MARCH 22, 2018 // 9
“What we wanted to do is make this an
event for all ages and all different types
of people, whether they were into the para-
normal or just (the) historical side or even
just skeptical about ghost stories,” Smith
said. “I think having an opportunity for
kids to be involved is important.”
Often all things haunted are culturally
reserved for “when you’re older” and con-
sidered “too scary” for kids, Smith said.
“It’s the complete opposite. The adults
may feel that way, but the kids don’t,”
Smith said. “Adults have more of a fear,
but kids have more of an open mind. Most
of those people with paranormal experi-
ences have them as kids. Kids were open
about what they are seeing.”
Haunted toys
Ross Allison, a longtime Pacific North-
west ghost hunter, will be leading the
discussion about haunted toys during the
kid’s portion of the conference based on
the book “Haunted Toys,” which he and
his co-writer, David Weatherly, published
last year.
“I had a mother that loved ghost sto-
ries,” Allison said, “and I grew up listen-
ing to them and became very curious: Do
these things really happen?”
His curiosity bloomed into a 25-
year career internationally investigating
paranormal activity, collecting ghost
stories, researching cemeteries and giving
ghost-hunting lectures. He now co-owns
Spooked in Seattle Ghost Tours and, when
he can spare a moment, teaches “Ghostol-
ogy 101 — Becoming a Ghost Hunter” at
the University of Washington.
In his career, Allison noticed that many
stories he would hear, particularly from
children, were not being documented.
Aside from Chucky and Annabelle, stories
of toys coming to life, innocent and mali-
cious, were not being recognized.
“What I found in this field is that
these (ghost-hunting) groups start out of
the hype from these TV shows. They have
interesting experiences, but then they
don’t have the proper experience and they
die out,” Allison said. “All these stories
and experiences are getting lost because
groups fold. I wanted to get these stories
written down.”
The Boogie Man
Allison scoured paranormal message
boards and Facebook groups and tracked
down kids from all over the world who
shared games and experiences they had
with their haunted toys.
Most haunted toys share common traits:
reanimation, strange sounds and suspi-
cious origins — think antique store or
your grandma’s basement.
Some experiences children reported
COURTESY ROSS ALLISON
“Haunted Toys” by David Weatherly and Ross
Allison
FILE PHOTO
Ghost Conference Director Rocky Smith at a past event
were pretty dark — like “conjuring evil
spirits by playing hide-and-seek with a
doll” kind of dark. But Allison finds that
most experiences people have are relative-
ly positive. One of his favorites is a story
from a mother who lost her daughter in a
car accident. The stuffed lamb she had in
her hand mysteriously showed up on her
porch, she said, with her daughter’s spirit.
“We’re taught through the media (that)
spirits are out to harm us, to get us. This
is where there’s lots of misconceptions.
TV shows focus on scaring their audienc-
es,” Allison said. “I’ve been investigating
for years, and it’s extremely rare to come
across a negative case. But people are so
terrified because they think it’s got to be
evil. Maybe it’s just a child ghost that just
wants to play.”
Allison’s goal during the kid’s portion
of the event is not to scare but to educate
and encourage kids to be curious, he said.
“I find the common thing is, children
are more open to the paranormal. When
a child becomes frightened of something
they don’t understand, it becomes ‘the
boogie man under your bed.’ No parent
wants to see a kid frightened, so the first
COURTESY ROSS ALLISON
Ross Allison, co-author of the book “Haunted
Toys,” will lead a discussion on the titular topic at
the seventh annual Oregon Ghost Conference.
thing they tell them (is), ‘There is no such
thing as the boogie man.’ That’s what
begins our conditioning,” he said. “There
are things happening in this world we
can’t explain, but they are happening out
there. It’s not fair closing off the child’s
thought process when it comes to spirits
and ghosts.” CW