Parapod Festival will bring a two-day celebration of the paranormal to the Santa Clarita Valley on March 31 and April 1, with events at Santa Clarita’s Mentryville Park and the Hyatt Regency Valencia.

What is paranormal? According to the Oxford dictionary, the paranormal is defined as events or phenomena beyond the scope of common scientific understanding. It is a broad genre encompassing everything from UFOs and aliens to ghosts and hauntings, Bigfoot and other cryptids to psychics and spiritual studies to ancient mysteries. Paranormal topics lack a definite demographic, as men and women of all ages across all socioeconomic grids show interest in these strange and unusual subjects.

A surprisingly vast number of YouTube channels, TikTok and Instagram accounts and websites are devoted to the paranormal genre. The amount of content available is astounding, from documentaries to web series to podcasts. No one knows this more than festival director Tony Sweet, whose paranormal video podcast “Truth Be Told Paranormal” has been in the top 5% of podcasts worldwide for the past decade.

Sweet’s Parapod Festival will take place Friday, March 31, and Saturday, April 1, at two locations in the SCV, Mentryville Park and Hyatt Regency Valencia.

This one-of-a-kind event will feature a daytime ghost investigation of a real-life oil-boom ghost town, an evening of stargazing with television host Ben Hansen (“Fact or Faked Paranormal Files”) and a nighttime tour of the allegedly haunted Mentry mansion with the White Witch of Hollywood Patti Negri on Friday, while Saturday’s events will include guest lectures, panels and workshops with a roster of world-renowned speakers, a vendor marketplace and the exclusive ParaPod Awards, a ceremony to honor paranormal content creators such as podcasters, documentary filmmakers and established media personalities.

“Although paranormal content is abundant with hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views, we never really see these creators –podcasters, investigators, filmmakers being honored,” said Sweet. “That is why I wanted to develop a platform where all forms of paranormal content could be celebrated.”

Former Santa Clarita mayor and city council member Marsha McLean will officiate the ribbon-cutting for the grand opening of ParaPod Fest, presenting certificates from the city to all event speakers.

The master of ceremonies for the ParaPod Festival will be Jimmy Church, host of the popular “Fade to Black” podcast. Best-selling author, research scientist, producer and entrepreneurial impresario Billy Carson (4biddenknowledge with Billy Carson) will receive the festival’s Pioneer Award and Emmy and Peabody Award-winning investigative journalist Linda Moulton Howe (“Ancient Aliens,” “Truth Hunter”) will be receiving the festival’s Media Legend Award.

Sweet has drawn a roster of internationally recognized paranormal experts for the conference, including ancient Egypt theorist and geologist Dr. Robert M. Schoch (“Ancient Aliens”), white witch Patti Negri (“Ghost Adventures”), Ben Hansen (“Fact or Faked Paranormal Files”), author and great-great-grandson of Hunkpapa Lakota Chief Sitting Bull Ernie Lapointe, celebrity psychic Char Margolis (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”), Ronny LeBlanc (“Expedition Bigfoot”), psychic crime solvers Colby Rebel and Jennifer Shaffer, numerologist Glynis McCants, vampire impresario Father Sebastian, documentarian Caroline Corey, author Craig Campobasso, radio host and spiritualist Sheena Metal, social media influencers Jason Horton and Rebecca Leib (Ghost Town podcast) and host of Heart Starts Pounding podcast Kaelyn Moore. More details at https://parapodfestival.com/schedule.

“My goal is to spotlight the content creators working in the non-fiction paranormal genre,” said Sweet. “It is a dream come true to give awards to podcasters, filmmakers and investigators who continue to move the paranormal genre closer to the mainstream.”

Tickets to ParaPod Festival start at $25 for individual events at Mentryville; Saturday’s General Admission is $35, and the VIP Weekend Pass includes all events on both days for $175. Parking at both locations is free. For more information about the festival and to purchase tickets, please visit www.parapodfestival.com.

Documentary and short films for the film festival awards can be submitted online via FilmFreeway through Feb. 24. Podcasts can be submitted for the podcast awards via the secure link on the festival website.

Sponsors and Vendor spots are available; contact info@parapodfestival.com.

For more information visit Parapod Festival.