Ocean State ParaCon attracts national audience

BURRILLVILLE, R.I. — It's now one of the biggest paranormal conferences in the country, the Ocean State ParaCon now in its sixth year, this weekend in Harrisville.

It’s not just a regional curiosity anymore. This time around, the host of "Ghost Asylum" Scott Porter from Tennessee will be present.

So will Bill Brock, based in Maine, from "Monsters Underground", among others.

Hosting the event: RISEUP Paranormal. Cody Des Bien is part of the team.

"We're called skeptical believers. We're not full-on skeptics, we're not full-on believers. We're somewhere right in the middle. And that's where we'd like to stay," says Des Bien.

Andrea Perron is back. She's the author of that trilogy of books “House of Darkness, House of Light” about what she says were her family's paranormal experiences at a notorious house in Harrisville.

Ed and Lorraine Warren's paranormal investigation of the Perron family's house was the basis for the 2013 movie "The Conjuring."

"It was not our story in particular," said Perron. "There was some cherry-picking by the two screenwriters that conjured-up the screenplay."

Perron said she's inking a deal to turn her books spanning the family's 10 years from 1970 to 1980 in that house into her own series of movies. Her version is different from “The Conjuring."

"It's much more of a spiritual journey, I think. I want to share that experience with people and I want them to understand that it truly was a life-altering experience that changed each one of us in fundamental ways,” said Perron.

She expects production to begin 2018, with big screen rollouts in 2019 and 2020.

Thousands of the curious with an open mind and healthy dose of skepticism are expected this weekend at the Assembly Theatre in Harrisville.

Proceeds benefit the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence.