The Trader Bears vendor stall displays a hearse at the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo held at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Saturday. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

MARIETTA — Hidden Marietta held their Paranormal Expo at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Saturday.

The event catered to all things spooky, unusual and cryptozoological.

Vendors included horror authors, apothecaries, artists and antiquity dealers. One local vendor at the event was Mandrake and Hare Emporium, run by Norman Barton and Audrey Protherow. According to Protherow, the idea behind the Mandrake and Hare Emporium is to bring dark and delicious living to Marietta. She said the emporium currently lacks a storefront but they are planning to open a booth in Smith and Company Vintage on Colegate Drive in the next few weeks.

“I like pretty things, I like luxurious things and I like atmospheric and moody things. I’ve been trying to curate what I like my vision of the world to be and hope by doing that I find people that also like that kind of thing,” said Protherow, “I’m hoping to build a community from this store … we like people who like history (and) vintage style not vintage values.”

Mandrake and Hare Emporium sells spices, fragrances, art, clothing and a myriad of other tchotchkes, a small object that is decorative rather than strictly functional, that cater to the eerie and Victorian aesthetics. For more information you can visit their website at: www.mandrakeandhare.com.

Theresa Racer shares her personal experience with the paranormal at Hidden Marietta’s Paranormal Expo held at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Saturday. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

There were also presentations and interactive workshops from paranormal experts with sessions on true crime. True crime sessions included: Theresa’s Haunted History of the Tri-state, The Hext Baby Jules Nolan and Paranormal Nightmare TV: The Fourman Brothers. Theresa Racer from Spectral Research Investigations gave a session on haunted objects and spoke on her experience as a child where she moved into what she called a haunted house.

“This house was a fairly new house … but we bought it from my stepfather’s mother, and my stepfather’s father had passed away in the backyard,” said Racer, “About as soon as we moved in there is when stuff started happening … my stepfather constantly saw his father standing in the hallway, we would see someone that looked like our local newscaster walk down the hallway … we would have electrical disturbances, cabinets would come open.”

Also attending the expo were paranormal investigators, UFOlogists, cryptozoologists and psychics. Supernatural Expeditions is an episodic paranormal group based out of Bridgeport, OH. They post their videos on YouTube and travel as far as they can, according to investigator Shane Bennington.

“North, South, East, West; clear to Iowa, clear to Rhode Island, clear to Cleveland,” said Bennington.

Bennington said out of his travels his three favorite investigations were the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, W.Va., the Sallie House in Atchinson, KS and the Farrar Schoolhouse in Polk County, IA. Bennington stated that the one that frightened him the most, but was also his favorite of the three, was the Sallie House.

Ryan Zachrel, left, and Miranda Santoro, center, of Parkersburg based paranormal group, Paranormal Quest, introduce themselves to fans at the Hidden Marietta Paranormal Expo held at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Saturday. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

“I don’t like to get on this topic that much,” said Bennington, “It felt like someone was – I don’t want to say possessing, but my vibe was going away … it was agitating me, it turned really bad.” Supernatural Expeditions can be found on YouTube, Facebook and TikTok under Supernatural Expeditions.

Hidden Marietta was originally founded in 2008 with a handful of street-tours about history with some spooky stories intertwined but grew into a much larger company according to co-owner Karita Miller. She said Hidden Marietta has a shop located in the Anchorage Mansion dedicated to spooky history. They are currently partnering with the Washington County Historical Society to restore the Anchorage Mansion and a portion of the shop’s proceeds go back into the building, Miller said. She said Hidden Marietta continues to perform street tours, overnights on Blennerhassett Island and the Anchorage Mansion is available to rent for events.

“Our passion is to bring history to everybody,” said Miller, “It’s more fun when you add in those true crime stories or those spooky stories.”

For more information on Hidden Marietta check out their website at www.hiddenmarietta.com.

Gwen Sour can be reached at gsour@newsandsentinel.com