| False positives | |
| The evidence on this page consists of items we have collected and debunked or are using as examples of false evidence. Hopefully our findings will help others from making the mistake of believing this type of evidence is genuine. | |
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Orb photos
These orbs are examples of what are called "sun ghosts", which have nothing to do with the paranormal. This is a phenomena associated with digital cameras, lens coating, sunlight and reflected light angles. You can find more information about this at this site. | |
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Same photo in negative |
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Same photo in negative |
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| "Red ecto" photos
These photos were taken about 100 feet from a very large bonfire. | |
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| The photo below was taken right next to the bonfire on a later visit. It appears that the red blobs in both photos are the result of heated air rising up from the bonfire and are not paranormal in nature. | |
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| blank space | Camera problems | It is important to keep your camera in good clean working condition when working on a paranormal investigation. A dirty lens, uncontrolled camera straps or unnoticed body parts in the photo can completely invalidate your work. |
| Dirty lens A dirty lens can make it seem as if you are being followed by the same orbs! The photos appear to have a little spaceship following me. These little bits of flotsam on my lens appeared on several other photos, making me wonder until I finally realized that the lens needed cleaning even though it was usually covered. After that, the little "spaceships" disappeared back into space! | |
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| Camera straps Uncontrolled camera straps can look just like moving "orbs" or "vortexes". Keep the strap around your neck or wrist and out of the picture. | |
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| Clothing, body parts in view It is important to know what is in front of your lens. It is not hard to get an arm, finger or sleeve in the way of the lens and mistake it for something other than what it is. The first two images below are sleeves, while the second set of images are fingers. | |
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| It is also important to know WHAT you are photographing. The following photo seems to be a yellow streak going through the frame of the window, but in fact is the result of a large street light outside and camera movement. | |
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| You can also be fooled by photographs taken by others. If you don't have complete control of the camera and the environment, you cannot really trust what people send you. The photos below are an example of how a waving hand appears in front of a camera without using the flash. It looks like a brown shadow passing in front of the camera lens. | |
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| Camcorders | |
| Camcorders can be very useful investigative tools, but like any tool, has to be used properly and the results evaluated carefully. The video below is an example of how a camcorder on "nightshot" (infrared) mode can produce "false positives". | |
| ODD VIDEO:
The video below was taken in May, 2005, during the initial walkthru of JFK Prep. The camcorder is a Sony digital on "nightshot" (infra-red) mode. It shows investigator Kurt in a room but oddly enough, it doesn't show his feet. Instead we see what could be a white figure superimposed over him. Subsequent review of the original full length video shows that what we are seeing is actually a reflection in a mirror or large glass pane at the far end of a small room. The room is the end part of a corridor that widens at that point and has some windows opening into another room, which in turn bring in sunlight from that room. This obviously could be a trick of the light coming in from the windows, but when the camera pans away and comes back suddenly, the figure has disappeared. Kurt says that there is no way he could move that fast. However, since this is a reflection, it is possible that just a slight movement may have taken him away from the glass. The reason he has no feet is that the glass pane is not full length. The part of this video that is the most interesting is the "head" wobbling and seeming to melt away. This could be a result of the "nightshot" mode of the camera trying to deal with sunlight as Kurt moves away from the glass. This video caused some heated discussion in our group but on review from an independent, well-known investigator, our main suspicions regarding this video have been confirmed. This is the nightshot mode on the camera interacting with the extreme darkness and sudden contrasting daylight. It is a good example of how misleading regular daylight can look to a camcorder in this mode. | |
