ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Sitting on a couch Wednesday afternoon on the third floor of Miller Symphony Hall, Eric Mintel described how his two nocturnal passions — playing jazz and investigating what goes bump in the night— recently have overlapped.
“We're actually a paranormal tourism TV show,” said Mintel, a jazz musician and paranormal investigator. “We're showing people where to go, where to stay and where to experience these entities — ghosts.
“What drew me here is because, not only have I had almost a 20-year career of playing [jazz] here, I've always thought, ‘There's a lot of history here. There's something got to be going on here.’”
Mintel splits his time between playing jazz and investigating accounts of the paranormal for his TV show, “Eric Mintel Investigates,” not only in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding regions, but around the United States.
“We had over 1,000 people there last year, which was phenomenal. So, this year is going to be epic.”Eric Mintel
Last year, he started his own gathering for enthusiasts of the paranormal — UFOs, cryptids, ghosts — just south of the Valley, and it’s headed into its second year.
His one-day paranormal convention, Bucks ParaCon, is scheduled for March 8 at Bucks County Community College’s Zlock Performing Arts Center.
Tickets, at $45, include access to all of the day’s speakers and presentations.
“Last year was incredible,” Mintel said. “It was our first year, and, I thought, ‘Well, you know, maybe we'll have a couple hundred people.’
“We had over 1,000 people there last year, which was phenomenal. So this year is going to be epic.”
‘There's a lot of activity here’
Mintel and Dominic Sattele, a spirit medium, in January investigated Miller Symphony Hall, 23 N. Sixth St.
“I'm going to say there's a lot of activity here,” Mintel said. “I’m not going to say it's haunted, but I'm going to say there's a lot of very strange activity here that we actually encountered on video from our investigation.”
The hall, a hulking building with three floors, three basements and an attic, dates to the 1800s, according to the hall’s website. Once used as a market, it was converted into a theatre in 1899.
“One of my favorite things about this place is we don't actually know what year it was built."Carter Reichard, Miller Symphony Hall's house and rentals manager
“One of my favorite things about this place is we don't actually know what year it was built,” said Carter Reichard, Miller’s house and rentals manager.
“We know it was built roughly in the 1890s but, even with all of our archives, we cannot pinpoint what year it was built.”
Almost no records have survived from the time the building was a market, Reichard said. Nor when it was a burlesque house. Only a few photos remain.
However, officials have a listing of performers and speakers from over the years, including Tony Bennett, Booker T. Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
“It used to be an independent theater, so we didn't have our own symphony or anything, and shows would just kind of cycle through,” Reichard said.
“There's been a few different Allentown Symphony Orchestras who have come in and folded.”
‘Maybe it's something more’
During her time working there, Reichard said, she has had several “experiences” with the elevator.
“I'm here when no one else is,” Reichard said. “And what usually happens is I will be walking up to the elevator. When I'm about 5 feet away — I did not press the button — it will just open up and it's a clean walk for me to come in.
“It happens pretty consistently. And I'm usually by myself.”
“The energies here — Dominic was tuning in on something backstage that just blew us away,” Mintel said. “I don't want to divulge what it was, but we captured something on video that kind of coincides with what he was feeling.”Eric Mintel
During the investigation, Mintel and Sattele both said they had encounters. Mintel was on the third floor when he “heard something,” he said — but nobody else was there.
“The energies here — Dominic was tuning in on something backstage that just blew us away,” Mintel said. “I don't want to divulge what it was, but we captured something on video that kind of coincides with what he was feeling.”
During the investigation, the elevator also opened for Reichard, seemingly on its own accord.
“I got a text from my best friend saying, ‘Come up to the third floor,’” Reichard said. “And as I'm walking up, the elevator opens. And, of course, there's no cameras or anything.
“That's been my main experience, and it happens pretty often — probably once every other week or so.
"At first I thought it was just a coincidence. I thought it was some of the tech guys messing with me. But who knows? Maybe it's something more.”
The Miller Symphony Hall episode of “Eric Mintel Investigates” is slated to premier in October at the hall.
‘Expect an incredible day’
Asked what someone could expect at the Bucks ParaCon, Mintel said, “Well, they're going to expect an incredible day.”
“The speakers — we're talking about ghosts, UFOs, Bigfoot, Dogman sightings, the drone situation that's been going on — people are still trying to figure out what they are seeing, what's flying around in our skies,” Mintel said.
“So, there's a lot of different topics that are going to interest people.”
A series of mysterious drone sightings were reported late last year over New Jersey, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily ban drone flights in 22 areas of New Jersey and 30 areas in New York.
In late January, White House officials said the drones were "authorized to be flown by the FAA.”
ParaCon speakers include Dave Schrader, host of “The Paranormal 60” podcast; Charles I. Halt, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel; Peter Robbins, a writer specializing in UFOs/UAPs; and Stan Gordon, a paranormal researcher based in western Pennsylvania among others.
This year also will include a costume contest, Mintel said.
“Last year, we had people dressed as Bigfoot, aliens,” he said. “These guys came in as Ghostbusters. Nobody told anybody to do anything, but they came in that way anyway. It was really cool.”
Stigma is gone
Describing the space as a “beautiful auditorium,” Mintel said creating an event for paranormal enthusiasts creates connections in the community, working to lessen the stigma often associated with the field.
Federal hearings on UFOs in July 2023 and November of last year, have helped, too.
"Even the scientific community is taking this very, very seriously.”Eric Mintel
“It's giving us at least a starting point in the conversation, and that's why people are very comfortable now telling their story,” Mintel said.
“We just did a video about a huge UFO flap over Bucks County. People coming on camera, telling us what they're seeing — what they've captured on video.
“You wouldn't have that 10 or 15 years ago, because there would be that little stigma there.
"But that's kind of gone away now, because even the scientific community is taking this very, very seriously.”
