Press release -
Festival starts with a fang!
As ‘dark tourism’ grips the country in the run up to Halloween, Stirling is preparing its historic city streets for the biggest paranormal festival in the UK.
From 30 October – 2 November, hundreds of scare-seeking visitors will descend on the city for the Scottish Paranormal Festival.
Supported by VisitScotland and the first of its kind, the four day event will bring together experts in everything from ghosts to UFOs; monsters to poltergeists - for talks, films, music, comedy and entertainment.
One of the highlights of the week will be when 880 fangs come together for Scotland’s first ever Vampyre Ball in the Albert Halls in Stirling.
Set to attract over 400 bloodthirsty revelers from across the country, the event on Halloween (31 October), from 8.30pm – 1.00am is strictly for over 18yrs only and will include music, food and special prizes donated by one of the original Ghostbusters - Dan Aykroyd.
Festival Director Peter Broughan said:
“Fearsome fiends that feed on the blood of others are not a new concept in Scotland as traditional Scottish mythology tells of the Baobhan Sith – a beautiful womanly creature who seduced young men to drink their blood. Let’s hope there aren’t too many of them at the ball or there will be no males to dance with!
“The Scottish Paranormal Festival came from my passion for the unexplained. Whether it’s pondering the existence of poltergeists or understanding UFOS, we’ve been able to bring an exciting number of experts, writers and investigators from across the world to this event in Stirling and it is set to be an awe-inspiring few days. The Vampyre Ball of course will be a true highlight and I would ask people to get their tickets now for what will be a “bloody” good night!”
The Scottish Paranormal Festival will bring together comedy, music, film, talks and entertainment in a special weekend of events in various venues around Stirling. Other highlights include:
- Sex, lies and Poltergeists! - Talk by Geoff Holder (31 October)
- UFOs and the Media. - Talk by James Fox (1 November)
- What if E.T. phones our home? - Discussion by Nick Pope (1 November)
- Native American X Files. - Talk by The Navajo Rangers (2 November)
- ‘Haunting’ – Music and storytelling with Christina Stewart (1 November)
- Stand-up comedy with Ian D. Montfort, the world’s worst medium (2 November)
- Special screenings of The Shining, Rosemary’s Baby, Under the Skin, Shadow of a Vampire, Nosferatu and more.
‘Dark tourism’ is a phenomenon coined by academic expert and researcher John Lennon from Glasgow Caledonian University. Defined as ‘tourism involving travel to sites historically associated with death and tragedy’; the main draw to dark locations is their historical value rather than their direct associations with loss and suffering.
The appetite for dark tourism is strong with visitors flocking to notably ‘spooky’ attractions in Scotland to discover the ‘things that go bump in the night’. In 2013, domestic visitors who visited historic houses as part of a trip to Scotland generated 563,000 trips, and spent £233m, and those who visited historic castles generated a staggering 1,030,000 trips, and spend of around £423m.
VisitScotland Chief Executive Malcolm Roughead said:
“The Scottish Paranormal Festival is set to be a very mystifying and intriguing few days. From ghosts to aliens, UFOs to vampires, coming alive through comedy, theatre, talks and music, it will be a chance to discover the fact behind the fiction and see if the truth really is out there! I would urge everyone to make the trip to Stirling to discover not only this amazing festival, but also this historic and magnificent city’s fascinating past.”
Supported by VisitScotland, the Scottish Paranormal Festival takes place in Stirling from 30 October to 2 November. As part of the Homecoming Scotland 2014 partnership programme, the festival is set to draw visitors across Scotland and beyond. The Scottish Paranormal Festival has received funding from VisitScotland’s events directorate, EventScotland.
For more information or tickets, visit www.paranormalscotland.com
For further information contact:
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Kate Turnbull Corporate Press Manager Tel: 0131 472 2324 Kate.turnbull@visitscotland.com Out of hours media enquiries: 07699 766986 |
Topics
- Tourism
Categories
- homecoming 2014
- corporate communications
Regions
- Scotland
Notes to Editors:
- Follow us on twitter: @visitscotnews
- VisitScotland is Scotland’s national tourism organisation. Its core purpose is to maximise the economic benefit of tourism to Scotland.
- The organisation has three key roles:
- To market Scotland to all parts of the world to attract visitors
- To provide information – and inspiration – to visitors and potential visitors so they get the best out of a visit to Scotland
- To provide quality assurance to visitors and quality advice to the industry and partners to help the industry meet and strive to exceed customer expectations
- VisitScotland works together with tourism businesses to make tourism a success for everyone and ensure the industry continues to grow.
- The organisation employs 700 people and has offices and VisitScotland Information Centres across Scotland.
- 2014 is the year Scotland welcomes the world, when it hosts the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles and more than 800 Homecoming events throughout the country.For more information on Homecoming Scotland 2014, go to www.visitscotland.com
- The VisitScotland Information Centre network is a unique face-to-face channel engaging with around five million visitors and locals each year. Everyone who uses a VisitScotland Information Centre goes on to spend an additional £5.35, generating over £24 million for Scotland’s economy.
- According to a recent Deloitte study, tourism employs 270,000 people in Scotland in 20,000 diverse businesses. The same study calculates that the industry contributes £11 billion annually (direct and indirect impact, including day visits) and supports around 10 per cent of employment in Scotland. Almost 16 million tourists take overnight trips to Scotland.
- Where possible, a Gaelic speaker will be made available for broadcast interviews on request (Far an tèid iarraidh, agus far am bheil sin nar comas, bruidhinnidh neach le Gàidhlig aig agallamh)
- For holiday information on Scotland go to www.visitscotland.com
- For information about business tourism in Scotland go to www.conventionscotland.com
- For more information on VisitScotland’s annual review please go to www.visitscotland.org/about_us/our_focus/annual_report.aspx
