Tucson Paracon explores the city’s mysteries

Much in the world can’t be explained. A new event called Tucson Paracon delves into ghost hauntings, Bigfoot, extraterrestrial activity and other phenomenon, with a focus on Tucson’s haunted history.

The event is Saturday, Aug. 19, at the Fox Tucson Theatre, and organized by the Tucson Ghost Company.

Becky McKiddy-Gydesen, the owner of the Tucson Ghost Company and founder of the Tucson Ghost Society, will host the event. She grew up in Toledo, Ohio, in a haunted house and now leads ghost tours and investigations.

There are social media groups and events for the paranormal community in Tucson. McKiddy-Gydesen wants to provide a space for different branches of the paranormal community to connect.

“The goal is to bring all of the paranormal community together,” McKiddy-Gydesen said.

“It doesn’t happen very often. Usually, you have your alien people, your ghost people and your Big Foot people. But it is meant to create a community, bring them together.”

Kris Williams from “Ghost Hunters” and “Ghost Hunters International” will give a talk and lead a sold-out VIP ghost investigation at the theater.

Throughout the day, authors and paranormal investigators, most of whom are from Arizona, will give talks.

Mercedez Lucke-Benedict, a cranial/sacral TMJ therapist, paranormal investigator and frequency healer, has had her family’s story of being haunted by malevolent spirits featured on “The Dead Files.”

Debe Branning, an author, paranormal investigator and director of MVD Ghostchasers, has appeared on “Ghost Stories” and “Ghost Adventures.” She has written several books on Arizona hauntings.

Linda Masanimptewa is the author of “Haunted Travels, Haunted Connections (True Ghosts Experiences and the Other Unexplained).”

McKiddy-Gydesen said the event highlights Tucson’s haunted history, especially Downtown locations such as the Fox Tucson Theatre.

McKiddy-Gydesen has been working in the paranormal field for 10 years and has investigated several places in Downtown Tucson.

She said that while other cities such as Tombstone and Bisbee are often recognized for their haunted history, Tucson often gets overlooked. She wants to bring attention to this haunted history.

“My team and I have strived for so long to help people to understand our haunted history, to help people understand that it needs to be respected, that it’s not like TV. It’s not something that you need to fear,” McKiddy-Gydesen said.

“Having something like this, I hope it helps to spread that awareness. A lot of people are curious. They want to know more about it. We don’t want to encourage people to go out there and start yelling at ghosts. We don’t want something like that. We want an environment where people know these are just people that have passed on. They should be treated with respect like your fellow humans.”

Her company’s walking Tucson Ghost Tour stops at the Fox Tucson Theatre. The venue opened in April 1930 as a vaudeville/movie house. It closed in 1974 and sat empty for decades. The building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, reopened in 2006.

McKiddy-Gydesen said since the theater opened, it has been rife with paranormal experiences.

“When it closed down, during those 40-something years they were closed, the roof caved in,” McKiddy-Gydesen said.

“The homeless went in there. There were rumors of people going in there and using the stage to do rituals. A lot of things happened during that time period that it was closed to the public. When they decided to form the Fox committee and rebuild it, there was one death during that rebuild. We do know for sure of that one death, and we have no clue what happened during that time that it was shut down.

“Ever since they reopened, they have seen ghosts in time-period clothing entering the auditorium. They even have had performers onstage that have seen that in the audience. They have had water fountains turn on like someone was going to drink, but no one was there…. They have seen wet, little tiny footsteps, like someone walked through a puddle and came in. There have been all kinds of ghostly sounds in their projection room.

“They have seen shadows in that projection room. I personally also saw a shadow in the projection room. They have had interactions with what they believe to be a young woman. People have seen her and heard her. There’s so many I couldn’t name them all, but it’s very rich in that haunted history. Most of the employees that are there late at night have experienced it. They have had cleaning crews quit because they get freaked out over the activity.”