Colorado's National Paranormal Network Debuts New Documentary on Friday the 13th

Alan Megargle of Twisted Tree Films has been conducting paranormal investigations for around twenty years, so he knows a thing or two about unusual mysteries. And when fellow researcher Kenny Collins told him about some recent disturbances at one of his properties, Megargle's spidey-sense for the weird immediately started tingling.

"I met him through the Bigfoot world," says Megargle, who's also part of the passionate cryptozoology community fascinated with the world's most famous monster mystery. "He approached me with some items he found in the basement of his house out in Blue Hill [Nebraska], and as soon as I saw what we had, I said, 'Well, I think we're going to make a movie.'"

Megargle soon had the rest of the Twisted Tree film crew making cross-country trips out to Collins's secluded farmhouse to investigate the items, which included a 170-year-old book in German and an old, creepy doll, as well as the mysterious cellar where they were found. The team's investigation and experiences were all documented for the new film, A Haunting in Blue Hill, co-directed by Megargle with Jesse Morgan. The film will make its world premiere in Estes Park at the Historic Park Theatre this Friday the 13th.

Twisted Tree Films is just one part of Megargle and his collaborators' National Paranormal Network, an imprint that encompasses feature films, a web series called Trails to the Unknown and an apparel business, the Sasquatch Clothing Company. They even host Bigfoot Adventure Weekends, all-inclusive excursions that escort fellow believers hopeful for an encounter with the reclusive Skunk Ape into the mountains near Bailey.
A Haunting in Blue Hill will be Megargle and Morgan's fourth time directing a feature together. They've been partnering on projects ever since they became neighbors in first grade, back in their home state of Ohio. In that neck of the woods, Bigfoot is referred to as the Grassman; it's also where Megargle made his first forays into documenting paranormal activity.

"When I first got into this, I was doing a research paper for a community-college English class," he recalls. "I thought I would do it on ghosts; I've been interested in this kind of stuff since I was just a little boy. So I grabbed my dad's video camera, and I found a haunted spot about twenty minutes away and went and checked it out."

When he returned from the shoot with his crew, they made an eerie discovery: "When we got home, we were watching the footage and having a good laugh at how inexperienced we were, [but] there were voices on there that we didn't hear, and all of a sudden it was like, 'Wait a minute, this is real,'" he says with a laugh.

Their latest production has had its share of similarly hair-raising moments, beginning when their friend Collins acquired the 130-year-old property in Blue Hill because of its proximity to the Nebraska Bigfoot Conference in Hastings. "He started doing some remodeling, and that really stirred things up," says Megargle. "Then he found this room in the cellar, which is one of those [where] you go outside of the house and you open the big storm door and go underneath the house. ... There was a room down there with a really interesting door. It had some folk art painted on it, and inside that room there was a box that had these objects...this old 1850s German book and a creepy doll."

After that discovery, "he wanted help with the mystery," Megargle says. As every fan of spooky stories knows, Bigfoot is one thing, but when creepy dolls are involved...you call in the professionals.
Twisted Tree Films started documenting and researching the house, discovering a recent death that occurred there and eventually making contact with that individual, Megargle claims. The film culminates in an eerie and documented encounter in the basement room. "The things that happened that night were pretty profound," he says, adding that they aligned with the story uncovered during the investigation.

Film-goers can take the unsettling journey themselves on Friday, October 13, as part of a full night of paranormal-focused fun. Megargle, Morgan and others from the crew will be in attendance to conduct a large Q&A session on the production and its aftermath. They're also bringing two of the experts from the film out: Fellow paranormal investigator Kari Bergen will be discussing haunted dolls and objects in a presentation related to the film, and cartomancer Rebekah Blackburn will be giving Tarot readings and presenting her own haunted doll collection.

And there's more: The event has a guided "Late Night Ghost Hunt" add-on, and the haunted objects from the film will be on display. For those curious about cryptozoology, paranormal investigation and independent filmmaking, it's a honey of an opportunity to dip in.

But be careful, says Megargle: "It gets kind of addictive after a while."

A Haunting in Blue Hill, 6 p.m. Friday, October 13, Historic Park Theatre, 136 Moraine Avenue A, Estes Park. Tickets are $25; Ghost Hunt add-on is $35. Find tickets and more info at historicparktheatre.com.