UFOs, the Paranormal Are Focus of Gathering

Believers and skeptics alike kicked off the fifth annual Paranormal Phenomena and UFO Exposition Friday in Hollywood.

The three-day event, at the Holiday Inn hotel on Highland Avenue, is expected to draw “anywhere between 1,000 and 10,000 people,” said one of the organizers, Andy Reiss, on his psychic hotline.

Visitors can get their charts read and their aura photographed--and even pick up some biodegradable laundry detergent.

“We’re a very eclectic group,” said astrologer Larry Pines, who will be lecturing Saturday. “What I think puts us together is that [we’re] striving for our own consciousness and have been rejected by society. Some people see people from outer space, some use natural detergents, but we’re all striving for a type of truth.”