By Kathryn Skelton,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – New England vampires weren’t the suave neck-biters of popular legend.

Keith Johnson says back in the late 1700s, around this region, they were more often blamed for inhabiting the bodies of family members struck with tuberculosis and draining their life-force dry – a way to explain, back then, the unexplainable.

Vampires, the unexplainable and the paranormal will take center stage here next weekend.

Johnson, and his twin, Carl, who appear on the Sci-Fi Channel show “Ghost Hunters” as demonologists, will be among the speakers at the 2005 New England Ghost Conference.

It’s being held Oct. 22 at the Ramada Inn from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., hosted for the fourth year by Maine’s Paranormal Research Association.

MPRA co-founder Nancy Washell said the group put a poll on its Web site asking people where and when the event ought to be this year.

Lewiston and October won. So far, it’s been a popular combo. The conference has typically attracted an audience of 20. At the end of this week, however, more than 60 people had registered, from as far away as California, Florida, Arizona and North Dakota.

“It’s kind of mind-boggling,” she said. “Before, it’s been real local.”

Scheduled topics include exceptional human experience counseling; how to gather and analyze paranormal evidence; using your senses for paranormal research; portals; and electronic voice phenomenon, or EVPs in research lingo.

Each talk will last about an hour, with room for questions and answers. When the day wraps at 5, if the weather holds out, Washell said participants will be invited along to investigate a local cemetery with cameras, recorders and sensitive meters.

Washell and her husband, Bill, conduct a class through Lewiston Adult Education called “The Ultimate Ghost Hunter,” teaching students, among other things, how to use all that equipment.

“We’ve had a lot of experiences ourselves. We’ve done a lot of studying,” said Washell. “We can see them. We can hear them.”

The conference registration fee, $60 up to the morning of the event, will go to maintaining MPRA’s Web site, equipment and materials, she said.

Keith Johnson picked “Vampires of New England” for the Lewiston presentation.

The belief in vampires 200 years ago was particularly strong in Rhode Island, where he’s from.

He and his twin’s cult celebrity status may be part of the draw to the conference this year. They’re often seen on cable Wednesday nights with TAPS, the Atlantic Paranormal Society. “Ghost Hunters” follows a pair of plumbers-by-day, ghost-scouts-by-night and their TAPS team members as they case potentially haunted jails, ships and homes. It’s in the middle of its second season.

“The actual filming can be quite tedious. It’s fun, of course,” Johnson said. “I understand there’s a lot of hauntings in Maine. I think that’s why Stephen King takes it as such a good setting.”

When they’re not on a mission with TAPS, the Johnsons have their own group, New England Anomalies Research.

Other speakers next weekend come from O.R.I.O.N, the Otherside Research & Investigations of New England, and the Cape and Islands Paranormal Research Society.

The 2006 New England Ghost Conference is already planned for Portland, stretched into a two-and-a-half-day event.

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