Oculto Film Fest: Horror Movies + Ghost Hunt in Downtown El Paso

Those who love the thrill of watching horror movies and taking part in paranormal investigations have the chance to do them both at an upcoming international horror film festival that spotlights local short films.

El Paso Ghost Tours is hosting a ghost hunt in the downtown El Paso building the festival is taking place in.

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The location is supposedly the site of a brutal murder, and it is said nefarious rituals were performed there in the past.

The paranormal investigation is one of the options attendees of the Oculto Horror Film Fest can buy into.

The Investigation

The paranormal investigation is being hosted by El Paso Ghost Tours, the group that leads weekly ghost tours inside the notoriously haunted De Soto Hotel.

Leon Baker, owner and lead investigator of the group says it will be the first time the building at 315 S. El Paso Street has ever been investigated.

“[It] was the location of the Myer Opera House in the 1800s. We've heard there may be something negative there. I was told there may have been some type of rituals done there in the past, and that there is an altar hidden in the building.”

Baker also told me a vicious murder of an elderly man is said to have taken place in that location. “He was part of the Chinese community, and someone covered him and the inside of his home in kerosene and set him ablaze.”

“So, a negative energy, a hidden altar, a gruesome murder, and all the terrible things that happened in that area during the "old west" days add up to the possibility of a really great investigation,” Leon adds.

Oculto Horror Film Fest

Don’t even bother shushing fellow attendees while you’re trying to watch any of the movies at this festival, because they’re meant to make you scream.

With eight terrifying local and international short films designed to deliver the scares just in time for Halloween, the Oculto Horror Film Fest creeps into Loftlight Studio in downtown El Paso on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 22-23.

General admission tickets start at $15. Horror fans can double the terror by participating in the pre-festival ghost tour and paranormal investigation of Loftlight Studio.

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