Haunted America Conference Promises Workshops, Lectures and More This Weekend

ALTON/GODFREY - The American Hauntings Tour Company will host their Haunted America Conference this weekend, complete with workshops, museum exhibits and more.

Starting at 7 p.m. on June 20, 2024, people from around the Midwest will gather at Lewis and Clark Community College for the conference and stay throughout the weekend. Sam Smith, who runs Alton’s American Oddities Museum alongside Troy Taylor, explained that the event is a fun chance for ghost enthusiasts and others to enjoy the history of haunted Alton.

“It’s a good time, and this is our biggest event of the year,” Smith said. “It’s kind of divided into three parts. There’s a lecture, so all day there’ll be guest speakers talking and telling whatever they have to talk about. And then we also have the vending side of things where people can buy all kinds of fun objects. And then we have the after hours, which is more or less experiential.”

Smith said there will be over 20 speakers, 40 vendors and 500 attendees at the event. You can view a full schedule online. From workshops about scrying to lectures on vampire sexuality, there is a wide variety of events taking place throughout the weekend.

Taylor and Smith also recently took over the American Oddities Museum at Mineral Springs Mall. This museum displays several objects and historical facts about oddities from around the country, including Alton. Smith jokes that she is the “bird-dog of the company” and finds objects to collect, while Taylor curates the museum.

“It’s been great,” Smith said. “This is one of Troy’s passions, sharing history, sharing the occultism, sharing the love of Alton. So he kind of took it and he’s just been running with it. We kept a lot of the old stuff and then just expanded into some of his other interests, which is why we want to expand further. We’d love to put more cases in here and he’s got a million other things.”

The American Oddities Museum often hosts events. They’re open from 12–5 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and it costs $5 to view the entire museum. Smith noted that they’re hoping to expand their space and grow the museum soon.

“The museum is open every weekend,” she added. “Troy does expand. We don’t add new exhibits every weekend, but that man is always down here tinkering around with it. So if you come every other month, you’d see something new.”

In the meantime, Smith and Taylor are looking forward to the Haunted America Conference this weekend. They encourage people to come by and check it out for themselves. For more information about the Haunted America conference, visit their official website at GhostConference.net.

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