archive and Reporting Database.
The agenda for the next day was to be primarily tours and other outdoor workshops. Unfortunately, the weather turned a bit sour in Astoria on Sunday which I'm sure dampened some of the planned tours. I didn't stick around, as I had a cold-stricken wife to get back to in Washington. But I understand all the tours took place, regardless of the less than ideal conditions.
Finally, I have to say, Astoria was a great location for this event. I visited Astoria a total of three times in October and November, investigated some of its most haunted locations (such as the Liberty Theater), and met some really great people such as Lorrie from the Rosebriar Inn. I'm certain AGHOST will be visiting Astoria again very soon :)
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