The founder of the Erath County Paranormal Society, Kim Leatherwood, led the organization’s first meeting in several months on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. Prospective members eagerly gathered at Stephenville’s Pizza Place with questions and stories of paranormal experiences of their own. Many of those who came to the meeting learned about it through Erath County Breaking News, one of Erath county’s community-led news group pages on Facebook. Leatherwood posted an announcement about it which, she said, gained more attention than she expected, and it resulted in a good turnout at the meeting.

Leatherwood first created the organization in August of last year, and after a few monthly meetings, the organization went into a hiatus. The meeting on Thursday was organized with the intention of interesting new members.

“I knew I wasn’t the only one interested. Over the last couple of years, the plethora of TV shows that have come out about it has kind of moved it out of everybody thinking you’re just weird or crazy or whatever. I just thought I know there’s more people that are interested, but there’s nowhere to get together and meet,” Leatherwood said.

Leatherwood shared that she hopes to bring in guest speakers at future meetings. So far, she has scheduled for Lance Battenfield, an investigator from Lingleville who deals with negative spirits and energies, to come and speak at the next meeting. She hopes for members to learn how they can protect themselves from negative entities. As is stated in the Erath County Paranormal Society’s Facebook group, Leatherwood intends for the group to stay away from anything satanic or demonic, and she has explicitly prohibited the use of seances, Ouija boards and satanic symbols at organization gatherings.

Future paranormal investigations will depend on how many members stay active. The group expressed interest in conducting paranormal investigations specifically within the Erath County area, the Stephenville Parks and Recreation building being one of them.

Leatherwood has said that the next meeting will be on Thursday, March 21. Its time and location will later be announced. For more information about the Erath County Paranormal Society and meetings, check out their Facebook group page.