Galena's #1 Rated Original Haunted Tour
Speakers & Presenters
ROBYN DAVIS & TED WILLIAMS
Ted and Robyn are thrilled you are here!! Your hosts for the Haunted Galena Conference own The Haunted Galena Tour Company, and were co-creators of Galena's first ghost tour back in 2001. Robyn has an undergrad degree in History and a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology. She blends these two disciplines to study the history of past events that have led to hauntings and interpret the motivation of those involved. Ted has been fascinated (and occasionally confronted) by the paranormal since his arrival in Galena in 1995, He has spent the last 23 years researching Galena history and the paranormal. Ted enjoys studying esoterica and proposing theoretical solutions to mysteries. Also a writer, Ted was honored to be named Galena's first Poet Laureate in 2024. Robyn and Ted live in an 1892 restored schoolhouse with their Golden Doodle Winn-Dixie.
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TROY TAYLOR:
Troy Taylor is the author of nearly 140 books on history, hauntings, true crime, the unexplained, and the supernatural in America. He is also the founder of American Hauntings Ink, which was founded in 1993 and offers books, ghost tours, events, the American Hauntings Podcast and the Haunted America Conference, held annually in Alton, IL. He is the Owner and Curator off "Troy Taylor's American Oddities Museum. Troy was born and raised in the Midwest and currently divides his time between Illinois and the far-flung reaches of America.
KARI BERGEN:
Kari Bergen is an intuitive assemblage artist; paranormal investigator, lover or the strange and forgotten history, and owner of the art and historical oddities shop, Ephemera Obscura. She is a lifelong sensitive who has spent the last 20+ years studying the metaphysical and investigating the paranormal. Kari is the author of "The Ghost of Floyd Collins" article in Troy Taylor's "The Morbid Curious" No.4. She has given presentations for Atlas Obscura on topics such as Victorian Mourning, Postmortem Photography, and the History of Disaster Tourism and After Hours talks at the Haunted America Conference on Dreaming of the Dead, Messages from the Dead, and the Care and Handling of Haunted Objects. She and her haunted doll orphanage appear in the documentary, "A Haunting in Blue Hill."
SCOTT MARKUS:
Scott has been actively involved in researching the paranormal for more than half of his life. He is a published author, having written a historical/paranormal book about Chicago called "Voices from the Chicago Grave," and has directed two feature-length documentaries on the unexplained. He runs the website WhatsYourGhostStory.com, and has co-hosted and produced the paranormal radio show "The Mothership Connection" out of WLIP AM-1050 Kenosha. Scott has been interviewed multiple times for Travel Channel's "Mysteries of the Monument" and can currently be seen in the Tubi documentary, "Famously Haunted: Hollywood. He is a regular public speaker and paranormal convention guest across the US, including Hawaii.
MIKE BASS:
Mike Bass is a printmaker and storyteller who, having grown up in a house with spirits, has always been fascinated by the more frightening aspects of folklore. He received his BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with an emphasis in printmaking and design. You can find his work on Instagram at wiscomythos. Mike is the author and illustrator of the Folklore Oracle and Frightful Folklore of North America. He and his wife, Natalie, own a small gift shop in Madison, Wisconsin called the Zip-Dang Shop (zip-dang.com), offering the un-massproduced unusual.
CHAD LEWIS:
For over three decades Chad Lewis has traveled the back roads of the world in search of the stange and unusual. From tracking Vampires in Transylvania and searching for the elusive monster of Loch Ness to trailing the dangerous Tata Duende through remote villages of Belize and searching for ghosts in Ireland's castles, Chad has scoured the Earth in search of the paranormal. Chad has been featured on numerous TV shows and documentaries. With a Master's Degree in Psychology, Chad has authored 35 books on the supernatural and extensively lectures on his fascinating findings. The more bizarre the legend is, the more likely you will find Chad there.
CHRIS MCBRIEN
Chris McBrien , a psychic medium, was raised in a documented Scots Irish family tradition of shamanism brough over with his ancestors from Antrim, Ireland to the US in 1809. He studied with additional witchcraft teachers Dolores Youngquist, George Shadwick and Selena Fox. Chris then spent nine years in training as a Sufi in Dayemi Tariqat under the direct tutelage of its Master, Sheikh Din Muhammed Abdullah al-Dayemi. His psychic medium abilities were enhanced as the result of a near-death experience in 2011. His expertise includes Sufi meditation techniques, energy work/Dhikr, as well as exorcism. Chris also travels to research and document the paranormal in both the US and Europe. He provides services through, but not limited to, his office in Galena, Illinois.
KAT ARMSTRONG
Kat Armstrong, Co-Founder of Paranormal Exposures and Intuitive Medium of Katomancy, has been teaching various metaphysical classes including candle magic, herbal practices, forms of scrying and haunted objects. Kat has had paranormal experiences since her childhood and eventually became a paranormal investigator. She currently is a representative for the Edinburgh Manor, one of the most haunted locations in the Midwest. She has been teaching the art of scrying since 2018 as an event speaker and both in person and in online classes. Kat is excited to be joining The Haunted Galena Conference as a presenter and assisting with the paranormal investigations again this year.