Eighth Annual Paranormal Convention (ParaCon) Slated For Next Month

More Than Just a Bump in the Night

By Erin Lynch
Westport News
6-1-06

     Over the weekend members of the Smoking Gun Research Agency (SGRA), headquarted in Westport, met to discuss and plan its eighth annual Paranormal Convention (ParaCon), which is scheduled for next month in Milford.

Established in 1997 by Westport resident Jon Nowinski, the group is dedicated to presenting the facts on paranormal activities, such as ghosts or unidentified flying objects (UFO), through scientific research and field investigations. According to its Web site, www.sgra-media.org, although they are centralized in the New England area, there are more than 700 members worldwide.

Even though the SGRA began in 1997, Nowinski's interest in the unexplained began in 1985 when he witnessed a UFO while he was in Greenwich. Nowinski recalled seeing a "triangular shaped aircraft with three really bright lights."

Although he was unsure of what he had seen, Nowinski said, "I was young enough to know what I had seen wasn't an airplane." A few days later, after seeing a sketch of the UFO in a newspaper Nowinski's belief was confirmed and he realized he wasn't alone. That incident, he said, turned out to be known as the Hudson Valley Sightings, comprised of a series of eyewitness accounts of UFOs spanning from 1982 to 1995 in the New York and Connecticut area.

"I became interested [in UFOs] from that point on," he said. When Nowinski entered high school in 1997, having a greater access to technology, his interest in the unexplained became a passion and the SGRA was born.

What began as a small group in 1997 is now a full-fledged research agency of the unknown. Now the SGRA is broken up into several divisions: government investigations, ghost investigations, cryptozoology investigations and UFO investigations.

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See Also: North Bergen: UFO hotspot!