RED ROOF INN & SUITES
1212 W LINCOLN HWY
DEKALB, IL 60115

Check out the awesome Special Guests we have lined up for the 2018 Afterlife Paranormal Conference!

Ursula Bielski is the founder of Chicago Hauntings, Inc. and the host of PBS' "The Hauntings of Chicago" (WYCC). 

An historian, author, and parapsychologist, she has been writing and lecturing about Chicago's supernatural folklore and the paranormal for two decades and is recognized as a leading authority on the Chicago region's ghostlore and cemetery history. She is the author of ten popular and critically acclaimed books on the same subjects including the Chicago Haunts series and Graveyards of Chicago.

Ursula's interests in Chicago ghost hunting began at a young age. She grew up in a haunted house on Chicago's north side and received an early education in Chicago history from her father, a Chicago police officer, who introduced Ursula to the ghosts at Graceland Cemetery, Montrose Point and the old lockup at the storied Maxwell Street Police Station. Since that time Ursula has been involved in countless investigations of haunted sites in and around Chicago, including such notorious locales as Wrigley Field, the Congress Hotel, the Indiana Dunes, the Red Lion Pub, Hull House, Bachelors Grove Cemetery, Rosehill Cemetery, Archer Avenue, Chinatown, the Eastland disaster site, Death Alley, The House of 200 Demons, Dillinger's Alley and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre site. Her paranormal travels have also led her to investigate sites as diverse and infamous as the Bell Witch Cave in Tennessee; the Oshkosh, Wisconsin Opera House; New Orleans' House of the Rising Sun; the City Cemetery in Key West, Florida; Linda Vista Hospital in Los Angeles, the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado, and the Civil War Battlefield at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Aside from her writing, Ursula has been featured on numerous television documentaries, including productions by the A&E Network, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, SyFy, The Travel Channel, and PBS. She's been a judge on "Paranormal Challenge" and a regular guest on "Ghost Adventures" and the "Maury Show"s paranormal specials.  She also appears regularly on local Chicago television and radio and lectures throughout the year at various libraries, historical and professional societies and designs and hosts tours for Lincoln Park Zoo and the Chicago History Museum.  In addition to her books, Ursula is the author of numerous scholarly articles exploring the links between history and the paranormal, including articles published in the International Journal of Parapsychology. Ursula is a past editor of PA News, the quarterly newsletter of the Parapsychological Association, a past president and board member of the Pi Gamma Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society, and holds membership in the Society of Midland Authors.  She also edits children's books on the paranormal for Bearport Publishing in New York  and teaches courses in Paranormal Studies for Harper College.

A graduate of St. Benedict High School in Chicago, Ursula holds a B.A. degree in history from Benedictine University and an M.A. in American cultural and intellectual history from Northeastern Illinois University. Her academic explorations include the Spiritualist movement of the 19th century and its transformation into psychical research and parapsychology, and the relationships among belief, experience, science, and religion.

Mike Ricksecker is the author of the Chase Michael DeBarlo mystery novels Deadly Heirs and System of the Dead, and the paranormal books Ghosts of Maryland, Ghosts and Legends of Oklahoma, and CampfireTales: Midwest and the hybrid paranormal research written work of his new “Ghostorian Case Files” series. He has appeared on multiple television shows and programs as a paranormal historian, including Animal Planet’s The Haunted and Bio Channel’s My Ghost Story, Fox 5 News (Washington DC) and Fox 25 News (Oklahoma City), and he produces his own Internet shows Ghosts and Legends and Paranormal Roads. Recently, he has formed his own publishing company, Haunted Road Media.

Mike’s historic paranormal articles have been published in The Baltimore Sun, Paranormal Underground Magazine, and he writes an Oklahoma City paranormal column for Examiner.com. His work has also been featured in The Oklahoman, The Frederick News Post, and Marshall University’s The Parthenon.

With over 20 years of experience, he’s also a paranormal investigator and “Ghostorian” with Society of the Haunted and regularly travels to speak about the paranormal and writing.

Dale Kaczmarek, President of the Ghost Research Society, will be returning to the Afterlife Paranormal Conference in 2018 with a great presentation!

Dale Kaczmarek is also director of Excursions Into The Unknown, Inc., hosting ghost tours of haunted Chicagoland locations.  Kaczmarek has been actively investigating ghosts, hauntings and poltergeist phenomena since 1975 and is active in a number of organizations, including: American Association for Electronic Voice Phenomena, Society of the Investigation of the Unexplained, International Fortean Organization, and the prestigious Ghost Club of England.

Kaczmarek’s writings have appeared in numerous books, publications, newspapers, and periodicals.  He has been a guest on “Oprah”, “Encounters”, “Sightings”, “The Other Side”, “Rolanda”, “Mysteries Magic and Miracles”, “Exploring the Unknown”, and was called on by the Discovery Channel to help produce and appear in two segments: “Real Ghosthunters”, and “Phantom Photos.

Kaczmarek is CEO of Ghost Research Society Press, and has himself authored six books, including Windy City Ghosts, and Field Guide to Ghost Hunting Techniques.

Amelia Cotter is an author and storyteller with a special interest in the supernatural, history, and folklore. Her books include This House: The True Story of a Girl and a Ghost, Maryland Ghosts: Paranormal Encounters in the Free State, and the children's book Breakfast with Bigfoot. She is also a cast member of the show The R.I.P. Files.

Amelia grew up in Bel Air, Maryland, where she developed a love for historic, abandoned, and haunted places as a young child. She was fascinated by scary stories and urban legends, and fancied herself one day writing about the supernatural. When she was eleven, Amelia fell in love with a local abandoned house and its resident ghost that later became the inspiration for her first book, This House. As a teenager, Amelia had many nighttime adventures with friends, ghost hunting and suburban exploring around Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Amelia attended Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, graduating in 2007 with a degree in German and History. While at Hood, Amelia studied abroad in Heidelberg, Germany for a year, where she honed her skills in language and storytelling through immersing herself in the melting pot of European cultures and history. Shortly after graduating, Amelia was diagnosed with late-stage Hodgkin lymphoma and spent six months in chemotherapy. Those six months proved to be a strange period of respite that allowed her to complete the first drafts of This House and Breakfast with Bigfoot, and give serious consideration to fulfilling her dreams sooner rather than later. After completing her treatments, Amelia moved to Chicago in early 2008 to start a new life and dive into the publishing world. She has dabbled in various sectors of publishing and enjoys a diverse writing life as an author and award-winning poet. Amelia was invited to become a member of the Society of Midland Authors in fall 2013, and also holds memberships in the Haiku Society of America and United Haiku and Tanka Society.

Amelia's favorite featured shot as jewelry model for Sandpiper Imports.
Photo by Jonathan Montgomery Pollock.
Upon moving to Chicago, Amelia also dove into the world of Midwest ghostlore. Her nostalgia for the haunted history of her home state prompted her to research and compile Maryland Ghosts, and she became a tour guide with Chicago Hauntings ghost tours, giving tours around the city. Amelia has traveled throughout the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic, exploring haunted places and speaking to audiences of all ages about the supernatural and why it fascinates us.

In mid-2014, after attracting attention from television producers for her expertise on Maryland and Chicago ghostlore, Amelia joined the cast of the paranormal reality show The R.I.P. Files. In mid-2016, Amelia expanded her on-camera portfolio beyond the realm of the unknown and became the official jewelry model for the Chicago-based fair trade company Sandpiper Imports.

Snooping around creepy old places with her partner
in life and crime, Jonathan (Whispers Estate in Mitchell, Indiana).
All this, and Amelia has a day job, too. She has worked for more than a decade in museum and nonprofit management, and has volunteered for a number of animal welfare and wildlife conservation organizations and projects. Amelia loves the outdoors and has hiked around Maryland and Illinois as well as Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah. She has also braved the rainforests of Nicaragua and Ecuador. Amelia loves animals and has a dog named Oskar, a ball python named Sunshine, a spotted python named Moonlight, and a corn snake named Miles. Amelia also plays the banjo.

Today Amelia is living cancer-free, working hard, loving life, and appreciating every minute of her "supernatural" career. She enjoys all of this with her husband and best friend, recording engineer and photographer Jonathan Montgomery Pollock. Amelia shares her love for the many wonders of the world, while hopefully inspiring others to explore it, through her books, stories, poetry, and on- and off-screen appearances.

Al Kelchner’s interest in the paranormal began during his childhood with Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and continued with TV shows such as the 1970s era, In Search Of. His first encounters with spirits were during his early to mid-twenties while living in New York. But these paled in comparison to a journey that began during the fall of 2006. On October 31st he received the MLS listing for a property he would purchase and later name Willow Creek Farm.

Al first learned from the sellers at the closing that the house was haunted. In his very early residency, he seriously considered putting the property back on the market and, for good reason. Willow Creek is considered to be one of the most haunted private residences in Illinois. Not only is the house haunted but also the out buildings and surrounding fields. 

However over time, Al grew beyond his initial fear and learned that there is much more to the supernatural than scary including different cultural and religious beliefs, mythology and science. He is now primarily interested in the metaphysical aspects related to the supernatural and lessons learned from his experiences and those of others. Al enjoys sharing stories about ghostly encounters, his special relationship with some of the spirits at the farm and, thoughts about life after death.

David H. Lowery is a lifelong paranormal enthusiast, who through the years has studied and investigated all the disciplines of the unknown. UFO's as a elementary school student, Cryptids as a teenager, and on to ghosts after 18. After suffering several major medical issues and near death, he has devoted the rest of his life to the exploration of America's Highways, and the unknown that lingers near. Affectionately known as The Paranormal Highwayman, he travels in a vintage custom 30 foot class A motorhome that is being fully outfitted to be both home and a paranormal lab. David's first major adventure is slated for 2019, and will be historic and iconic Route 66! The “MotherRoad” as it is often called now, has much unexplained to offer someone like him! His website, www.paranormalhighway.com is down for rebuilding for the trip right now, but soon will be the place where you can follow along with him each step of the way! He sees the trip as an opportunity to share with all what he finds, so they can experience it until they too can join him on the open road!

Charles Anthony from Iowa is a Psychic Medium, Author, Educator, father of three, and husband of 21 years. Charles Anthony from Iowa is a Psychic Medium, Author, Educator, host of E 30:  Death the Show, and founder of Beyond the Light Radio Network (Previously Point of Ascension). His book series " Death The Final Frontier" shares his most personal terrifying dark encounters that have not only plagued his own life for years, but have traumatized his family as well. These destructive long time attachments eventually lead to Charles to finding freedom of the light for both himself and his family.  Charles is also the author of Around the Dinner Table Religion and Politics:  The Butt Hurt Saga.  Charles currently resides in Southeastern Iowa with his family.  Charles has a BA in History, an MA in Secondary Education, MA in Education Administration, and is currently working on his PHD.

Ghost Head Soup, AKA “The Soup” is a local paranormal research team of like-minded individuals who explore all aspects of the Paranormal World.  The Soup has been seen in many historical locations, including Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Rolling Hills Asylum, Stanley Hotel, and local favorite Tinker Swiss Cottage. Mark and Dean have recently appeared in the documentary titled "Tinker's Shadow" and Mark Schwabe had also appeared on an episode of Ghost Hunters. 
The Soup has also appeared in paranormal books, podcasts, conferences, newspaper articles, and was featured guest on a segment of 95.1 WIIL rock "Tom and Emily's morning show" called "Ask a" paranormal investigator. 
The business side of the Soup: “We are Data Collectors” Dean Thompson likes to explain. “The science isn’t fully there yet, but one day it will be, and we need to do our due diligence in this field to support what we are presenting.” 
Also joining Dean & Mark is Nick Hanson, a Palm Reading extraordinaire. The three will share their favorite paranormal postcards and discuss their findings. Soups on! Folks.