Paranor-Macon is scheduled for October 16–17, 2026, at the Macon Marriott City Center. General admission starts at $10, while military personnel, first responders, teachers and children ages 12 and younger are listed for free admission, according to Visit Macon.
What attendees can expect
The scheduled program covers paranormal investigations, haunted places and history, psychic phenomena, tarot, UFOs and cryptids including Bigfoot, Mothman and Dogman. Researchers, investigators, psychics and other participants are expected to appear alongside vendors selling books, equipment and handmade goods, according to Visit Macon.
Evening programs at two historic sites
The convention’s separate nighttime offerings include ticketed investigations at Fort Hawkins on both Friday and Saturday nights and lantern tours of Rose Hill Cemetery. Visit Macon identifies the Fort Hawkins program as an investigation led by a research team and describes the Rose Hill events as tours focused on the cemetery’s history, legends and stories. The Paranormal Society of Savannah, which is presenting the convention, was founded in 2020 by Patrick Welsh and had conducted more than 160 investigations at the time of a Savannah Magazine profile.
Fort Hawkins was established in 1806 under President Thomas Jefferson as a frontier trading post and War of 1812 stronghold on one of Macon’s highest hills, according to The Macon Newsroom. Rose Hill Cemetery was established in 1840 on 50 acres overlooking the Ocmulgee River and is the burial place of Allman Brothers Band members Duane Allman, Gregg Allman, Berry Oakley and Butch Trucks, according to Visit Macon.
Reservations and local tourism
The Macon Marriott City Center is offering attendees a discounted lodging rate through September 15, 2026, according to Visit Macon. The event is part of Visit Macon’s Macon Beyond campaign, which also includes the Witches Float, Macon Macabre walking tours and programming connected with the Hay House, Riverside Cemetery and the Piedmont Grand Opera House.
A convention district in development
Paranor-Macon arrives as Macon-Bibb County continues to invest in the downtown visitor economy. The county’s fiscal 2020 financial report described Downtown Macon as an entertainment district anchored by venues including the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame, Historic Douglass Theatre, Tubman African American Museum, Hargray Capitol Theater, Grand Opera House and City Auditorium and Centreplex, according to Macon-Bibb County’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. The county also issued a June 18, 2025, request for qualifications for a hotel and convention center at 108 First Street in Downtown Macon, according to Macon-Bibb County Government.
Earlier planning and infrastructure work also shaped the area. Macon-Bibb County Government reported in 2015 that the Macon Action Plan would guide planning for Downtown Macon and surrounding neighborhoods, with priorities including economic development, public spaces, urban-core living and connectivity. County records also describe a phase of the Second Street Corridor Connector that added storm drainage, a waterline, shared sidewalks and lighting.
The Grand Opera House, which opened in 1884 and is operated in partnership with Mercer University, has its own reported ghost lore. A Macon Newsroom account describes stories of a 1950s-era “Lady in White” and former managing director Randall Widner, who died in the building in 1971.
