After attending the Darkness Radio event at the Stanley Hotel in March of 2011 (see previous post), I vowed to attend another. Flash forward to November 2011.  The event was back at the Stanley Hotel. This time it was held the weekend after Halloween so they announced that the first night was going to be a masquerade.

Masquerade?!? Awesome! I couldn’t have been more excited. I had purchased an Italian mask a few years prior and I had yet had a chance to wear it. Well, here was my shot and I wasn’t going to miss it. So I searched out a seamstress in my area and had her create a dress to go with it. The concept and sketch were fantastic.  It was going to be white and grey and have all these ghostly layers to the skirt.  Yeah…unfortunately, she decided to make a “creative” change without asking me. When I showed up to pick it up, two days before the trip, I was disappointed but had no way to fix it. It still turned out nicely and I received compliments all night, but it was not what I had envisioned.

It was so great to see everyone again at the meet and greet. The Constantinos were there again. Jeff was there (whom I had recently spent time with when he went to Austin in October). Chris Fleming, Dave, Billy, Aaron, and Zak were also all there. I also got to meet Gary Galka for the first time. If you watch Ghost Adventures, you know that he was on one of the episodes with the emotional story of his daughter.

I signed up for the Friday investigation. I didn’t get my name in an EVP this time but I did have a weird experience in the concert hall. As we were sitting there, I started hearing music. I shut my eyes and it was like I felt myself drifting away. It felt like there was a party going on but from the ’50’s era. The song almost reminded me of a Patsy Cline style. I had never heard the song before but it was like I knew the words. As I was getting deeper into the feeling, they told us it was time to switch rooms. Rats! While in the concert hall, Gary let me hold his Mel-Meter stuffed bear prototype which was later used on Ghost Adventures. When I saw it on the show, I couldn’t help but smile.

Jeff had his lecture before the investigation that night. He was amazing, as always (and integrated two topics I mentioned to him in Austin). During the lecture, he mentioned there was a pet cemetery on property and he could show anyone who wanted to know. After the investigation that night, someone mentioned heading out there. So Jeff led a group of about 7 of us out to the pet cemetery and Zak joined us. My coat was back in my room and I didn’t want to take the time to go get it so I really got to experience the Colorado winter weather. It was fun, though. Zak tried to capture EVP’s of the animals. His personality really comes out when there aren’t a bunch of people around. I swear I have never seen that many stars before. The sky was crystal clear and absolutely amazing.

Without an investigation to attend on Saturday, I attended Dave’s lecture. The man knows how to give a presentation. I sat on the front row which is the last place you want to be when you hear the speaker say, “I’m going to get two people from the audience.” I was avoiding direct eye contact but then realized I probably look like a student sinking down in their chair, so I looked up. Yep, you guessed it, as soon as I looked up, Dave said, “You! Come on up.”  Gee…thanks Dave!

Alas, Sunday was upon me; time to go home. Mom and I went to the lobby where people were taking their last pictures with the speakers. We just kind of waited over to the side. Dave noticed and came over and talked to us. My mom said we were just waiting to get a pic with everyone. Of course, she meant individually because that is just how it is done. Before we knew it, Dave hollers out to everyone to get together for a picture. So I actually was lucky enough to get a group photo!

Unfortunately, these event weekends always end way too soon.  It was time to plan where I would see everyone next.