By Tim Binnall
A paranormal festival in Louisiana faced considerable criticism from a cadre of concerned residents who expressed fears that the event was demonic in nature. According to a local media report, Howard Pitre conceived of FearFest as a celebration of high strangeness which would also raise money for charity in honor of his late daughter. Despite the good intentions behind the gathering, the 'dark' nature of the festival sparked an outcry among some of the more religious members of the surrounding community and they subsequently set about trying to put a stop to the event.
Leading the charge, local reverend Daniel Brouilette lamented on social media that "this event promotes activities like seances, exorcisms, demonology, paranormal investigations, psychics, voodoo, and ghost hunting." He went on to warn his congregation that "while this may seem fun or entertaining to some, these activities are certainly not in continuity with our Catholic faith and expose souls to demonic influence which can have lasting and devastating consequences." His concerns were echoed by similarly worried residents who bombarded the community center where the event was to be held and, amazingly, some went so far as to actually sprinkle holy water around the building.
The campaign culminated last week at a meeting of the board which oversees the community center as critics of the festival pleaded with them to cancel the event. To their credit, city officials indicated that they could find no legal reason to disallow the gathering. Meanwhile, Pitre expressed profound dismay over the event being seen as evil, arguing that there are scarier scenes "in people’s front yards or even the Disney Channel" during this time of year, while also assuring the public that "we're not going to conjure up the devil." Although two vendors wound up dropping out of the festival due to the controversy, the pressure campaign ultimately proved to be futile as FearFest was held this past weekend without any issues and, presumably, no one becoming possessed.