Overview
A new slate of anomalous-focused events is set to bring together researchers, experiencers, and enthusiasts this fall, with ANOMACON 2026 returning as a free virtual conference on September 12 and the Pocono Paracon scheduled for October 4. The preview frames both gatherings as part of a growing culture of public engagement around UFOs, cryptids, ghosts, folklore, and other “high strangeness” topics that increasingly blur the line between entertainment, field investigation, and serious inquiry.
ANOMACON was created by Ryan Sprague, host of Somewhere in the Skies, who says the event grew out of years spent speaking with people drawn to mysteries that do not fit neatly into a single category. In his preview, Sprague describes the anomalous as a subject that touches consciousness, folklore, psychology, and history, noting that “the deeper you go into the UFO mystery, the more you bump into consciousness.” His central aim, he said, was to make the conference accessible by eliminating the cost barriers that often prevent people from attending in-person events.
Key Details
Sprague emphasized that the format is meant to be broadly inclusive and intentionally eclectic. Rather than offering repeated variations on the same topic, he said ANOMACON was designed to reflect “wildly different subjects and perspectives united by curiosity.” The 2026 lineup includes Hollywood writers and producers Bryce Zabel and Brent Friedman, who will examine the relationship between Hollywood, UFOs, secrecy, mythology, disclosure, and disinformation. Emmy-winning journalist and producer Meagan Medick is slated to discuss how UFO and UAP stories make their way into mainstream television news, while Mike Clelland will present on the connection between owls, UFO encounters, synchronicity, and transformative experiences.
Other sessions highlighted in the preview include Cristina Gomez revisiting Scotland’s 1979 Dechmont Woods UFO encounter and Violeta Bagia exploring Australia’s history of UFO reports and related anomalies. The breadth of topics reflects a broader trend in the anomalous community, where investigators increasingly move between documentary work, folklore studies, psychology, and media criticism rather than treating UFOs or cryptids as isolated subjects.
Regional Event Spotlight and Scholarly Crosscurrents
Alongside the virtual conference, the roundup also points readers toward the Pocono Paracon, set for October 4, which will likewise focus on anomalous, cryptid, and paranormal subjects. The scheduling of the two events a few weeks apart suggests a busy season for an audience that often follows these topics across multiple genres and formats, from academic-adjacent presentations to more community-driven gatherings.
The preview also nods to a separate discussion making the rounds in anomalous media circles: Jason Colavito’s coverage of Marshall University professor Timothy Burbery and his unusual claims about Dante. According to the summary, Burbery argues that Inferno describes an asteroid impact and even predicts plate tectonics. The claims stand out because they place a canonical literary text into an interpretive framework far beyond conventional scholarship, a move that has drawn attention from commentators interested in the overlap between literary analysis, pseudoscience, and speculative history.
Broader Context
Taken together, these stories illustrate how the anomalous field continues to widen. Events like ANOMACON and Pocono Paracon show that public interest remains strong in subjects often dismissed at the margins, while discussions such as Colavito’s coverage of Burbery’s Dante interpretation reveal how quickly unconventional claims can spread across adjacent communities. In that sense, the current moment is less about a single mystery than about a larger ecosystem of curiosity—one that includes investigators, storytellers, academics, and audiences eager to explore the strange without pretending the answers are settled.
