Cumberland Con shows the freaky side of Lake Cumberland

Oct. 17—May Cthulhu have mercy on your eternal soul! And may your girlfriend have mercy on you for all the money you spent at Cumberland Con.

Cumberland Con, an event for fans of comics, collectibles and the paranormal, is the newest event held here in Pulaski County. The convention started at Jarfly Brewing Co. Friday evening then followed up on Saturday with booths and presentations in the former Cooper Community Arts Center.

Owner of the International Paranormal Museum Kyle Kadel is "one third" of the founders of Cumberland Con, along with Jobie Bradley and Shane Isom.

"We decided to do an all-out, full-on convention, and we added on the comic book side to it as well," said Kadel. "Jobie is a comic book artist, and Shane is big into collectibles and comics and stuff..."

Thanks to the work of author H.P. Lovecraft, these disparate nerdy hobbies can be collected under one roof. Lovecraft's most iconic character the cosmic giant Cthulhu spawned an extensive mythos and artistic following which has seen thousands and thousands of iterations in different genres of horror, comic books, and games.

"Cthulhu is the absolute perfect middle of paranormal and comics," said Kadel. "H.P. Lovecraft is one of the greatest horror science fiction writers ever, and he's been completely adopted by the comic world, so we thought he was the perfect middle ground to base our convention on."

The convention was initially to be called "Cumberland Cthulhu Con," but the trio wanted the name of the convention to be easier to spell.

"(The convention) is going incredibly well," said Kadel. "We've had a lot of hiccups. First, we're having to leave this building in two weeks, and on top of that, we have spent the last two weeks cleaning out thirteen years worth of junk that has been left in this building. Those were giant headaches but well worth it, because this is going incredibly, and as the last event we wanted this to be a huge goodbye for the building and for the community."

Many showed up in costume, including Jordan Ford who dressed as the merry ol' Christmas monster himself, Krampus, and patrolled the grounds to ensure there was no naughty people out and about.

"I've been working on him for eight years now. I just add more and more to him each year," said Ford.

Author Joey Webb of Hazard Kentucky also made an appearance. Writing since 2012, Webb has already completed seven books. Four of his books are in a series.

"(The series is) like vampires versus werewolves. It's like two brothers. One's a werewolf and one's a vampire. They're fighting in each book, and in each book it's a different time period," said Webb.

Jason Shepherd is an illustrator based out of Lexington who had a booth set up at the convention. He brought all sorts of spooky artwork to show off. Shepherd said his more popular work included characters like Freddy Krueger and Michael Myers, but the gem of his collection according to festival-goers was the illustration of the Golden Girls.

Shepherd said he'd been drawing since a child but he did not start seriously pursuing art until 2017.

"I just started doing commissions for people, and now I'm doing books and events and conventions. It's been a journey," he said. "Just enjoying being down here with my friends ... We're just all down here enjoying the same thing."

Another table showed off the cartography of Jeff Craig, who had a map behind him showing off paranormal activity in all corners of the U.S.

"Some classic UFO sightings, Bermuda Triangle, Area 51," he said as he pointed to the map behind him. "Anything in red is a cryptid ... and then the back has an index and some little info ... You can plan a roadtrip if you're going anywhere."

Craig, like many of the artists there, buckled down and finished many projects after the start of the COVID pandemic.

"One of the good things that came out of the pandemic is I was finally able to finish this," said Craig.

Leigh and Derrick Davis's company "No Ordinary Rabbit" table had dice and other small bobbles that Leigh Davis had made.

"I'm her hype man and loving husband," said Derrick Davis. "We had an idea, and she went full-blown 'let's go.'"

"Everything here, I modeled, 3D printed, and hand painted," said Leigh Davis. "It's one of those things you just zone out and listening to music ... the longest part of it is probably painting ... It's a lot, but once it's designed it's typically a pretty smooth process."

One of the bigger names at the convention was Justin Mason, an artist whose most famous work is his drawing for the Spider-Punk comics, an alternate universe take on Spider-Man who shreds on an electric guitar when he's not shredding through fascists. Mason also worked on Carnage 2099, a series following Miguel O'Hara, a man born years in the future in the city of Nueva York who dons the Spider-Man persona to beat up baddies like Carnage.

Spider-Punk was even portrayed in the movie Across the Spider-Verse where he was voiced by Get Out star Daniel Kaluuya.

"I've been drawing since I could hold a pencil," said Mason. "It was always a dream to work for Marvel, but it just didn't seem possible ... The moment that door opened it was a little breath-taking. Hard to believe it."

Paranormal Investigator Patti Starr was one of the presenters at the event, and she told of her experiences in cataloguing the supernatural. She had one encounter with the apparition of a little girl who was able to manifest her voice in a recording and even change her message once the recording had already been uploaded.

"Patti Starr is one of the main influences that made me decide to make my life about the paranormal," said Kadel. "She is the creator of ScareFest, she created the Bardstown Ghost Walk, she does the Lexington Ghost Walk. She's been in this community since the mid-'90s. Patti's a great friend of the museum and one of the best paranormal investigators I've ever worked with."

This is Cumberland Con's maiden voyage, but unfortunately, this will be the Cooper Center's last hurrah. However, Bradley, Isom, and Kadel have every intention to hold another Cumberland Con in the Center for Rural Development next year.